With the onslaught of Virtual Reality headsets in the first half of this year, there’s a lot more interest in what it is, why it is, what we might do with it and will it take off and this week in our regular catch up Austereo’s Anthony Tilli and I caught up to chat all things Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR)

So our first task was to tell the difference between AR and VR.

AR takes the real world and adds stuff to it, think Minority Report and heads-up car displays, whilst VR requires you to put on a helmet or similar and replaces the real world with a digital one.

Psychologists have proven that regardless of which method the human brain is fooled within a couple of minutes (but usually much sooner) into believing the digital world is real and the body and brain then reacts accordingly

And if you’re not sure it makes sense – you wouldn’t fly in a plane if the pilot hadn’t spent lots of hours training in a virtual cockpit.

Already many Surgeons trial their operation on virtual patients using virtual scalpels and instruments to make sure that when they get to the real thing they’re ready and know what to do and when.Today some teachers learn to control virtual students (as if they can) in virtual classrooms so they know what to do in the real world and some psychologists are already curing phobia patients by immersing them in virtual fear experiences so that they can get used to and overcome their anxieties in the real world.

Tommy Hilfiger recorded last years New York Fashion Show and allows customers in its 5th Ave store to put a headset on and watch the show and the examples go on.

It’s early day, headsets will come out, people will buy them, they will try them, there won’t be enough interesting / purposeful uses for them and we’ll get disillusioned and complain and then a year or so from now content will increase, purpose will be found and the technology will come back with force.

My long-term money however is on Augmented, because as much as I love VR, and I do, I don’t want to wear a helmet or goggles ongoing.

So have a listen now (5 minutes 27 seconds) and then decide for yourself AR or VR or both.