Hello, So my obsession for quite some time now has been Virtual Reality as it stands and what needs to happen before we reach full-dive technology. If you don't know, full-dive means inputting data directly into the brain. You define reality at this point from the 5 senses, just think with enough power and the right technology you could almost imagine the place that you are now being a virtual world just from the fact that all 5 senses are being fooled. The applications are endless from medical purposes, to training, to leisure, to the pursuit of every individual happiness Virtual Reality presents a product that every single person on the planet could benefit from. The Elderly could run around with the body of a 20 year old, and it would feel completely and utterly real. The field is wide open and the person to develop such a technology could become the richest being on the planet. So I find it kinda surprising that there are no dedicated Research and Development Labs for VR and yet labs exist for fields such as Cryogenics which may be useful but do not hold the potential that VR holds.
It is very hard to judge where the field is heading and how long it will take as it is waiting on breakthroughs in technologies such as Quantum Computing, Fiber Optics, and Brain Interfacing, but all of these fields are ready to break through. Also the law of exponential growth is at work, stating that as technology advances it will keep advancing at a more rapid pace, making speculations on VR very difficult.
I would like to know where you guys stand and predict that VR will occur. I have heard estimates as low as 10 years and some as high as not being developed within our lifetime. Personally I believe it will be created in the next 20ish years but I would love to hear your opinions!