[Google just announced a series of presence-related technologies, including a voice-control virtual assistant incorporated into new products and services; the developments seem likely to move us closer to being able to interact with information, people and companies more naturally and easily, but this story from Slate’s Future Tense blog points to some important dangers too. See also “Google Is Blurring the Line Between Humans and Software” in Inc. And for more of the Google presence news, see the story in Wired about the incorporation of VR into the Android OS and the story in  The Verge about how the new…

[I have long thought parasocial interaction and relationships are one of the most interesting, and also most common, presence phenomena; this story from New York Magazine provides a useful updated discussion of the topic. Going a step further, how will vivid, interactive virtual and mixed reality fiction affect these experiences?  –Matthew] It’s Okay to Think of the Gilmore Girls As Your Real Friends By Cari Romm April 19, 2016 Like roughly a zillion other mother-daughter pairs in the early 2000s, my mom and I were deeply devoted to Gilmore Girls, the television show chronicling the close relationship between 30-something Lorelai…

[This is a smart and welcome move by Oculus to encourage positive uses of presence. The story is from Digital Trends. –Matthew] Oculus VR aims to do some good with virtual reality through new social initiative By Kevin Parrish — May 16, 2016 Facebook-owned Oculus VR on Monday launched a new initiative called “VR for Good.” It’s a platform that seeks to build a better reality through the use of VR, and starts with two pilot VR film programs that the company hopes will inspire the next generation of VR content creators. With these programs, Oculus VR is targeting high…

[This story from The New Yorker never explicitly mentions presence but includes several thoughtful analyses about its causes, nature and consequences in the context of virtual reality. –Matthew] [Image: In games like Crystal Rift, virtual-reality creators are beginning to explore how to harness the medium’s darker side without causing psychological harm. Courtesy PSYTEC.] The Coming Horror of Virtual Reality By Simon Parkin May 15, 2016 If Kitchen, a five-minute virtual-reality demo created by the Japanese studio Capcom, were a short film, few viewers would be moved to panic by its misery of horror-movie clichés. In the demo, which has been…

[The humanoid robotic diver OceanOne is an example of sophisticated teleoperation technology designed to evoke presence; this story from Stanford News (where it features a photo gallery) doesn’t use the term but includes several references to “being there” and an example of “medium as social actor” presence (“they made sure to give their heroic robot a celebratory bath [of champagne]”). A 2:48 minute video is available on YouTube. –Matthew] [Image: OceanOne, a new humanoid robotic diver from Stanford, explores a 17th century shipwreck. (Credit: Frederic Osada and Teddy Seguin/DRASSM)] Maiden voyage of Stanford’s humanoid robotic diver recovers treasures from King…

[So much focus is on the ability of VR to let users experience the world as real or fictional others do, but this article from The Atlantic argues that its greatest power is to make us appreciate how we experience the world without technology (what many of us would call presence rather than telepresence) from our own perspective. –Matthew] [Image: Phil McCarten / Reuters] Virtual Reality Reminds Users What It’s Like to Be Themselves The technology enhances the wonder of being oneself far better than it produces empathy for others Michael W. Clune Apr 20, 2016 From my first encounter…

[Imagine a near-future when most of us, most of the time, can’t tell whether we’re interacting with a human or an artificially intelligent ‘bot’; this story from The Wall Street Journal raises lots of questions about the dynamics and ethics of social presence.  –Matthew] [Image: In the 2015 film ‘Ex Machina,’ above, a young man assesses the human characteristics of a beautiful robot. Photo: Everett Collection] Imagine Discovering That Your Teaching Assistant Really Is a Robot Students mostly couldn’t tell ‘Jill Watson’ wasn’t human; ‘Yep!’ By Melissa Korn May 6, 2016 One day in January, Eric Wilson dashed off a…

[The prospect of technology giving us a virtual life after our death raises fascinating and challenging practical, psychological and ethical questions for presence scholars and others. The story below is from the BBC, where it includes several images. For more on this topic, see the journal article Telepresence After Death.  –Matthew] [Image: Source: http://eterni.me/] Facebook is a growing and unstoppable digital graveyard At some point, there will be more dead Facebook users than living ones – and for those left behind, it is transforming how we experience the death of those around us. By Brandon Ambrosino 14 March 2016 The…

[NASA is working on several presence-related projects; this story from Popular Science includes a 1:40 minute video about the Destination: Mars exhibit and a 0:23 minute video of astronauts playing Space Invaders in VR in space; follow the links in the story for much more information. –Matthew] [Image: Source: Astronaut Tim Peake on Twitter] New NASA Exhibit Lets You Virtually Tour Mars With Buzz Aldrin No spaceship required By Mary Beth Griggs Posted March 30, 2016 At its most optimistic, the earliest NASA can hope to put people on Mars is sometime in the 2030s. But we’re impatient, and want…

[The ability of emerging technologies to give users a sense of presence from different perspectives raises a lot of really interesting and important questions; this story is from The Verge, where it includes the 1:18 minute trailer for Abe VR. –Matthew] How virtual reality can change the way we see gender and horror movies Men, women, and headsets By Adi Robertson on May 5, 2016 Yes, virtual reality will now let you experience being tortured to death by a lovesick robot. Or at least, that’s what I’m getting from Road to VR’s Paul James, who recently tried out Abe VR…

[While some are excited by the possibilities for human-like robots, others point to possible negative consequences of this form of ‘medium as social actor’ presence; this story from Tech Insider includes the full 58:06 minute panel during which Stuart Russell made his comments (which begin at the 21:35). For a cogent review of the status of AI see Slate’s coverage, which includes a link to a recent interview with Russell. –Matthew] [Image: Meka Robotics. Source: YouTube] Human-like robots may have a disturbing impact on actual humans Danielle Muoio May 4, 2016 Researchers hailing from NASA to Google have invested in…

[Technology can now reproduce and immerse us in historical and personal moments as never before; the presence experiences will not always be positive or deemed appropriate. This story is from The Hollywood Reporter; for more on the ethics involved see coverage in Bustle. –Matthew] [Image: Anne Frank at her home in Amsterdam in 1942, just weeks before she and her family entered the annex. Photograph: Reuters/Corbis/Reuters Photographer / Reuters. Source: The Guardian] Anne Frank Virtual Reality Film Planned The sensitive nature of ‘Anne’s’ plot — and the intensity of the Frank family’s situation — will invariably leave the project open…