A Vision for the Future of the Internet

As the chair Professor of Pervasive Computing at City University London and founder and director of the Mixed Reality Lab in Singapore, Dr. Adrian Cheok's research is focused on a multisensory platform that will enable new ways of communication. He envisions a near future where smell, touch, and taste information enrich virtual environments. He spoke to us about his vision for the future of the Internet and human learning, and how the classroom will be much like something out of Star Wars.

On multisensory communication in education, Cheok explained: "The limbic system of the brain is responsible for emotions and memory. It regulates smell, taste, as well as touch. Senses cause subconscious changes in emotion and memory. You can get kids to read a book, or 10 books, or 100 books about cycling, but unless they actually get on a bicycle, they won't know how to do it. Let's say you're a teacher in a class about ancient Rome. Besides a 3-D visual tour, what if you could also taste or smell the content of the dishes? That would be embodiment — using your body to learn."

On the future of schools, he said: "I think schools will survive but the model will change. A lecture can equally be taught on YouTube or with interactive software. Schools will have to flip the classroom: all the lectures would be online, and the school would be focused on the teacher helping you solve problems, using experiential learning. The knowledge exchange where students sit listening to the teacher can be done online; it doesn't need the classroom."

He predicted significant changes for universities: "A lot of universities are putting their content online. Stanford, MIT, Harvard — all the top universities are putting content for free on the Internet. People pay for a degree in an elite university even if it's fully online because the strong branding helps their career dramatically. I predict a lot of universities will shut down in the future but others will thrive even more by focusing on the Internet. The whole middle part is going to become extinct."

On what application of multisensory communication he would like to see materialize first, Cheok described multisensory telepresence: "The Internet not being used only for audio-visual information but full five senses communication. Have you seen the Jedi council meetings in Star Wars? Some of the attendants are physically there, some are holograms, and it does not matter if they are in another galaxy. In the future we'll be able to interact with 3-D graphics, maybe holograms, touch, taste, and smell. You'll see a virtual flower but you could also touch it, pick it up, and smell it."

The following is a science fiction short story by Hernan Ortiz that explores what the future of education might look like with these multisensory communication technologies.

The Punishment Room: The narrator, a high school student named Johnson, is sent to a new punishment room for not wearing his uniform. The room turns out to be an advanced multisensory communication chamber, built through a partnership between the school and a foundation called Friends of Seniors. It scans Johnson's body and fits him with a dynamic multi-textured uniform and mixed-reality lenses, then provides him with a "programmable bubblegum" capable of simulating taste.

Johnson is connected with Mr. Pepe Lugo, an elderly retired teacher in a wheelchair, enrolled in the Friends of Seniors program. The room transforms into a Colombian restaurant in Cartagena, where Mr. Pepe guides Johnson through ordering food in Spanish — his subject of interest, motivated by a crush on Natalia, a Colombian girl who works at the local mall's multisensory rooms.

As they eat, the bubblegum transforms to simulate the textures and flavors of each dish — the crispy carimaola con queso, the fibrous posta negra, the sandy patacon con suero. Johnson finishes the meal feeling "mentally satisfied, physically hungry." Mr. Pepe notes that Johnson remembered all the food names, demonstrating the power of embodiment in learning.

The story reveals that Mr. Pepe keeps a digital version of his deceased wife with him in the virtual space. Johnson, initially dismissive, comes to understand the old man's loneliness. When Johnson asks if they can visit a mall simulation together so he can practice Spanish, Mr. Pepe hesitates — he suffers from an elderly anxiety disorder and is afraid of walking, even virtually.

The Spanish teacher reveals that the foundation believes young students like Johnson are better able to help elderly users overcome these barriers. Johnson realizes the punishment room is not about punishment at all — it is about connection. He persuades Mr. Pepe to leave the restaurant for the mall. The old man says goodbye to his digital wife, stands up from his virtual wheelchair, and follows Johnson. The story ends with Mr. Pepe's wheelchair rolling forward until he catches up with — and passes — the young man.