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The essential difference between 3D virtual reality and 2D is the “amount of information it can hold.” More precisely, it’s about the difference in “information density.” If there’s a vast plane, it can represent more information than a very small space.
To briefly define information quantity, it can be considered as all possible cases that can be held. For example, if you toss a coin, there are two possible outcomes: heads or tails. If you throw a standard die, there are six possible outcomes: from 1 to 6. In this case, the die can convey more information.
Imagine a width of 10 meters in a flat space and a volume. Then, let’s define the most basic plane and space: think of a 1m x 1m flat surface as a pixel, and a 1m x 1m x 1m volume as a voxel.
If a 10m x 10m flat surface can hold information in 100 pixels, then a 10m x 10m x 10m volume would consist of 1,000 voxels. Not only is the unit of representation increased by tenfold.
If a pixel or voxel could be switched on (ON) or off (OFF), then the number of possible information states would be:
Flat surface: 100 pixels -> Possible number of states: 2^100 = approximately 1.26 * 10^30
Volume: 1,000 voxels -> Possible number of states: 2^1000 = approximately 1.07 * 10^301
When expressing information within a 10-meter unit, there is roughly a difference of 100…000 times (with 271 zeros) more information. Naturally, this is a very simplified result, but in reality, the difference in information quantity is much greater. As the size of the plane and volume increases, and as more information can be represented per unit (e.g., not just ON/OFF, but various colors), the amount increases exponentially.
This part only explained the visual information, but 3D virtual reality through VR fundamentally has the advantage of better utilizing sound (auditory). Though it might feel like the distant future, devices that can sense other human senses like smell and touch are also being actively developed. Although senses other than vision can be utilized in 2D, just looking at sound, the latest iOS devices are equipped with spatial audio. Moreover, various games and metaverse applications are implementing interactions where sounds become softer from afar and louder as one approaches.
In the mid-1900s, when computers first emerged and were developing, there were no mice, keyboards, or monitors, and the era used punch cards and bulbs (vacuum tubes). It would have been hard to imagine interfaces related to eye tracking before Apple Vision Pro came out. I think that in the development process of VR, humanity’s intellect must account for such innovations. Humanity has always done so, and even the pace of progress is accelerating.
P.S. Dall-E drew a flat surface and space each with 7 squares, even though I asked for 10. GPT does as it pleases, but it’s still better than nothing!
