Cons of AR

Naturally, just like any other technology, or any thing in life really, AR has its issues and shortcomings. A few of them are briefly discussed below. Moreover, two philosophical perspectives are considered. 

1.   AR content creation is costly, time-consuming, and requires expertise. 3D content is a major part of any AR app, depending on the complexity of the required 3D object, the cost can range from 1000-3000 USD, and it takes an artist 1-3 weeks to create a single 3D model. (Lavrentyeva, 2022).

2.   AR applications require access to a variety of sensor data to perform properly. This includes video and audio streams, GPS data, temperature readings, and accelerometer readings, among other things which warrants data privacy and personal security issues.

3.   Health issues such as injuries and fatalities especially if the spatial recognition precision is not perfect, in addition to behavioral change and psychological problems such as addiction and PTSD. A study led by Jeremy Bailenson (2019), a professor of communication at Stanford University, found that AR experiences impact people’s interactions in the physical world even after an AR session is over.

4.  Losing the real experience. As UCSB biologist Douglas McCauley contends in a Phys.org article:

“You have this augmented experience of looking at a detail or process you can’t see in real life… I think there’s an interesting possibility there to enhance the outdoor experience. But how far do you push that before you lose some of the core values of being in nature: the opportunity to chat with the person next to you rather than staring at your phone, or the capacity to actually see the plant and experience nature with your own eyes rather than on a digital screen.”

There is an opposite perspective, offered by David Chalmers, a professor of philosophy and neuroscience at New York University. In an interview with the British Guardian, Chalmers explained that “A common notion of virtual realities is that they are a kind of illusory reality, that what you perceive in VR is not real. I think that’s wrong” (Chalmers, 2022). According to him, the virtual worlds we interact with can be just as real as our normal physical world. Virtual reality is real reality, the philosopher believes. The reality status of virtual reality should not be devalued just because it is based on bits instead of quarks and electrons. (Bezmalinovic, 2022)

Whether we agree with Chalmers’ thoughts or not, I believe we should always wonder: Are our successors destined to live in a world where the distinction between real and virtual no longer exists or matters?

Where would that lead us as humans?

True, it is a foolish errand to try to stop human progress, but that does not mean we need to adopt all sorts of progressive technology giant tech conglomerates come up with every few years. What is it about for those tec moguls and does it align with what technology is about for the public or does it straightforwardly contravene it? If it’s just about an obsession with progress, profit, and popularity, how do we protect ourselves from being duped and exploited? I believe we need to refuse to simply ‘’go with the flow’’ without critically examining the potential of every technology and whether it is truly worth gifting it our attention, support, and money.