Convergence Culture and the Changing Shape of the Digital World

Henry Jenkins and many others believe that technology is continuously evolving. Gone are the days of phones being used simply to make a call, gone are the days off having to be wired to a device to listen to music. Now, phones are more like miniature laptops, and we can listen to music pretty much anywhere in anyway we choose. 

Jenkins sees this as an entire culture, one that is always trying to improve itself at a rapid rate. We are constantly connected, whether we like it or not it seems. Information is being consumed in many new ways each day. We listen to music while researching for a paper in five different browsers. We're instant messaging our friends about the latest episode of our favorite television show while it airs. 

The problem here is making all of these new technologies compatible enough to work together more efficiently. While technology can make us more creative, it can also make us more destructive. Anonymous has made this very clear. But since many technologies quickly become obsolete, it makes these regulations and compatibility issues a never ending battle. 

Stelarc: Genius or Lunatic?

Stelarc is an artist who specializes in using the body as a work of art that is undergoing constant improvement and upgrade. Most notably, he has undergone a surgery to graft an "ear" (basically a headphone and microphone rig) underneath the skin on his arm to create a third ear.

Is this actually useful? It really depends on who you are. If you are the conservative type, you may view this as just plain weird. However, from an interactive standpoint, it's quite an interesting concept. If a functional ear can be created on any part of the body, no matter how rudimentary it may be now, the possibilities are endless.
As Existenz portrays, virtual reality is progressing at a rapid rate. Imagine if the devices could be directly implanted into the body. Many doors are opened. How, then, would real and imaginary be defined? Would it be possible to even tell the difference?

It can be easy to take off a helmet (or unplug a bio-port) but it'd be pretty difficult to dig out a machine from inside of your body. The nightmare would be even more real.

To this degree, however, I fail to see a point to Stelarc's "art." It seems as though the ear serves no functional purpose other than to show that the microphone implanted in his body can pick up sound through his skin. And why add an ear to an arm? How does that add to life? Perhaps if used in a more practical manner, this kind of technology could show signs of usefulness, say, in the medical field.

Existenz: The Future of Augmented Reality?

Existenz, a film by David Cronenberg, deals with the idea of inserting players into a virtual reality by directly inserting the game controller into the person's body. This occurs through a hole placed on the base of the spine that leads to the spinal column. Being actually placed into the game world, the players begin to lose their reasoning, forgetting the difference between "real" and virtual as the game takes indirect control of their actions.

Is there any truth to this premise? The answer is simply yes, it is definitely a possibility. There are many ways this is possible. One of the newest and most widely known examples is the Oculus Rift, a headset device designed to put the screen directly in front of the players eyes, blocking outside interference that could break immersion. This has been extremely effective in horror games, since the player cannot "hide" from monsters without removing the headset and breaking immersion from the outside.
What about in everyday life, not just games? Google has been working on a contact lense-version of their Glass project for some time now. The Glass works in much the same way that a HUD (Heads Up Display) works in many first-person video games. The glasses essentially provide you with the same functionality as a smartphone, except operated by voice commands and projected in front of you eye on a tiny screen. The contacts would work in the same manner, only projecting the image directly into your cornea instead of an external screen. This would be yet another step closer to Existez's future world.
 What can we expect? In a tech world that currently has the Xbox Kinect, Google Glass, Oculus Rift, and a host of other machines dedicated to perfecting alternate realities, is it possible that we could progress to a level where the line between real and fake is blurred? It is quite possible. For now, we have the ability to turn off our consoles whenever we want to leave the game, but what if future games don't want us to leave?

Sword Art Online, an anime dealing with a game that traps its players until they win.