Chapter 383: VR Technology

“Why is the virtual reality era the final era?”

Little X wondered. “Is this any different from the VR era in Ready Player One?”

“There’s a big difference, it’s like comparing a self-driving car to a s.p.a.ceship.”

Chen Chen chuckled and explained, “What I mean by virtual reality era is to create a real virtual world. That world will become a secondary world ingrained in human society and also come with a complementary hypersleep chamber. The time inside the virtual world flows at a 1: 10 rate compared to the real world and can house the consciousness of the deceased so that they can gain immortality in the virtual world.

“In the virtual world, everyone will be conventionally attractive and live luxurious lives due to the generous affordability. For the ones who desire it, they can also form their ideal virtual family with, say, a perfect wife — this partner will become a fully conscious being as well and process all human characteristics. The only difference being that they don’t possess a body in the real world...”

Chen Chen continued describing this world as he walked, “If the partic.i.p.ant doesn’t wish to interact with others, the partic.i.p.ant is free to travel across the many dimensions inside the virtual world. The possibilities of these dimensions are endless and are procedurally generated by the supercomputer. The objects inside these dimensions may yield insurmountable riches or be worth nothing at all.

“For the ones who look for the social aspect, they can make countless like-minded friends inside the virtual world. All it takes is just a simple invitation and hundreds of people who are willing to partic.i.p.ate will be able to come together and feast and party merrily in a venue designed by the host.

“Also, the currency inside the virtual world and the real world will be streamlined and used in conjunction. Those who are having difficulties in the real world are free to sail the high seas in the virtual world where limitless riches are awaiting them in every corner. There’s always the chance of someone turning into a millionaire overnight, although this possibility is so slim it’s close to zero.

“The most important factor...”

Chen Chen considered. “Inside the virtual world, everyone is held on the same level as one another. You can converse freely with the person in front of you even if that person is a billionaire. There’s no discrimination, no suffering, not even hunger or death. Anyone is free to become whoever they were never able to become in the real world, even if inside the real world they are down to their last cent and barely sc.r.a.ping themselves by.”

“I understand, this is the perfect medium to shift away from the troubles of the real world.”

Little X snickered mischievously upon hearing this. “When this virtual reality comes to fruition, the pressure of social hierarchy becomes effectively nulled. When the spending gap inside the virtual world is so insignificant, the separation between the rich and the poor is minimalized and loses its meaning as well.”

“Exactly.”

Chen Chen nodded. “Inside the virtual world, everyone will be given access to free education ranging from basic foundational education to higher-level studies. All knowledge is free for anyone willing to grasp it. Some may choose to indulge themselves in the virtual world while others may treat it as a platform to excel in the real world. At the end of the day, the choice is in their hands. More often than not, partic.i.p.ants will choose the middle option, which is to spend their days working in the real world and spend their nights in the hypersleep chamber. They can reign free in the virtual world at a ten to one ratio.”

“But... If the virtual world is as wonderful as you claim it to be, then the capitalists may very well set the entry barrier higher. The act of indulging in the virtual world will become a luxury pastime in of itself, that would depreciate its meaning.”

“Would that be possible? I wouldn’t allow it.”

Chen Chen sneered. “I know it’s a tall task to accomplish everything I just described. After all, it’s extremely difficult to achieve true balance if it’s left in the hands of men since we humans have an ingrained distrust of other people. It’s for this exact reason that it’s more important that I’m the only one who holds the keys to the virtual world because I’m the only one I can trust.”

“...”

Little X could not resist the urge to roll her eyes. This was the same as the bandit’s philosophy. You may not see any problem with trusting yourself, but that did not mean others would favor you with the same level of trust...

“Which is why only one virtual world shall be allowed to exist and that’s the virtual world manufactured by Blacklight Biotechnology!”

Chen Chen declared, “Once we achieve a certain degree of a breakthrough in the relevant technology, we can make the virtual world extremely affordable. In this aspect, the cost of a luxury hypersleep chamber would only be equivalent to the price of a regular laptop. The nutrients should only cost no more than several cents and can provide a full day’s worth of nutrients with just one capsule. This way, the total annual expense for each person should be as low as several hundred dollars. They will have the luxury of never having to step outside their house but still enjoy the finer things in life inside the virtual world.”

