[This link-filled story from Truthout highlights the potential of presence (though it doesn’t use the term) for propaganda and other unethical persuasion: “[T]he novelty of VR lies in how it induces physiological and psychological effects in us comparable to those produced by lived experience, irrespective of any background consciousness of artificiality. … It’s because of this power that VR is likely to be used increasingly for propagandistic purposes, and as anyone familiar with the modern history of propaganda could expect, it won’t only be governmental agencies using it to propagate partial and potentially misleading information.” –Matthew] [Image: A man uses…

[This short story from Next Reality describes USA Today’s expanding use of augmented reality to evoke compelling presence experiences, focusing on a new virtual exhibit that includes a trip aboard a slave ship. See the original version for four animated gifs and a tweet. –Matthew] USA Today’s Latest Augmented Reality Story Takes Readers on Sobering Trip Aboard Slave Ship By Tommy Palladino August 22, 2019 Augmented reality as a storytelling medium can do some extraordinary things words and images alone can’t convey — such as transporting readers 400 years into the past. On Thursday, to recognize the 400 year anniversary…

[The short New World Notes blog post below describes a new way to quickly scan the real world with regular smartphones and create a virtual 3D mirror version of it, with important implications for presence experiences in virtual worlds and augmented reality. See the original post for the 0:51 minute video (also available via YouTube). For more information see AR Insider. –Matthew] Watch: Real World Location Virtually Recreated To Scale In Minutes Wagner James Au August 20, 2019 This is a pretty impressive tech demonstration from 6D.AI, a startup that’s creating a 3D mirror world of real life from the…

[Complimenting the announcement of a fourth Matrix film (see Variety for details), the very positive CNN Business review below of a new VR experience set in the world of HBO’s Westworld series highlights the value of fiction to illustrate and explore presence phenomena. It also touches on the current status and challenges of VR. Follow the link in the second paragraph for more information and a video trailer, and see other positive reviews in The Verge and UploadVR. –Matthew] A new Westworld game actually delivers on virtual reality’s promise By Rachel Metz, CNN Business August 20, 2019 San Francisco (CNN Business)…

[In addition to the wonderful picture below, this opinion piece from Metro UK highlights a variety of intriguing issues and phenomena related to medium-as-social-actor presence. –Matthew] [Image: Zoltan’s daughter with her robot partner on their ‘wedding’ day. Credit: Zoltan Istvan] Should I have let my daughter marry our robot? Zoltan Istvan, Transhumanist, speaker, entrepreneur and author July 24, 2019 I pride myself on being open-minded. I am a transhumanist, and our culture pushes us to use science and technology to always want to be more than we are. My friends do everything from injecting themselves with self-created genetic treatments to…

[In the story below Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reports on the use of AI speakers, and the medium-as-social-actor presence they evoke, to relieve the loneliness of seniors; see the original for a second image. Forbes recently reported on a related project in the UK: “Looking to address the challenges of elderly loneliness, Accenture has developed a solution that uses conversational AI to let people capture memorable stories for future generations while providing companionship. Powered by Google Voice Assistant, Memory Lane initiates conversations by asking someone who is lonely to tell their life story. This is then turned into a physical…

[The creators of Nukemap VR “hope to take [the limited] public comprehension [of nuclear weapons] to the next level by enabling people to immerse themselves in a realistic first-person experience].” This well written report on what it’s like to use the simulation and the background of the project is from Business Insider, where it includes 5 more pictures and a 0:42 minute video. –Matthew] [Image: Nukemap VR simulates a nuclear bomb explosion in New York City to educate people about atomic weapons. Credit: Christopher Manzione; Reinventing Civil Defense/Stevens Institute of Technology] I just nuked Manhattan in a realistic new VR…

[This CNBC story describes a new set of presence experiences offered by Apple stores in six cities; see the original version for more pictures. For more information see the Apple press release and a 0:55 minute video via YouTube. –Matthew] Apple took us on a surreal walk through San Francisco, looking at digital art on an iPhone August 13, 2019 Kif Leswing San Francisco looks different through an iPhone XS Max — it’s still a city, but now there are floating balls of fabric, speech bubbles, and words popping out from the trees and buildings. For more than two hours…

[As if the political systems around the world didn’t have enough to worry about, the US Democratic Party recently highlighted the dangers of deepfake videos by creating one and presenting it as if it were a live appearance by their leader. See the original CNN version of the story below for a 2:26 minute video – start at 0:51 for a brief excerpt of the deepfake video itself. –Matthew] The Democratic Party deepfaked its own chairman to highlight 2020 concerns By Donie O’Sullivan August 10, 2019 Las Vegas (CNN Business) – The Democratic National Committee wanted to demonstrate the potential…

[This review of an immersive installation that recreates the experience of a World War I battle describes an intense and emotional presence experience. See the original review in Patch for a different picture, a 1:03 minute trailer and a 7:37 minute ‘making of’ video. For more information see earlier coverage in Variety and Engadget and the War Remains website. –Matthew] Austin-Exclusive ‘War Remains’ Immersive Exhibit Packs A Wallop Dramatic narration by Dan Carlin of popular ‘Hardcore History’ podcast gives voice to emotionally powerful experience. By Tony Cantu, Patch Staff August 10, 2019 AUSTIN, TX — Unless you’ve experienced combat, you’ll…

[An August 9, 2019 report in MIT Technology Review begins, “Meet Barry: his sole purpose in life is to listen patiently, and then protest or sob a little as you fire him from an imaginary job in virtual reality. … He was created by Talespin, a company that offers virtual reality workplace training. Barry and other VR characters were developed to help teach people ‘soft’ management skills—such as how to let someone go without causing a scene. If you are too blunt with Barry, he’ll put his head in his hands; other missteps will cause him to shout and yell.”…

[USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering reports on an interdisciplinary project to use haptic-enabled VR to help Parkinson’s patients retain mobility and avoid falls. See the original story for three more images and the Overcome website for much more information, including a 1:49 minute trailer (also available via YouTube). –Matthew] [Image: This picture shows the experiment setup, which includes (1) a clinical treadmill with (2) body weight support for safety of player, (3) HTC VIVE headset, (4) controllers that are attached to the railings, and (5) the tracker along with the haptic feedback setup. See the original on the Overcome website…