{"id":130,"date":"2021-11-10T13:27:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-10T13:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cogitateandpercolate.com\/?p=130"},"modified":"2026-06-29T13:42:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T13:42:47","slug":"a-history-of-xr-cross-reality-part-3-of-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cogitateandpercolate.com\/?p=130","title":{"rendered":"A History of XR Cross Reality Part 3 of 6"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\n

\n\n\n\n\n
\"Drawing<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
France_in_XXI_Century._School.jpg: Jean Marc Cote (if 1901) or Villemard (if 1910)derivative work: TVJunkie, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/h2>\n

1910 – 1965<\/span><\/h2>\n

In 1910<\/b>, the artist Jean
\n Marc Cote, is commissioned to create artwork for cigar boxes showing
\nhumanity in the year 2000. Some of these predictions hit remarkably
\nclose the mark.<\/span><\/p>\n

Flying firefighters. No? You do know that departments are incorporating drones, right?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"Art<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Villemard, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
<\/div>\n

Schools transformed by just listening-learning (blog banner image).<\/span><\/p>\n

Now educators and I can have a field day with just this image<\/b>. I
\n would ask a group of teachers-to-be to analyze what was correct in this
\n prediction and what was incorrect. We could go on and on. The main idea
\n here to get is that learning was going to transformed to occur only by listening<\/i>. How ridiculous, right? And yet, three years later in real life…<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"Photo<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thomas Edison examining some film. NPGallery, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u201cThomas
\n Edison famously predicted in 1913 that “Books will soon be obsolete in
\nschools” – but not because books were to be ground up by a knowledge
\nmill. Rather, Edison believed that one of the technological inventions
\nhe was involved with and invested in – the motion picture – would
\ndisplace both textbooks and teachers alike.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I believe that the
\nmotion picture is destined to revolutionize our educational system and
\nthat in a few years it will supplant largely, if not entirely, the use
\nof textbooks,” Edison asserted in 1922. “I should say that on the
\naverage we get about two percent efficiency out of schoolbooks as they
\nare written today. The education of the future, as I see it, will be
\nconducted through the medium of the motion picture\u2026 where it should be
\npossible to obtain one hundred percent efficiency.” (Watters, 2015<\/a>)<\/span><\/p>\n

From
\n 1913 to 1931, we have the age of radio. By 1931, television was
\ndemonstrated at the Iowa State Fair. Just two years after (so quick if
\nyou think about it) that the University of Iowa started to experiment<\/a>
\n with this medium. The first broadcasts were only video, no audio.
\nBecause televisions were scarcely available commercially and the signal
\nwas weak, users who could receive the signal tended to be with five
\nmiles of the campus and had built their own TVs from parts. If you
\nwanted to hear sound along with the video, you had to tune in your radio
\n at the same time. Descriptions of the image produced in these
\nrudimentary TVs are actually scary (colors, shapes, very fuzzy). But it
\nis a start!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"Photo<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
General Electric early television set. DogsRNice, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

Professors
\n quickly figured out that they could broadcast radio from home and then
\ndid so. Students still had to travel to campus and sit in seats to
\nlisten. The next innovation was two way radio so students could ask
\nquestions of the professor.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"Photo<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Haaren High School, New York, accounting class, by radio. Source: https:\/\/onetuberadio.com\/2023\/07\/10\/1923-distance-learning\/<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

1957 <\/b>
\n The Sensorama by Morton Heilig is considered the first cross reality
\nmachine. It provided visuals, sounds, vibrations, and smells.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"Side<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sensorama patent filing diagram, side view.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

1958<\/b>
\n I cannot resist including this image of an electric typewriter because
\nuse of text is a common theme that carries through our history of XR and
\n I do believe it will continue into the future. What is interesting is
\nthe boast that her grades will improve by 38% if you buy her an electric
\n typewriter. Her grades will improve in what…typing class?<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Typewriter<\/a><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

1960 <\/b>No history mentioning futurism would be complete without mentioning Walt Disney. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"Photo<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Source: expolounge.blogspot.com<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

In
\n addition to his many other achievements, Walt Disney was a visionary
\nfuturist and he did not stop with just dreaming; he set in place plans
\nto create the future. This particular image is associated with his plans
\n for EPCOT, his Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow. I\u2019d like
\nto point out that this image is from 1960 when Walt Disney was also
\nplanning his displays for the 1964 World\u2019s Fair (what would become It’s A
\n Small World and The Carousel of Progress). Walt never lived to see
\nEPCOT open but his flair for looking into the future appeared in the
\nrides as I will show in a future article. At this point, we note that he
\n looked at the future with ideas about community, centralization of
\nservices, and the importance of neighborhoods.<\/span><\/p>\n

Also in 1960, the first videoconferencing was conducted. This gives us the sharing of live video and audio.<\/span><\/p>\n

1965<\/b> This paleo futuristic cartoon seems to predict a dire future of robots giving instruction. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"Comic<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
“Robot teacher from the December 5, 1965 edition of the Sunday comic strip Our New Age” Source: Novak Archive.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

But
\n look closely at the prediction: \u201cCompressed speech will help
\ncommunications. From talking with pilots, to teaching reading. Future
\nschool children may hear their lessons at twice the rate and understand
\nthem better!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Did they get that wrong? Ever noticed this choice at YouTube? [I’m not implying that learners can learn at a higher speed, I’m pointing to the availability of speeding up videos– a different thing altogether.]<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"Capture<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
YouTube playback speed choices<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

1966 <\/b> Have another cartoon prediction.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
\"Comic<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Source: http:\/\/publicdomainreview.org\/collections\/france-in-the-year-2000-1899-1910\/<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u201cBy
\n 2016, man\u2019s intelligence and intellect will be able to be increased by
\ndrugs and by linking human brains directly to computers.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Well, my intellect is<\/i> increased by coffee. I won\u2019t speak for you.<\/span><\/p>\n

Part 1 380 B.C. to 1880 <\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Part 2 1881 to 1909<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Part 3 1910 to 1965<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Part 4 1966 – 1998<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Part 5 1999 – 2013<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Part 6  2014 – Future<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

#Reality
\n #CrossReality #MixedReality #VirtualReality #AugmentedReality
\n#VirtualWorlds #Design #Transmedia #XR #VR #AR #ARVRinEdu #EdTech
\n#Innovation #Change #WaltDisney #Epcot #ProgressCity #JeanMarcCote
\n#CigarBox #Year2000 #PaleoFuture #Sensorama #ThomasEdison<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

This article originally posted on LinkedIn on November 29, 2021. Updated February 24, 2026 with a better font and re-added images.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\n  France_in_XXI_Century._School.jpg: Jean Marc Cote (if 1901) or Villemard (if 1910)derivative work: TVJunkie, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons 1910 –…\n<\/div>\n
Continue reading “A History of XR Cross Reality Part 3 of 6”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":131,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[102,72,27,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-research","category-vr","category-xr","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cogitateandpercolate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cogitateandpercolate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cogitateandpercolate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cogitateandpercolate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cogitateandpercolate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=130"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cogitateandpercolate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":143,"href":"https:\/\/cogitateandpercolate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions\/143"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cogitateandpercolate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cogitateandpercolate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cogitateandpercolate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cogitateandpercolate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}