WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

Sometimes we can forget how powerful, and how immersive, technology can be and this short film provides a timely reminder.

Strange Beasts is a dystopian British short film of Netflix’s drama Black Mirror – and it packs an equally strong punch in about a fifth of the time.

The film starts out with a game developer named “Victor” who’s promoting his new augmented reality game that allows players to “create, customise and grow your very own creature.”

Sound familiar?

“We don’t just want to sit around staring at a screen, we want to be a part of our own entertainment,” he says.

Victor then goes on to explain the technology works by superimposing computer generated images over real world objects by projecting a digital light field, something that Magic Leap, the multi-billion dollar augmented reality (AR) start up that’s still in stealth mode is said to be working on, directly into your eye, and he insists the game isn’t dangerous to players’ vision. In fact it’s the opposite, he argues, it gives them a sort of “super vision.”

After meeting Walter, Victor’s virtual pet, we then meet his daughter, Anna, and her virtual pet, and while Victor says Strange Beasts gives players a “friend for life” it’s evident that things aren’t all they seem…

As we use new emerging technologies, like virtual reality (VR) and AR to create new “powerful” experiences the film serves as a stark warning of the future we could end up “living in,” and for my part I’d suggest you watch it and reflect.

Is this the future you want? Arguably, we could all find ourselves marching headlong into this form of techno fuelled “coma” without realising it until it’s too late, and we all need to be careful to not let our humanity slip away.

Beware of false dreams.