Shutaro Aoyama

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Discussion on Immersive Virtual Spacetime Axis

Jul 05, 2024, 5 min read

(This is a big and abstract subject, but please read it if you feel like it.)

  • Currently, in the reality that people experience, “physical time” is dominant.

    • There are some advantages to physical time.
      • It naturally exists.
      • Synchronous communication can be achieved because everyone follows it.
      • Quantitative measurement can be easily done using clocks.
      • Physical laws can be described simply with mathematics.

  • However, physical time has many inconvenient constraints. - It only moves forward. - The speed at which it moves is constant (here, the speed refers to the speed compared to “physical time” for others). - Movement on the time axis is not freely possible.

    • Being scolded for oversleeping, having to stop at a red light, having difficulty with turn-based communication, and not being able to pause in school classes are all due to the constraints of physical time(?).

  • Therefore, as an alternative to physical time, various “virtual times” can be considered.

    • (Here, “virtual” means “essential” and not “virtual” in the sense of virtual reality.)
    • Examples of virtual time
      • The playback position time of a YouTube video (0:00→0:30→1:00→…)
      • The page number while reading a book or manga (1p→5p→10p→…)
      • The time in the world of a novel or movie (Day 1→Day 2→Day 3→…)
      • The time on the chronological timeline of Twitter (1 hour ago TL→40 minutes ago TL→20 minutes ago TL→…)
      • The playback position time of a Nico Nico Douga video (0:00 comment→0:30 comment→1:00 comment→…)
      • The time in an exhibition at a museum arranged in chronological order (Edo period exhibition→Meiji period exhibition→Taisho period exhibition→…)
      • The time perceived while looking at the sky (Sunrise→Sunset→Sunrise→…)
    • Virtual time is not necessarily continuous or quantitative like physical time.
      • However, it needs to have an order to be a “axis”.
    • image

  • The reason why these can be considered as virtual time (i.e., essential time) is

    • The essence of “time” is the ability to be immersed (probably).
      • If one can maintain the believability of being at a point on the time axis Believability, it can be said to be time.

  • It is also possible to immerse oneself in multiple virtual times.

    • (Physical time ∈ virtual time)
    • Examples of immersing in multiple times
      • When watching a movie in a theater, one is immersed in the “time of the story world.”
        • (Relative immersion in “physical time” decreases, but it doesn’t mean there is no immersion at all.)
      • When reading a novel, one can be immersed in various times such as “physical time,” “page number time,” and “time of the story world.”
        • If one is reading leisurely, the immersion in the “time of the story world” increases.
        • If one needs to finish reading within a certain time, the immersion in “physical time” and “page number time” increases.
      • When reading the timeline of Twitter in chronological order, one is immersed in the slightly past “timeline time” compared to real time.
    • Image (source):
      • image

  • Various virtual times already exist, but in many cases, they remain less immersive compared to physical time.

  • The degree of immersion in virtual time is thought to be influenced by the following elements (hypothesis):

    • How much consciousness and sensation can be covered.- How much sense of sharing time with others is there? (Ex: Kineto)

  • How much interaction (input/output?) is there with the environment on the timeline?

  • Virtual time and virtual space can be generalized as “immersive axes”. (Hypothesis)

    • Physical time and physical space are clearly different, but the difference between virtual time and virtual space is ambiguous.
    • Both are “immersive axes” and it can be said that there is no clear distinction between virtual space and virtual time.
    • Examples that can be interpreted as both a timeline and a spatial axis

  • If the power of physical time weakens and the presence of virtual time increases, various experiences that were previously impossible due to the constraints of physical time become possible.

    • Change in speed (compared to other timelines)
      • Negative speed (reverse direction) as well
      • Conversely, making virtual timelines that have had different speeds the same speed
    • Free movement
      • Moving the timeline as if walking through space
      • Replicating phenomena (universal gravitation) occurring between the physical time axis and the physical space axis with virtual time axes (elastic synchronization)
    • Doppelgangers
      • Placing oneself at multiple points on the timeline simultaneously (where “simultaneous” is not limited to physical time)
      • (In other words, branching the timeline into two)
    • Loop
    • I have accumulated various experience ideas in#exploringvirtualtime.

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