What if I told you there was a virtual
revolution happening right now and that
every single one of you would be
affected if not today than in the near
future it's staggering to think via
casino resurgence in the past four years
and there are over 150 million virtual
reality users in the world today now
these users range from everything from
young kids to grownups to grandparents
like you just saw that was an 81 year
old granddad who was using virtual
reality for the first time a part of
what's been getting VR so much attention
and hype over the past few years has
been things like that people's reactions
to it it's mesmerizing to watch my whole
life is a digital creative director I've
spent time trying to find trying to get
people moments to escape reality but my
passion was sparked when I was a kid my
story actually begins in the early 80s I
was the youngest of four kids and we
grew up in quite a rough neighborhood my
mom taught me from a very early age that
if I wanted to build a future for myself
and get out of this place
I had to work really hard not just hard
but super hard and that if I wanted
something I had to try to be the best at
it now we didn't have a lot you get to
share everything being the youngest of
four when I always had to wait till the
very end to play with it everything from
our first bike to our first scale
electric set and you can see how happy
is when I
I only got my hands on it and that horse
that was on our playground was my
favorite toy can guess why because there
were four seats which means I didn't
have to wait so mom taught me and drawed
it into me every day work hard she'd say
build a better future for yourself and
my dad well he taught me that you can be
anything that you want and in fact he
taught me that being a girl should never
stop me from doing the things that set
my heart on fire and I took that
learning and those lessons from my
parents to a completely different level
when one day my dad brought home one of
these it was the Commodore 64 now I
don't know how dad managed to afford
this thing but he did and it sparked my
passion for technology that still exists
today
make us proud this year two million
families will send their kids off to
college
but tell you these kids won't be able to
compete because they lack computer
skills a home computer can help the
Commodore 64 gives you more computer for
less money than anyone else instead of
saving for your kids education maybe you
should spend a little for it and don't
you love that at the end of that they
weren't targeting a young boys they were
targeting at the young girls it wasn't a
Barbie doll that came out of that gift
it was a Commodore 64 well I spent most
of my childhood trying to ace this I
wanted to be better than my brothers at
everything and I was pretty bad at it
and I can tell you but I worked really
hard I practice every single day when
they weren't watching and then one day I
played them and I beat them and I was
pretty good and I realized something
that if I worked hard and did something
I enjoyed I'd become pretty good at it
so good that it would make me feel
invincible because if I could beat them
then I could do anything right I loved
being in the imaginary worlds when I was
playing on that Commodore 64 it made me
feel it made me forget where we were
from it made me feel invincible I could
be a racing car driver if I wanted to be
I could be a ninja or even better I
could be a Ghostbuster
now when I realized that I could beat my
brothers at this something happened it
gave me a level of confidence that I
forgot where we came from I forgot that
we didn't have much I forgot that we had
to share everything and I became so
confident in what I could do that I knew
hard work and passion would get me there
I turned that fear and I became fearless
about everything
I spent a decade in my career as digital
creative director trying to find
experiences that would take people to
another world something that would be
unforgettable just as I did when I was a
child and I played that Commodore 64 and
as new mediums emerged I harnessed the
power of each of them everything from
the web to mobile to creating
interactive immersive experiences and
then in 2013 something really
interesting happened we pushed beyond
the frame we received one of these at
the time I was working at AKQA a digital
creative agency we received the first
dk1 headset which was a developer kit
from oculus
when we tried it something happened I
wanted everybody to try it it gave me
goosebumps my legs turned to jelly
something happened I felt like that
little child receiving the Commodore 64
again these imaginary worlds transported
us and we were so excited within eight
weeks we had pitched an idea to Nissan
one of our clients to debut the oculus
rift at the Tokyo Motor Show it sounds
crazy now I think about it this was a
technology we knew nothing about we'd
never ever used it we didn't know how to
play in it but we were excited about
putting this into the hands of young
drivers so that they could concept their
own cars working in a new technology and
a new medium filled us with a sense of
fear joy and this nervous exciting it
challenged everything we knew about
immersive experiences we had to change
not only the way we worked but the way
we thought and a pro
these virtual worlds but it was seeing
the reactions of millions of people at
the Tokyo Motor Show going through the
PR for the first time taking the headset
off and being mesmerised and I knew then
that this wasn't a technology this was
an entirely new medium and what was
exciting what excited me the most is we
had barely scratched the surface of what
was possible and so I decided to move my
whole life to New York where I joined
frame stores virtual reality studio now
at the time there were only a few
studios in the world who were dabbling
in the dark arts or VR and I wanted to
learn as much as I could I wanted to be
the best at it now over the past four
years in be our frame stores virtual
reality studio we've created a number of
experiences everything that you can
imagine and all of them are being
focused on transporting you to a
completely different world making you
feel like you can do anything and be
anywhere but you know what the most
important thing I discovered in the past
four years of working in VR is that
working in any new medium is really
about a mindset whether we transport you
to being a Marvel Avenger in the heart
of a battle scene or whether we take a
