For this 5th lecture of my HCI class, we had to read the Ultimate Display and discuss what Ivan Sutherland was able to predict that currently already happening and try to think what of his vision could potential become reality in the future

Ivan Sutherland’s “Ultimate Display” paper, written back in 1965, was like a crystal ball for future tech. He had some mind-blowing ideas that are already happening today, and some are still in the pipeline.

1. Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality : Sutherland was dreaming of immersive computer-generated worlds, and we’re not quite there yet, but VR and AR are real.

2. Interactive 3D Graphics: He talked about us playing around with objects in a 3D space. Well, that’s basically the heart of modern 3D games and design software, where you can build, shape, and interact with digital worlds.

3. Head-Mounted Displays : He predicted headsets that bring the digital world right in front of your eyes. Today, we have super fancy headsets like Oculus Rift and others that make you feel like you’re in another dimension.

4. Telepresence and Teleconferencing: Sutherland was also thinking about us interacting with each other in virtual spaces. Zoom and Teams, which are the go-to for video meetings nowadays, are basically fulfilling this vision.

Looking to the future, we might see even more incredible things:

So, Ivan Sutherland had this wild vision, and we’re slowly but surely catching up to it. The digital world is becoming more and more intertwined with our real lives, and who knows what other cool stuff we’ll see in the future?