Extended Reality (XR) and Virtual Consciousness:
Description: Augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and the metaverse create immersive digital environments where human and digital cognition intersect, potentially forming shared virtual consciousness.
Progress:
Meta’s Quest 3 and Apple’s Vision Pro (2024) have driven XR adoption, with ~20 million VR headsets sold globally by 2025.
Metaverse platforms like Decentraland host millions of interactions, blending human creativity with AI-driven environments.
Metrics: Adoption rates, immersion quality (e.g., frames per second, field of view), and user engagement time (e.g., average 2 hours/day in VR for active users).
Relevance to Noosphere: XR could create a digital noosphere where humans and AI co-create shared realities. The GCP’s focus on synchronized attention suggests collective XR experiences might amplify effects, though unstudied.
Challenges: High costs, motion sickness, and privacy concerns limit mainstream adoption.