Hello 🙌
- Bluemo / @blu3mo / Aoyama
- I am studying Computer Science and Philosophy at Columbia University in New York.
- I am interested in “how virtual reality should be” and “how it can be implemented.”
- I want to define a vision of the world through a philosophical/humanistic approach and then think about specific implementation methods in Computer Science/Engineering.
- I really think this is super important and I like it.
- Things I want to discuss
- The “time” in our world is actually not smooth
- The dominance of Western modern/mechanical time
- By considering the concept of virtual time, it is possible to think about sharing smooth time
- Introduction to related creations
- The “time” in our world is actually not smooth
The concept of “time” in this world is not smooth
-
Before modern times (roughly)
- Each city had its own unique “time”
- Image: Clock towers in each city~
- Various models of time based on culture
- Linear time, cyclical time, timeless time
- Anthropologically, in South America it is like this, in India it is like this
- Mechanical time, time revolving around the sun
- Linear time, cyclical time, timeless time
- Each city had its own unique “time”
-
After modern times
- People became more interconnected
- Trains running between cities
- Western modern view of “time”
- Train schedules, school timetables, factory schedules
- “Appointments”
- “Deadlines”
- Synchronous economic transactions
- Synchronized to the microsecond
- To fully share, control and constraints at the “core” are necessary
- On the Concept of ‘Modern Time’
-
“This socially constructed artificial time has come to encompass everything, and as a result, it now appears as if there is no time other than it.”
- Everyone thinks of time as something “quantifiable” and “shared worldwide”
-
- People became more interconnected
-
Time before modern times -> Time after modern times -> Smooth time
-
The fundamental framework of “time” in this world is not smooth
- Troublesome
- Alienation due to the modern concept of time
How to make “time” smooth?
- Issue: In the physical world, time is not smooth to begin with
- As a result, communication only has the options of “synchronous” or “asynchronous”
- Real-time classes vs On-demand classes
- Phone calls vs Emails
- Solution: Want to artificially create more free-form “time”
- "Virtual time"
Thinking about virtual “time”
- Here, virtual does not have the nuance of “fictional” or “illusory”
-
Virtual: “Not actually existing but producing some effect essentially”
- It has a positive connotation of producing an effect essentially
- It’s not about the dichotomy of “real” and “virtual fake”
- Imagine that there are “base reality,” “virtual reality 1,” “virtual reality 2,”… existing in parallel
-
- Capturing the “essence” of time and reconstructing it with computers is “virtual time”
- The “essence” is arbitrary and diverse, with various aspects
- Mental models of time structure
- Linear, cyclical
- Is there a future, is it eternal?
- Experience of the “speed” of time
- Causal relationships existing in the world
- Order of cognition
- Physical time-based synchronization (state where two-way communication is possible)
- Pseudo-synchronization (sense of sharing time)
- Mental models of time structure
- Something I made at a previous VR hackathon:
- It doesn’t necessarily have to be in VR
- Comments on Nico Nico Douga-
- The “essence” is arbitrary and diverse, with various aspects
- Created by kineto (in Untrodden 2020)
- An online classroom platform
- Allows users to move along the timeline of a video, make notes, and place bookmarks
How to create smooth time transitions?
- Elastic Synchronization
-
A system that synchronizes users asynchronously watching content by automatically adjusting playback speed
-
- Visualize the position on the video timeline
- Synchronization occurs when users are watching the same content, while asynchrony happens when they are at different points
- Smoothly transition between synchronous and asynchronous states on a virtual timeline
- For instance, at one moment A and B are synchronized, but in the next moment, B and C are synchronized
What are the benefits of smooth transitions?
