As our world becomes more digital, we are being surrounded by bits pretending to be atoms. That’s what the whole field of augmented reality (AR) is about. Through a headset or handheld device, the atoms of our “real” reality are augmented by images created from bits on the device. We then perceive our overall reality as a combination of both.
Sometimes we don’t even realize that the added bits aren’t really atoms. In particular on “live” televised events. Initially popularized as the “first and ten” line on football games, the ability to overlay images on live broadcasts has advanced to most other sporting events, and beyond.
With “first and ten,” introduced by the NFL in 1998, anyone watching a game on TV sees a line on the field indicating where the offense needs to get to for a “first down.” Fans (not to mention players) at the game see no sign of that line, often to the surprise of those attending their first in-person game.
Most of us understand that the line isn’t really there, and recognize similar modifications to our core reality (remember “virtual fans” during the pandemic?). But some bits pretending to be atoms are harder to spot.
There has long been advertising around the field of play in sports venues: billboards on outfield fences, signs on the boards of hockey rinks. But AR has moved that advertising onto the field of play. Ads can now be seen on the pitcher’s mound, the basketball court floor, and the ice itself. And “fake” ads even overlay “real” ones in many cases, sometimes changing distractingly (for remote viewers only) in the middle of the action.
Like all technologies, sometimes things go wrong, with interesting results. Certain camera angles, or instant replays, don’t include the augmented elements, resulting in a sort of cognitive dissonance for viewers. And once in a while “bugs” creep in, like the time an advertisement “fell” onto the centerfielder during the World Series.
Similar to exceptions that prove the rule, sometimes these bugs are the only way we can understand that what we’re seeing isn’t “real.” It’s just bits pretending to be atoms. As the bits get better at pretending however, it will become even harder for us to tell. In fact maybe we already can’t.
*How many errors can you spot in the “What Viewers See” panel of chatGPT’s image? And which technology is to blame for those errors?