group of school kids on a bus on an
ordinary school bus and then transport
them onto the surface of Mars so that
they one day may be inspired to go to
Mars or whether we take you and put you
into the heart of JK Rowling's Wizarding
World where you come face to face with
the majestic Thunderbird vo is really
about a mindset it's not about a
skillset working in any new medium
requires you to be fearless because it
is hard work we felt so many times and
every time we fouled I felt like I
couldn't do this but you have to be
fearless in your approach you have to
believe
you can do it you have to show grit and
tenacity and you have to know of course
it's going to be hard work because if it
was easy then everybody would do it bi
is forcing us to work right outside of
our comfort zones
if challenging everything we know and if
you thrive in adversity then this is the
medium that you will want to claim it's
frightening it's scary and it's
challenging all at the same time and you
have to take so many risks but the
rewards outweigh the risks
now what's exciting is we've barely left
the starting blocks this is the lumina
brothers arrival of the train in 1895
they were pioneers in early filmmaking
they played this film which was a first
motion piece to a to a theater full of
theater goers just like yourselves who
ran out of the theater screaming and
shouting because they believed that
train was literally going to hit them
right in the face I know crazy right we
are still in the early days of they are
much like the early days of filmmaking
it would take a decade of filmmakers to
master their craft to even attempt the
first feature film which was the story
of the Kelly Gang in 1906 and it would
be many many more these many years later
before they would craft filmmaking to
achieve the greatness of what you
understand to be a feature film today
now working in VR requires us to
understand that it is still early days
many people still think that VR is a fad
and it's not going to take off well let
me put that into a little bit of context
for you when IBM CEO Thomas Watson said
that there would only be a world market
for five computers he never imagined
that in the next 50 years there would be
a computer in every single American
household now a huge caveat Hey
when Thomas was talking about computers
they were the size of the house and sure
nobody really wanted one of those now
but that's the whole point any new
medium starts off big and clunky it gets
more compact it gets more affordable and
you have to have a vision about where
it's going to go you have to believe in
its potential and those that do will
reap the world's and benefits well let's
not forget
'dallas anak he was CEO of 20th 20th
Century Fox now he underestimated the
power of the TV he never imagined that
the TV would not only one day that
plywood box that he thought was just a
fad and people would get bored with it
not only would it be in every one of
your households but it would be slimmer
than my iPhone now we have to move
beyond the spectacle of VR and we have
to start shifting our focus into a sense
of purpose for this new medium right now
we are in the early days but I imagine
where VR could transform education
imagine where VR could actually heal you
or imagine if veal could transform the
way you train and perform as an athlete
well guess what you guys don't need to
imagine because it's already happening
VR is transforming education in a way
that I never imagined the information
that was once in a text book is being
lifted you can step right into the heart
of human body and explore every single
facet it is changing the way we not only
educate children but ourselves and the
army is using VR and exposure therapy to
help War veterans recover from the
traumatic experiences of war we never
imagined that a medium like this could
be used in such a way and the NFL in the
USA have been using VR for the past few
years not only to measure athletic
performance but to actually improve
athletic ability on the field I imagine
a world of possibilities for VR maybe
it's the kidding me I love to dream big
but imagine if virtual reality could
change the way you
you learn change the way you Kate
yourselves change the way you heal
change the way you think about the world
I imagine a world where imagination and
curiosity will power progress in this
medium and I believe all of this is
possible in the future virtual reality
is going to get more compact it will be
slimmer it will be faster and it will be
more affordable which means that over
90% of households will have a virtual
reality's virtual reality headset or an
augmented reality headset in their hands
and where we have only six degrees of
freedom I believe in the future there
will be a hundred degrees of freedom
which means you won't be limited to the
space that we're we're in which I'm
standing in the future I believe that
virtual reality would be more connected
which means one day I won't be standing
here in front of you but we would
virtually be sharing the same experience
together I believe that it will change
the way we connect as humans and the
change the way we interact this week
alone Facebook announced Facebook spaces
I wrote this presentation a while ago
and I already feel like the future has
already happened
I can't bet I can barely keep up
Facebook spaces allows for us to not
only be in the same virtual world
together to hang out to learn things
imagine if you never had to go work
again you can virtually connect with
anyone at any time and I believe that
virtual reality will coupled with
artificial intelligence would change the
way we interact as humans imagine if you
could put a headset on and you had your
own digital human powered by AI to learn
anything you wanted today I'll learn a
language tomorrow
I'll learn how to do heart surgery the
limitations the things that virtual
reality allows us to do is open up our
world and create unlimited potential for
humans I believe all of this is possible
and as I navigate the virtual realms I
encourage you to do the same
it will be hard work it requires grit it
requires you to push and yourselves
right outside of your comfort zone but
when you do it's so exhilarating it
requires you to deliver ideas with a
sense of purpose something that added
that adds value to the world work hard
work with people with the same mindset
as yourself to be the best that you can
be and whatever you do in this medium be
fearless thank you Josh city ladies and
gentlemen