-
Without the constraint of “sharing with everyone,” diverse models of “time” can be considered
-
For example, for large lectures or meetings, a “branching time” model might be more suitable
- Common issues during discussions include:
- Having light additional information to share but not wanting to interrupt the discussion
- Missing the timing to contribute an idea and deciding to hold back
- Having questions or opinions on a past topic but hesitating to bring it up again
- Needing to respond quickly to questions, requiring quick thinking and responsiveness
- A one-dimensional, fully synchronous communication environment like Turn-Based Communication may not be the optimal solution (blu3mo)
- Therefore, advocating for Want to Destroy Turn-Based Discussions & a branching environment
- —> ParallelTalk / Proposal for Non-Turn-Based Communication with Voice
(Illustration)
- Common issues during discussions include:
-
For classes where students interact, a model of “time that can be revisited” might be more suitable
- Being able to go back a bit when missing information makes classes more accessible
- Combining the flexibility of time movement with synchronous communication aims to blend the best of real-time and on-demand classes
- —> kineto (Created in Untrodden 2020)
-
Elastic Synchronization: A system that synchronizes users asynchronously watching content by automatically adjusting playback speed
-
When managing personal progress, a “subjective time perception” might be more suitable than mechanical or Western modern clock time
- Having mechanisms that free actions from strict time constraints while enabling synchronization with others can be beneficial
- Alternatively, leveraging the constraint of a clock’s time display speed for improving task processing speed could be explored
-
For playing music, a model of “circular spacetime” might be more suitable
- Extending the concept of Loop Station into a spatial and temporal dimension
-
In a “two-dimensional time” setting, unique novels or music compositions could be created
- Explore concepts like A Novel Where Time is Two-Dimensional and Elastic Synchronization and Entertainment
-
In a setting of “relativistic time” or “higher-dimensional space,” new games or sports could be developed
- Concepts like Superhuman Sports
- For example, a recent creation is a VR experience called Lorentz - Special Relativity in VR that explores special relativity in VR (blu3mo)
- https://scrapbox.io/files/64627c8e1d437b001c396ff8.mp4
- Where the world stretches, and time slows down- There seem to be multiplayer sports games that can be played in a virtual spacetime influenced by such relativistic concepts.
-
Games like 5D Chess also seem interesting.
-
@blu3mo: “Live streaming for your future self” seems quite interesting and useful.
-
- Always display what you were doing 10 minutes ago in the bottom right corner of the screen.
-
- Understand phrases like “the earlier me was focused” or “the earlier me was slacking off by surfing the internet.”
-
- Create a sense of tension from being watched by others, but in this case, the “others” are your future self.
-
-
Creating “strange spacetime” itself is not the goal.
- For instance, even if an experience of 100 dimensions of time could be created (which would be incredibly fun), the joy does not lie in that alone.
- In fact, it often leads to confusion and complexities that are hard to understand.
- The goal is to present information in the optimal spacetime framework tailored to the situation and preferences (blu3mo).
- Thinking that various models could be useful depending on the needs, such as “the optimal spacetime model for school lectures” or “the optimal spacetime model for music,” without being constrained by limitations.
If the right system and interface can be implemented, a “virtual time” can be created.
- Based on the model of People, Interfaces, and the World.
- 
(source)
- Required elements:
- A system to create a virtual spacetime in the computer world.
- An interface that allows humans to perceive and interact with it as spacetime.
- System:
- Example: Data structures like CRDT that enable collaborative editing at different positions on a virtual timeline.
- For instance, if someone edits the world in the past on the virtual timeline, it will affect the future on the timeline.
- Mechanisms are needed to handle data without conflicts when such situations occur.
- Commutative data types seem necessary to facilitate collaboration across virtual time while avoiding conflicts.
- Example: Elastic Synchronization (bringing people on the virtual timeline together, akin to a “gravitational force” in the time direction).
- > It could be called the “universal gravitation” in the time direction rather than in space.
- Manipulating arbitrary connections with elastic synchronization
- Example: Physics simulator in 4-dimensional space
- Handling physics in the expanded virtual world.
- Interface:
- Example: Mechanisms like 4D (x, y, z, t) meshes or SDF data formats and their rendering (4D Rendering).
- Traditional 3D rendering systems naturally convert 3D models into 2D.
- This makes creating VR special relativity simulators (Lorentz - Special Relativity in VR) very challenging.
- Hence, efforts are being made to create 4D Rendering mechanisms (blu3mo).
- Example: Interfaces for navigating branching virtual timelines.
- VRGit: A Version Control System for Collaborative Content Creation in Virtual Reality seems relevant.
- Examples: 4D UI, interfaces transcending time, interfaces handling spacetime fusion.
- It’s intriguing to see how much of a “virtual spacetime” can be presented within the limits of human spacetime cognition.
- Presenting a 100-dimensional spacetime might be impossible, but pushing for a branching time or a 4-dimensional spacetime seems achievable.
- Just as we can present a 3D world on a 2D screen, we should be able to present a 4D world on a 3D display (blu3mo) (this is sophistry).
- For example, Interface that Coexists Real-Time and Slow Motion is very interesting and appealing (blu3mo).
The end
- Scrapbox (like a second brain)-
- /blu3mo-public
- Things left unsaid
- A discussion about “time” expanded into the concept of “space-time”
- I want to discuss with people and create things 🙌
- Mechanisms like virtual time-based economy and consensus formation seem interesting.
