Augmented Reality vs Virtual Reality?

Augmented Reality is said to be a stepping stone for virtual reality and without the idea of it, VR wouldn't be here. But does that mean Augmented Reality is completely useless and is nothing compared to Virtual I fight that it does have an individual purpose and without the use of augmented reality, virtual reality can't develop further.

Augmented reality is considered an extension of virtual reality. Virtual Reality (VR) is a virtual space in which players immerse themselves into that space and exceed the bounds of physical reality. In virtual reality, time, physical laws and material properties may no longer be thought of as true, in contrast to the real-world environment. Instead of considering AR and VR as exact opposite concepts, see them as meshes which combine into each other and enhance each other's capabilities to the next step.

By using augmented reality, virtual can become bigger and can make a person even more interactive with the world around them by bringing the concept  of augmented to it. As augmented mainly relies on a sensory system and works around that, I think that adding that sensor based interactivity to the already virtual reality could be really what takes us to the future.

Virtual reality as a whole will change a lot of human perspectives on different mediums. From film & TV to music, to architecture and more.

In film & TV, the medium will develop its own form of interactivity with the movie. The viewers cannot just control the films with the simple commands, but also be immersed into them. In creating VR movies, a viewer can be thrown into scenes as if living the film and enjoy it at a front seat perspective. From film to cinemas, the way cinemas exist would change. Cinemas might not even need the big screens anymore. Instead, using the internet, they can develop a system which navigates buyers to watch films using an in-buy system (similar to that of iTunes).

Architecture would be thought through when being built. Instead of just being an add-on in the building, the building could be based around this concept and use this technology to its best use. Buildings can be customised to project information on screens, to other people with VR and more.

Overall, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality are not enemies in the Technology Race. Instead they complement each other and enhance each other's capabilities. While augmented reality can follow the command given, it still needs a physical object there so it can sense something. While in virtual you don't need objects for sensory purposes, the lack of control when it comes to body movements (in my opinion) could be made better with augmented based reality.

With Google Glass taking its next step into creation and to be soon released, we shall see whether virtual reality lives up to the words of praise it's been given.