My killer use case for augmented reality not really mine

In 2016 my family and I visited Masada, a famous ancient site in Israel near the Dead Sea.

As our tour group walked around the ruins, our guide challenged us to imagine the daily life at this place occupied in the years before and just after Year 0.

The thought hit me that if I could be wearing AR goggles, as I looked at the ruins, animation could show the buildings as they actually were, and actors dressed in period clothing going about their business. I got quite excited about the idea, imagining tourists renting AR goggles at any historical site.

Imagine settlers building cabins at Jamestown, Washington sitting in his study at Mount Vernon, the debates in Constitution Hall, or roaming the streets of Jerusalem (as we did the day after Masada) and seeing people living and working as they did in the first century AD (or any date you choose).

Blogging this idea has been on my to-do list since our return home in March 2016.

Lately I re-read Daniel Suarez's amazing Daemon. Knowing the next book, Freedom, was really the second part of Daemon more than a sequel, I am re-reading it as well.

In Chapter 4 of Freedom, the hero visits the Anasazi Indian ruins in New Mexico. He is wearing what are basically AR glasses.

"With a wave of his hand, glowing D-Space lines suddenly began to extend from the ruins, rising to complete the walls all around them—filling in the missing gaps and extending translucent 3-D walls and roofs above and around them. The immense structure was being rebuilt before their eyes. Pottery, possessions, and other objects appeared as though filling in a level map for a video game. Avatars of Anasazi Indians walked through the doorway bearing baskets. Others moved through the rooms on their daily business, speaking to one another in their native tongue. Children ran past Sebeck, laughing. He could hear water flowing and song. Anasazi civilization had come back to life around them."

The book came out in 2011. I'm not sure when I first read it, but it was definitely prior to my 2016 visit to Masada.

This is the best use case I can imagine for consumer use of AR. And it is doable in my lifetime.

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