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Magic Leap has been very outward with their public face regarding their upcoming augmented reality product. They've been promising a great deal, and the media has hyped up their image as a result, using CGI assets provided by Magic Leap and the fact that Google has provided venture capital as fuel for the fire.

However, I have found little actual information regarding the feasibility of such a product, both technologically speaking and for the consumer. We know VR-ready (opaque) light field displays have been done before and are reasonably practical (physically speaking; rendering is another challenge), but what Magic Leap describes is a very different experience.

I was hoping their 40-minute MIT Technology Review 10 Breakthrough Technologies video interview would be clarifying in this regard, but I felt it was not. The closest thing to a physical description was the CEO using phrases in passing like "dynamic wavefront of light", "light-sculptures that are continuously interacting with our eye-brain system", "silicon photonics", and "3-dimensional matrix with nanostructure".

Can they deliver what they are promising? Is it feasible for this to come to the consumer in the next 1-3 years and change people's lives in the way they imply?

TND
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  • [Welcome to Skeptics!](http://meta.skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/1505/welcome-to-new-users) This question appears to be calling for opinions, which aren't welcome here. What sort of answer would you accept that demonstrates that they can or can't deliver the technology. I can't imagine anyone answering that they can deliver the technology short of "Well, they already are." – Oddthinking Jun 08 '15 at 09:08
  • @Oddthinking I agree but note that some forms of predicting the future can be allowable topics on his site: climate modelling; economic forecasts; ... – ChrisW Jun 08 '15 at 13:01
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    @ChrisW: Yes, science is about predictions, and relying on peer-reviewed modelling is fine. I'd be satisfied with "Have researchers demonstrated ?" which is unfalsifiable, but at least answerable in one direction. But the question about whether one company can deliver its claims is always an unknown until they do. (Maybe there will be a stockmarket crash? Maybe their CFO will steal all their money. Maybe cosmic rays...) – Oddthinking Jun 08 '15 at 13:30
  • @Oddthinking - there are models to predict cosmic rays and stock market crashes. Oups, may be not the latter :) Seriously, this definitely isn't answerable in the scope of the site without very detailed and specific claim by the founder. – user5341 Jun 08 '15 at 14:57
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    You really have 3 separate questions. 1) Will the technology work? 2) Can it be delivered to the consumer at a workable price? 3) Will it change people's lives in any significant way? I don't know enough about the tech to even guess at 1 & 2. As for 3, I'd say no, based on experience of all past tech. – jamesqf Jun 08 '15 at 18:30
  • only people who have signed an NDA have been allowed to actually see/use the device. The only thing I have seen them say about the hardware is that it will be "wearable enough" – John McNamara Jun 11 '15 at 12:40

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