Chen Chen sighed as he arrived at this mention. “Of course, by the time all this is accomplished, there will only be four professions left in the world — scientific research, art creation, business, and the final one being an elaborate regime system. All of the other professions that require labor would’ve been subst.i.tuted by artificial machines.

“This is to say that the premise for the virtual reality era is the formation of the first three sub-eras, no more and no less. It’s only by that point when the structure of society can bear the structural integration of a virtual world. If the order of execution is off, not only will the fundamentals of society be affected, it may very well cause a violent backlash and topple the very fabric of society!”

At this point, Chen Chen had left the factory and met Cheng Cao who had been waiting for some time now.

“Boss!”

Cheng Cao immediately exited his vehicle and greeted Chen Chen upon seeing him.

Chen Chen nodded and entered the car with Little X.

Cheng Cao stole a curious glance at the little girl but made no further comment. He returned to the car wordlessly and drove them to Eco Science City.

“Head straight for the Spire Experimental Base.”

Chen Chen instructed before getting some shuteye.

An hour later, Chen Chen arrived at one of the electronic laboratories inside the Spire Experimental Base.

Upon his arrival, Chen Chen inserted the USB drive into a computer and downloaded the movie Ready Player One.

Chen Chen became surprisingly emotional when he saw this movie.

“This is the movie where I instantiated you from a few years back.”

Chen Chen turned to Little X. “Back then, you were just an artificial intelligence program sequence. Who would’ve thought that in just a few years, you did not only manage to evolve to an enhanced artificial intelligence, you even modified yourself into fully sentient life.”

“I’m miles ahead of what I was when I was born!”

Little X nodded with strong confidence, looking like a tiny adult as she did so.

“Everything started from the string of source code I found inside. To think that after all the twists and turns along the way that I’d come back to where it all began, life is truly full of surprises at times...”

Chen Chen reflected and sighed before opening the movie. He immediately dragged the progress bar to the middle. A gigantic hemispherical device shaped like a throne immediately appeared on the screen.

OAR9400 Haptic Shock Chair!

This device was unlike the VR gla.s.ses that the poor protagonist of the movie used as it was the top-of-the-line device. By sitting inside this haptic shock chair, one could control their in-game avatar by having their movements read using their brainwaves.

The haptic shock chair was also fitted with fully-developed holographic imaging technology. Upon activation, an arc-shaped virtual screen hovered around the user which was a mirror image of reality. This completely discarded the need for low-end devices such as VR gla.s.ses.

With the X1 tactile suit put on after sitting in the haptic shock chair, the user could feel every sensation experienced by the virtual avatars, providing an experience that was just like the real thing.

Chen Chen cast off all hesitation in his mind and stretched the whole of his arm into the screen and pulled with all his might.

“Thump!”

A gigantic OAR9400 haptic shock chair was immediately brought into reality by Chen Chen.

The haptic shock chair was an egg-shaped structure approximately two meters tall, except there was an opening at a portion of it that was designed for someone to sit inside it.

Just like the VR-gla.s.ses, the haptic shock chair was no more than a more advanced computer built for playing triple-A games. The device was only responsible for the front-end maneuvering while the source code of the Oasis game was hosted inside the server host machine.

However, Chen Chen’s motive was not to acquire the source code for Oasis. The Little X now could effortlessly design a VR game for him at a moment’s notice. All he needed to do was to employ a team of artists and game designers to draw up the general framework of the game while the rest can be left up to Little X’s computational abilities. Billions of code could be cranked out overnight with Little X’s help.

Even the Windows system only contained fifty million lines of code.

What Chen Chen needed to do instead was only to instantiate the relevant device so he could borrow (plagiarize) its design and make sure it was ready for the market.

In the real world, VR devices had developed to its Nth generation by now. Despite the progress, the need for a lens and screen combination was still inevitable. The omnidirectional image was projected onto the user’s retina to simulate an omnidirectional visual effect, drawing the user experience as close to reality as possible.

Still, these devices were generally harmful to the eyes over long-term exposure. It was also very likely to evoke nauseous side effects. The technology was simply not in its mature stages just yet.

