Today I read an article about Sharp demoing some monstrous 8k by 4k resolution TV and it got me thinking. At a certain size that tv would have more detail than your eyes could see. I also saw an artist who takes photographs/videos with multiple cameras in order to display one large, crystal clear image across several hi-res displays.
Soon it’d might just be better to have a set of displays instead of a window. Especially if your view is of a giant brick wall like my first apartment . You could have a stunning view of whatever you’d like. In winter you’d have window facing a tropical beach.
If you missed having an actual window you could set up some cameras on the back and see your actual view. It could even become an augmented reality window and even spruce up your neighborhood for you. Clean up the dirty buildings. That obnoxious neighbor walking around naked again ? Lets just edit him out. Live in California where it never snows? No problem. And when things get boring you can play an epic remake of Space Invaders and watch the buildings in your neighborhood get blown to bits. And with how bright LED displays are becoming you’d get a hell of alot more ambient light than the little rays of sun that managed to creep through the alleyway between my window and the brick wall .
Just a thought I had,
Hope someone finds it amusing.
This concept has appeared in many sci fi novels over the years. It is possible it, or some variation of it, will happen at some point once processing power and display technology can handle it. Of course the sun actually triggers a chemical reaction in our brain (which is why some people suffer from seasonal affectedness disorder in places without much sunlight) so that would also have to be worked out.
The wealthy people who would be the first customers of such an expensive system typically already have amazing views
I’m guessing if anybody would be interested in developing technology along these lines , it’d likely be the comissioners & makers of limited enviroments such as submarines , deep underground bases etc. I imagine they might have both the funding and motivation for development of an idea like this.
This kind of idea has been around forever, but probably hit the general public awareness when flat panels became popular… some of my favorite variations were from the MIT media lab in the 90’s where you could have a virtual window into another persons home, somewhere else in the world, with a door that could cover it to close the connection. I still think that would be amazing
Don’t forget parallax effect. You’d need something line a kinnect head tracking camera if you want it to feel like a real window where things in the foreground move more than those in the background as you walk by.
True Richard! Otherwise it will always be a flat image.
Trav, like mist things, the idea far predates the technology. Ray Bradbury used full wall size displays in Fareignheight 451. Isaac Asimov used virtual windows into other homes in the Caves of Steel trilogy I think.
I have definitely seen this.
A few years ago perhaps, probably demoed at CES or something.
There were three tall windows with the displays embedded, and the user clips a small usb-stick sized tracker to their belt, then as they walk around the room, left to right, forwards and back, the perspective/angle/scale changes.
In an urban environment it could be desirable to look out into a quiet wood or lapping lakeside rather than sprawling concrete jungle.
Yo mentioned seasonal effective disorder, I know you can buy lights that treat this condition, some of which use ultraviolet B rays to increase the lacking vitamin D.
If this type of lighting was incorporated into the room along with the TV windows, you would probably feel a lot clamer and healthier there, than in a room with glass ones.
Imagine the uses for your car - not a lot of new ground in this idea.
I’ve always thought how nice it would be to have a little dot blot out the sun so if I don’t have sunglasses or they’re not reasonable, I can see the road better.
. You could have a stunning view of whatever you’d like. In winter you’d have window facing a tropical beach.
? Lets just edit him out. Live in California where it never snows? No problem. And when things get boring you can play an epic remake of Space Invaders and watch the buildings in your neighborhood get blown to bits. And with how bright LED displays are becoming you’d get a hell of alot more ambient light than the little rays of sun that managed to creep through the alleyway between my window and the brick wall .