Imagine this scenario — there are 3 people walking down a real street in Paris:

1. Real human, just walking along in the real world, wearing AR specs
2. Tele-presence robot, real, on that same real street, controlled from elsewhere
3. Someone in the Metaverse / virtual depiction of the real world, walking along the street virtually and seeing what is really there in real time

One can see the robot trundling along, and can interact with it and the person controlling it (via the robot). With their AR specs switched on, they can also see and interact with the virtual person.

Two can see and interact with the real person and the virtual person. The robot can also interact with the rest of the real world, because the robot is actually there.

Three can see and interact with the real person and the robot, virtually. Regular people on the street cannot see this virtual person, but she can see them.

Different types of presence, real and virtual, who can interact with each other in the real world, in real time. They can attend a sporting event or rock concert or pub together.

On this website the focus on drones has been on security – stopping terrorists and authorising everyone else, and the gathering of data with full permission.

Truly miniature spy drones will certainly exist one day. I have speculated that they might mimic bees or flies to avoid detection.

While these aren’t as small as I have imagined, the Black Hornets certainly tiny and very impressive:

• Already being used by some major armies
• Not heard beyond 20m
• Not seen beyond 100m
• Returns to base with the push of a button
• 20 minute flight time
• Three cameras

The new owners are a thermal imaging company. So you can be located via your heat signature from a device just 20 metres away, and at night and pretty much day as well, you will never know.

Check out this BBC video, and even though the accent is a bit thick,  you’ll get the idea and see how pleased he is with the wee drones:

I can’t tell if Google has any inkling of the concepts presented here, but certainly an engine will be needed to power a virtual world that represents the real world in real time.

SpatialOS looks like the first engine that is not purely for games that could do the heavy lifting. Thankfully engines can come and go – all that needs to be right from the beginning is the data and the format. New engines can do more and different things with the data.

So what I’d like to see is a specification that has enough breadth to cover all the future potentials for a 3D virtual copy of the real world, and all the beings and devices that operate within it.

At this point in time, it looks like Google only sees it as a gaming platform…

A SpatialOS world can contain millions of persistent entities and manage their state and history. Design gameplay that allows players to affect the world in meaningful, long-lasting ways.

https://spatialos.improbable.io/

It’s only natural that the types of events I would like to attend virtually are those I have thought about the most…

I’m not a church-goer, but clearly this is an important part of the lives of many. And while it is debatable, for a good portion of them attending church believe it doesn’t have to be in a particular place and time. In other words, attending virtually is juts fine (although not as lucrative for the brick and mortar church).

I can see virtual churches taking off.

• The modern mega-churches are heavy on entertainment, so they can charge a premium, even for virtual attendance.
• It enables a congregation to grow beyond the physical limitations of their actual location.
• Tracking and remarketing will be easy to achieve.