“On the Precipice of Disruption”

Over Coffee® | Stories and Resources from the Intersection of Art and Science | Exploring How to Make STEAM Work For You

"We will get through this," says futurist, XR consultant and Forbes columnist Charlie Fink. Charlie, who is currently writing his third book, sees the current coronavirus pandemic drastically changing our society. And he sees XR--which is the subject of his book--as a central part of future life. However, he says, no one can predict the ways in which this will happen. He would certainly know. As discussed in our 2018 interview, Charlie's career involves exploring the ways in which technologies like augmented and virtual reality will shape our future. When he gave the keynote speech during VRLA 2018, he had just introduced his first book, the AR-enabled "Charlie Fink's Metaverse," at CES 2018. Since then, Charlie has continued to take his readers on a journey into the future, with his 2019 book "Convergence: How the World Will Be Painted With Data". And his forthcoming book will be entitled "Remote Collaborations, Virtual Conferences: The End of Distance and the Future of Work." His goal, he says, is to publish it by late May, in time for Augmented World Expo. Charlie talked about the ways he sees society currently changing, what XR is and where he sees the technology going, and why, against the background of the COVID-19 pandemic. On this edition of Over Coffee®, you will hear: Why XR faces some obstacles in becoming widely used during the current pandemic; What exactly is "XR", anyway? Some of the best, currently-usable resources for XR during the pandemic; Currently-usable XR apps for education and homeschooling; A look at holographic storytelling and how it can facilitate memorization; Some of the trends Charlie's seeing, for our future workplaces and classrooms; A look forward, at the ways the world may change, following the pandemic; A preview of Charlie's new book!; A look at the arts, and how the pandemic may affect artists' use of the XR medium.