This was where the switch to a haptic shock chair would be a game-changer. The OAR9400 Haptic Shock Chair could form a holographic projection directly in front of the player. Just like the silver Rubik’s Cube that Chen Chen obtained from the Alien dimension, it could alter the surrounding s.p.a.ce optics and project three-dimensional visuals into the air, which addressed the issue of long-term fatigue on the eyes and potential nausea.

What Chen Chen had his eyes on was the brainwave manipulation technology that came with it. The OAR9400 Haptic Shock Chair could capture and monitor the brainwave activity of the player and translate them into in-game input to control the in-game avatar.

The only flaw of this brainwave manipulation technology implementation was the lack of user feedback.

To attain a higher quality of gameplay experience, the protagonist in the movie had to put on a piece of equipment known as the X1 Tactile Suit.

The equipment was similar to a bodysuit which attached itself firmly to the player’s body upon use. All the tactile sensations in the game could be simulated to the player via mild electric currents. This helped to further enhance the immersion factor.

Of all the five senses that were sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste, the game had met three of them. Only smell and taste remained.

The way Chen Chen saw it, despite how immersive the Oasis game was, it still had some ways to go before being compared to true virtual reality.

To give an overall grading of the five senses, the sense of sight emulated by the haptic shock chair would be bordering around fifty out of a hundred while the sense of hearing hovered near seventy. The sense of touch was rather jarring. Simulation via electric current only put the grading at nearly twenty in terms of realism. It was nowhere close to the sensation of human touch in the real world. Meanwhile, the sense of smell and taste was non-existent.

However, for the first line of VR products released by Chen Chen, this haptic shock chair was already too far ahead of its time.

After all, the haptic shock chair was fitted with fully-developed commercialized brainwave control technology. In reality, the closest thing to brainwave control was the Link project of Neuralink, known as the lace electrode project.

On 29 August 2020, Neuralink launched a press conference for the V0.9 version of the lace electrode. At the press conference, a piglet implanted with electrodes was used to showcase the results of the company during this period. It appeared to be a very promising product, but after stripping off the ceremonial frills, what happened turned out to disappoint the members of the technology industry.

There was nothing ground-breaking or innovative to be seen in the presentation of their technology. Particularly, there was no progress in the neural signals decoding technology, which was the main focal point of everyone attending. There was only a simple demonstration of the relationship between the movement of the pig’s limbs and the nerve discharge stemming from the brain. There was still a long way to go before practical human-computer interaction could be achieved.

Over the next few years, there would not be any significant breakthrough in this line of technology. It was only until the current year when Chen Chen integrated the lace electrode technology with the G.o.d chip when the technology was put in the spotlight and gave birth to Project Xingtian.

“The brain-manipulation technology showcased by Project Xingtian’s bionic prosthesis made waves around the world, that can be considered as the warm-up round. With this context, the presentation of brain-control technology using this VR device should at least be considered a natural progression.”

Chen Chen told little X, “Still, we’re going to have to trim it down more since we cannot reveal a fully-developed technology right off the bat. The world has made considerable progress in terms of holographic projection technology over the last few years. While it’s still a great shocker, it should at least be within the scope of acceptance to reveal this holographic projection technology.”

“How should we go about tr.i.m.m.i.n.g it down?”

Little X raised the question.

“Configure it so that this brain-control technology can only be used to perform operations in computers. For example, moving the cursor, simulating typing on a keyboard, playing triple-A games, and whatnot.”

Chen Chen described, “But it won’t be able to play some incredibly complex games like Oasis, this should be enough tr.i.m.m.i.n.g.”

“I see...”

Little X understood immediately. “Still, it should still be quite the ground-breaking reveal.”

“The North American Continent has had their eyes on me already and is going to make their move sooner or later anyway. There’s no need to play it subtle anymore.”

Chen Chen deleted the corrupted movies from the USB drive before making a copy of another movie and pasting it into the drive. He opened it and dragged the progress bar to the scene with the X1 Tactile Suit on display.

“This tactile suit should be able to slip under the radar with the brain-control technology and holographic projection technology taking the spotlight.”

As Chen Chen said this, he extracted the silver color bodysuit from the screen, “Excellent. Holographic projection technology, a trimmed-down version of brain-control technology along with electrical touch simulation technology. This will be the roster of the VR technology we’ll be announcing next... This time around, Blacklight Biotechnology will show them what it’s like to make waves!”