The future of display is holography, and it’s as revolutionary as the transition from still photography to motion video. Computer-Generated Holography recreates immersive projections that possess the same 3D information as the world around us. When we say holograms, what we mean is a hologram is essentially an instruction set that tells light how to behave. We compute that effect algorithmically and then present that to the eye, so it’s indistinguishable from a real object. Your brain and your visual system are unable to distinguish it from something real because you’re literally giving your eyes the same information that reality does. This technology can make it possible to create vibrant animated content that orbits around or crawls on or explodes out of every day physical objects.
Standard two-dimensional computer or phone displays, like the one you’re reading on right now, shine with points of light. The light is directed primarily in one direction, toward you, and the light has basically two properties, intensity and color.
That’s not like the real world. Holography replicates this with 100 million points of light,
and it’s essential for 3D imagery and its accompany sense of reality.
That gives things it’s dimensionality, it gives the world specular detail when you see the glint off of someone’s eye or off of a river. That’s real because it’s three-dimensional, it’s specular.
Light in the real world has those properties as well, of course, but light that we see outdoors, in our homes, or in our workplaces adds a third property: directionality. This kind of light doesn’t originate in a single plane. It doesn’t aim primarily in a single direction. It comes from all directions and bounces off in all directions. It refracts through glass and reflects off mirrors.
Seeing holographic images of loved ones or beloved locations is one use. Another, is working together with others in 3D spaces. Imagine collaborating with colleagues more effectively from the other side of the world while you stand right next to them in a work context, ideal for the hybrid office situation that most of us are in now and expect to be for the foreseeable future.
Or perhaps a molecular model of a drug or a 3D representation of a new product model that people can engage with socially, virtually touch by reaching their hands into the hologram, and collaborate around. Maybe that’s a 3D model of your face or organs in your doctors office, or surgery, as you work together to improve your life.
We are going to take another step in the not-too-distant future where we can have synchronous communication, so I can be represented in a holographic video call with my colleagues, or clients, while physically present at a ski resort in Aspen.
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