Synopsis:
Carlos F. is a programmer haunted by dreams in which a strange symbol scans various people, and in which an indistinct, mysterious figure seems to want to tell him something. Finding analogies with biometric recognition software, Carlos decides to programme his augmented-vision lenses to see whether, among the people he passes, he can find someone whose parameters match those of the figure in his dream.
Background:
In the not too distant future, some devices that already exist today, albeit in restricted settings and applications, will be widespread – I am referring specifically to augmented-vision contact lenses, but the reasoning applies to many more add-ons. Here I focused on the lenses and on how easily users might programme them directly for any purpose.
We already live in a time when our "virtual" life is significant, both in the relationships we establish and in our own projection into avatars that populate online virtual worlds and interact there with multiple realities and with other people's avatars. One may suppose that, one day, with the dizzying advances of science and technology, virtual worlds will be indistinguishable from the real one, so that what seems real to us may not be, given away only by the resolution of the screen/image or by small glitches in the flow of moving images.
We also often dream of the games we play "addictively", from the simplest Tetris (I used to close my eyes and keep seeing pieces falling) to action games (chases through mazes, as in Doom or Quake).
Which raises the question: with virtual reality almost indistinguishable from "real" reality, will we be able to tell them apart in our dreams? Is what is virtual less real than physical reality, if concepts and boundaries blur in our brains?
And... in the manner of Philip K. Dick... do our avatars dream too?
Many thanks to Francisco Areosa (Carlos F.), José Manuel Marques and António Bagorro. Without your help and collaboration this project would not have been possible.
O Sentido do Olhar from Pedro Alves da Veiga on Vimeo.