The Future of Synthesised Realities: Seeing != Believing

In this talk, we'll explore an eclectic set of synthesised realities and our collective obsession with stories about synthesised realities: from Pokémon Go to cinematic classic The Matrix; from the sampling in seminal track Planet Rock by Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force to Ray Bradbury's short story The Veldt; from University Hospital of Wales' trial use of VR to help manage the pain of childbirth to "deepfake" machine learning techniques putting the words "Trump is a dipsh*t" into Obama's mouth.

Philosopher Nick Bostrom famously asked "Are we living in a computer simulation?" One way or the other, it seems that the answer will inevitably be "yes" (Probably not exactly what Nick was getting at, to be fair, but needs must). When seeing isn't believing, where every truth is possibly a forgery, is there any room for optimism? As a thought experiment, let's say there's plenty of room for optimism, and see where we get to on the night, shall we? After all, if we are wrong, a reality where we're right is just a thought away.

About Chris

Chris Sizemore is Chief Content Officer and co-founder at Limina Immersive, a start-up running in-location Virtual Reality popup cinemas. Limina’s mission is to get VR entertainment and arts content to a diverse audience, beyond the early adopters and gamers. Not that there’s anything at all wrong with early adopters or gamers – it’s just that we feel society as a whole will enjoy and benefit from immersive technology and content. In this spirit, Limina is trying to help establish a market for innovative, non-gaming uses of video game technology - e.g. synthesised realities.