Alex Kipman says that we currently interact with technology in two dimensional space. This makes us more like machines than free thinking and physical beings. Constantly looking at screens limits our interactions, but Kipman wants to use technology to bring people to the center of communication. In his TED Talk A futuristic vision of the age of holograms, Kipman demonstrates the work he's doing with the Microsoft Hololens and shows some possibilities for new human connections.
NASA, universities, and car companies are already using Hololens to explore new regions and change the way business and research happen. Kipman's main idea is that we are so focused on screens because digital existence gives us power over time and space. He says that we can use holograms to give us the same experience without screens.
Thinking like a machine is the method that Alex used to design a new holographic experience. First he observed his surroundings and took those surroundings as inputs. He created outputs as digital pieces of his digital reality. Finally he worked to developed haptic feedback to experience the digital world physically.
Beyond the big ideas one of the highlights of the presentation is a holographic conference call between Kipman and Jeff Norris from NASA. Norris appears on a holographic terrain model from Mars, created from data by the Mars rover. Using holograms he can appear on the TED Talk floor, across town in his lab, and on the surface of Mars at the same time.
This is a great talk full of big picture ideas, and the camera work allows Kipman to be shown on the stage with his holograms zooming around his head and transforming his environment as he speaks. My only minor concern is that the Hololens itself is still a screen, and during the demonstration he's still staring at a screen to create deeper interactions. ENGINEERING.com has presented emerging virtual reality headsets and a talk about the Meta 2 previously, so it's great to see this focus on the Hololens from one of its developers.