Vision Summit Introduces Richard Dawkins, NFL & Jet Propulsion as Keynote Speakers

Unity Technologies has revealed four additional speakers who will be attending this year’s Vision VR/AR Summit, self-described as the definitive event for innovators in the field of Virtual and Augmented Reality. Today, the event gains author and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Victor Luo, NFL Film’s Jason Weber and Facebook’s Rachel Franklin. Dawkins, who will open the event with his talk “Constrained Virtual Reality: A Technology That is Millions of Years Old”, will explore the nature of VR from the perspective of an evolutionary biologist.

Dawkins elaborated further on the title of his talk, explaining how the human brain is essentially the storage place of ‘software’ that’s responsible for constructing our perception of reality:

“What we see is a model world, constructed by the brain in much the same way as VR software works in the computer. An animal’s world model is constructed to help it survive. A bat, using echoes, and a swallow using light, need the same kind of world model: suitable for high-speed aerobatics catching insects. Do bats even hear in colour? Our perception of reality is a virtual model run by software in the brain, constrained by sensory inputs…That’s what I’m excited to explore in my talk at the Vision Summit.”

The full lineup of session speakers includes:

• Jay Wright, President & GM (Vuforia)
• Melissa Painter, award-winning filmmaker and author
• Jules Urbach, CEO (Otoy, Inc.)
• Timoni West, Principal Designer, Unity Labs (Unity)
• Danny Bilson, Screenwriter/Creative Director
• Jacob Mullins, Principal (Shasta Ventures)
• Chris Pruett, Head of Development Engineering (Oculus)
• Julie Shumaker, VP Business Development of Advertising (Unity)
• Ana Asnes Becker, Interactive Graphics Editor (Wall Street Journal)
• Steven Osman, Principal Software Engineer, Magic Lab (Sony)
• Michael Gallagher, President & CEO (Entertainment Software Association)

Select sessions include:

• Making Magic Across Both the Virtual and Real World at PlayStation
• VR Journalism: 360 Storytelling and the New Era of Reporting
• Unity + Octane: The Path to Holographic Cinematic Rendering
• Thinking Outside the Screen: Using the Environment As Your AR Canvas
• A History of XR in Pop Culture
• Samsung Innovations with Immersive Technologies
• Multiplayer Design in VR Gaming
• Building Cinematic VR: Timeline and Other Techniques
• XR Around the World Snapshot
• EditorVR Battle: Live on Stage
• Narrative Design in VR

The Vision VR/AR Summit 2017 is scheduled to take place on May 1-2, 2017 at the Loews Hollywood Hotel, California. Tickets are now available and have a price range between $190 – $500, depending on whether you purchase a Standard Pass or an Educator/Student Pass.

Source: Vision VR/AR Summit 2017