It does not get better.
For us humans.
Only the graphics in front of our eyes get better.
But I may have to disappoint you about the graphics too, far in the future. We probably will not be disappointed immediately, since new technology always impresses.
The most advanced graphics cards of their time, once fully developed, may stop being developed. When they reach the most realistic visual experience possible for our eyes, the graphics will be so good that putting on goggles shows the same visual reality as taking them off. Cool. And the AI of that future time may decide there is no point developing graphics cards further because VR graphics have reached the highest visual experience for a human being.
And the only way to use virtual reality is to put it in front of your eyes, right? How else could you use it? By “really” entering the virtual reality. More on that below.
But let us return to how you use virtual reality. Ask yourself what feature of a virtual world matters most to improve the experience and make it feel real. The only obstacle to development is graphics. There is sound, movement and so on, which I assume are easier to develop. My conclusion is that graphics are what make virtual reality a high-definition technological toy. Where are graphics heading? Look at any advanced computer or VR headset. Is it close to a realistic vision when you compare it with the real world around you?
Yes, it will be fun, educational and inspiring, a way to connect with other people like yourself around the world in another “reality”. But perhaps it is overhyped, because it cannot keep getting better forever. As with other things, we may overconsume the idea that things improve over time.
And perhaps that is why VR is not as popular as PlayStation and Xbox.
Back to “you are inside the virtual reality itself”. I mean that you feel, touch, taste, smell and see just as in the real world, but in VR. This is the end of the beginning of development. It begins with something that cannot get better — future VR with the highest graphics — and ends with the most spectacular, wild and advanced technology: virtual reality that truly feels as if you are there.
And it would work like The Matrix — watch the film if you are wondering how super-advanced VR could work. Perhaps without a large cable plugged into the back of your head; something smaller, I assume.
Yes, apps, games and virtual experiences will grow exponentially and so on. But that does not change the fact that graphics, so to speak, slow development and make everything less exciting.
Fusion energy, to mention something at the opposite end of things, could change everyday life, transport and everything we do on Earth to the highest level of any machine or technological device we have experienced so far or will experience in the future. Except quantum computers, by the way, when they too reach a certain level of functionality.
