{"id":1041,"date":"2025-09-04T08:48:47","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T06:48:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/?p=1041"},"modified":"2025-06-08T10:55:02","modified_gmt":"2025-06-08T08:55:02","slug":"defence-implications-of-augmented-and-virtual-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/?p=1041","title":{"rendered":"Defence Implications of Augmented and Virtual Reality"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr Robert J Bunker<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) represent cross-dimensional components of advanced\u2014aka\u00a05th<\/sup>\u00a0dimensional<\/a>\u2014battlespace. They can be viewed as core disruptive technologies that will have increasing defence implications related to both conventional and unconventional forms of warfighting, as well as the training of military forces, from the 2020s onward.<\/em><\/p>\n

AR, VR and the Cross-Dimensional Battlespace<\/h3>\n

Advanced battlespace is first composed of the spatial dimensions of height (x<\/em>), width (y<\/em>), and depth (z<\/em>) representative of 3 dimensional space. Secondly, it is modified by the 4th<\/sup>\u00a0dimension of time (t<\/em>)\u2014to allow for space and time positioning. Thirdly, it is modified by the 5th<\/sup>\u00a0dimension of cyber (y<\/em>) or hyper (h<\/em>) space as an informational or geometric representation respectively.<\/p>\n

The inclusion of the 5th<\/sup>\u00a0dimension in 21st<\/sup>\u00a0century battlespace allows for new warfighting capabilities to be utilized, including the emergence of quantum stealthing (hyper stealth<\/a>\u00a0et al.) and energy projection (ADS<\/a>\u00a0et al.) that allow previous military limitations in space-time manipulation to be overcome.<\/p>\n

The advent of advanced battlespace creates permeability between traditional 4-dimensional space (aka human-space) and 5th-dimensional\u00a0space (aka cyberspace) resulting in the generation of two forms of cross-dimensional realities.<\/p>\n

A more evenly blended cross-dimensional mixed reality (MR), incorporating both AR and VR, also exists with significant future defence implications.<\/p>\n

Understanding Augmented Reality<\/span><\/p>\n

Augmented reality\u00a0<\/em>can thus be considered a 5th<\/sup>\u00a0dimensional intrusion into humanspace. It can be defined as \u201can interactive experience of a real-world environment where the objects that reside in the real world are enhanced by computer-generated perceptual information, sometimes across multiple sensory modalities<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

It ultimately allows for artificial intelligence (AI) to directly operate and interact within the human realm of existence. AR examples include the classic Terminator (T-800)\u00a0vision sequence<\/a>, a more recent\u00a0dystopian shopping experience<\/a>, and\u00a0Glass<\/a>\u00a0(formerly Google Glass) eyewear.<\/p>\n

Understanding VR<\/h3>\n

Virtual reality<\/em>, on the other hand, can be considered the intrusion of 4 dimensional space into cyberspace. It can be defined as \u201ca simulated experience that can be similar to or completely different from the real world\u201d that uses technology \u201cto generate realistic images, sounds and other sensations that simulate a user’s physical presence in a virtual environment<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

It allows for human beings\u2014via their avatars\u2014to be projected within the cyber realm of existence and then interact within it. VR examples include William Gibson\u2019s \u2018consensual hallucination\u2019 construct found in\u00a0Neuromancer<\/em><\/a>,\u00a0Oculus Rift<\/a>\u00a0rigs, and the movie (and much earlier novel)\u00a0Ready Player One<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The cross-dimensional intrusions represented by AR and VR are now beginning to create advanced and\u00a0out of paradigm capabilities<\/a>\u00a0beyond the understanding and doctrinal perceptions of traditional military thinking.<\/p>\n

The Actual\/Potential Militarization of Augmented Reality and Virutal Reality<\/h3>\n

Interestingly, the initial mass application of augmented reality\u2014incorporating AI, advanced biometric identification, and data storage and networking technologies\u2014will be for internal population control related to the\u00a0Social Credit System (SCS)<\/a>\u00a0currently being enacted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) throughout China. SCS would make\u00a0Big Brother<\/a>\u00a0found in the novel\u00a01984<\/em>\u00a0blush with envy.<\/p>\n

This initial fielding falls within the\u00a0New Wars<\/em><\/a>\u00a0construct of Mary Kaldor in which \u201c\u2026new warfare also tends to avoid battle and to control territory through political control of the population\u2026\u201d Hence, an authoritarian regime and rising peer competitor to Western liberal democracy has already militarized AR\u2014it has just done so in an unconventional and\u00a0Unrestricted Warfare<\/em><\/a>\u00a0manner.<\/p>\n

As expected, the Chinese regime is beginning to export the SCS globally to allied and like-minded regimes in its quest for establishing a parallel world order based on authoritarian values of governance.<\/p>\n