Hey, I'm Pete. At my core being, I am a creator. I possess a vivid vision of an Augmented Reality future yet to come. With a decades worth of ideas surrounding this idea, I’ve decided to combine my propensity for storytelling with these imaginative concepts. 

 

    In May of 2021 I began the writing process, building out the characters and the concepts behind this fictional world that will allow me to express a societally integrated Augmented Reality future. A fundamental component to the functionality of Andestria, The Virtualization is the AR platform on which everyone is connected to, allowing them to see digital objects overlaid onto the physical environment. This is a shared, persistent, and seamless experience between all of the citizens of Andestria. Given that all Andestrians are connected to The Virtualization permanently via contact lenses, Augmented Reality can now become a canvas for me to create upon. I don’t view this project as a story about Augmented Reality, I see it as a story that can be told because of Augmented Reality. 

 

    Chris Cornell and Audioslave may have summed it up best in their popular hit song, “I Am the Highway”. My interpretation of the lyrics, “I am not your autumn moon, I am the night” have had a profound way on how I look at creation. For without the night sky, what is an autumn moon? The night becomes the canvas for which the moon can be expressed upon. Similarly, AR allows for an entirely new way for humans to interact with information and more importantly, each other.

 

    I had this realization just as I was beginning to get into Virtual Reality development in the glory days of the Oculus DK2. It was perhaps Palmer Luckey, founder of Oculus VR, that pointed out the fact that this technology was in fact a new medium; a new canvas for creation. And so it began, my fascination with the ability to perceive and interact with the world in an entirely new way. 

 

    Expression, a fundamental action that every human does with or without knowing it, had been changed forever. But VR wasn’t enough for me, it was simply the entrance to a digital world with endless possibilities. It was surely a transformative experience, feeling present in a virtual environment. The only caveat was that it was entirely digital; when you take the goggles off those possibilities are gone. I began to dream of this future with a pair of “Magic Sunglasses” I could one day give to my children for a couple hours a day that gave them access to an unlimited amount of creation tools. Magic Sunglasses Time would be perfect for getting those wildly imaginative ideas of childhood expressed into the world rather than being confined to a figment of imagination.

 

    While I waited for Magic Leap to launch a product that promised to deliver this dream of mine, I got my hands on the Microsoft HoloLens. Until that point in my life, I could only imagine what it would be like to see holograms floating around the world. It was now clear; the technology exists, this can be something, this will be something. I remember walking around the college campus wearing the HoloLens, dotting the corridors and workspaces with holograms and diving into an entirely new set of possibilities that this technology could provide. The looks I got from the other students were priceless, but that experience was more valuable. I couldn’t wait to see what the campus would look like when everyone had an AR device of their own, hopefully in a form factor that wasn’t so ridiculous. If the technology could get there, if the artistic and productivity tools were embedded, the very essence of creation would be redefined forever.

 

    And so there I was, a man with all of these creative ideas of what the future would look like. But where did I fit in? My VR projects were merely tech demos and prototypes, my passion for being connected to hockey and my community ice rink kept me from pursuing a career in the industry. I was happy and comfortable enjoying my life doing what I loved to do. Meanwhile the calling to this digital world kept beaconing louder and louder like the beating of a war drum, yet I resisted time and time again. It wasn’t until I read “The Big Leap” by Gay Hendricks for the fifth time that I learned how to hone in on that one special skill that I have, learned how to get out of my own way, learned how to aspire to a life within my Zone of Genius. 

 

    Andestria is now my life’s work. I hope you will enjoy the stories that will be told in this world. I hope you’ll feel optimistic about the future of Augmented Reality and its limitless expressive potential. Perhaps you’ll become inspired to engineer the technology. I hope you embrace your inner creativity and utilize the creation tools at your disposal to create a wondrous, beautiful world that we all share together. 

 

    We live in a truly magnificent time in the history of humanity and I can’t wait to see what the future we build together will look like.