We are at the precipice of an emergent phenomenon where digital intelligence is about to unleash a wave of creativity that will exceed almost everyone’s wildest dreams. While there’s the chance that some horrific dystopian future featuring our enslavement by evil robot overlords could occur, I find it pretty unlikely. After all, we managed to avoid killing ourselves off with nuclear weapons in spite of all the doom-and-gloom prophecies.

So, with the obligatory nod to the pessimists that bad could come of it, I now opt to share the cultural positives that will likely emerge from the exploration of artificial intelligence, also known as deep learning. Why is this important to virtual reality? It’s because I don’t see Hypatia and VR as exclusively living in the world of gaming, on the contrary, it is a window to our future, creativity, and education. A future where passive entertainment is anathema to the progress of an advanced civilization. A future that demands our participation. Hypatia is an immersive explorer in which there will be much more than casual observation of pretty places; the visitor to our world in the sun of VR will be compelled to pick up a paintbrush, sculpt, sing, create music, or juggle the atoms that hold the structure of this virtual reality together in order to learn a thing or two about the science of digital construction.

For a society to make these strides, we’ll have to think differently, and one of the fundamental changes occurring today that is forcing this confrontation with our ingrained, outmoded ways of thinking is the emergence of machine intelligence. Many are frightened by it, but I am not. It is the advent of this type of computing, powered by ever-faster computers, that is demanding we evaluate the potential of the machine’s intelligence before it displaces ours. The faster the technology changes, the faster it will propel us to move forward or fall behind.

To move forward, we have to find out where these advances intersect our own lives and how we can benefit from such a rapid evolution and then embrace our next step.

The reality, though, is that the general public is not ready for this and is, in fact, fearful and afraid of the change that is dragging them into the Unknown. So this then places the hope for a solution on the shoulders of artists and engineers to use their craft to ease the transition into our exploration of infinity. What will have to emerge are new creative forms, architectures, music, and expression.

We are already seeing some of the benefits when we ask our phone to answer a question or when we see the next advancement in self-driving cars. But this is just the tip of the electronic iceberg. How long before an algorithm helps guide our hand so we can draw better or the computer recognizes how we are playing an instrument and makes recommendations on how to play it better? We should already be asking why our phones aren’t helping us learn another language by translating what we say to it or analyzing our restaurant visits and recommending places to eat based on our previous culinary excursions.

What will come from our explorations of this frontier is mostly yet to be defined, and it will, with the help of unobtrusive guiding applications, engage us in fun and exciting discoveries that will more gracefully bring us into the future. This cannot be the work of just a few companies; it must come from the efforts of millions of individuals who embrace their role in advancing humanity into the new day where the digital sun shines brightly.

At the heart of a city is an essential quality that plays an important role for its citizens and is present in world-class centers: the intersection of social and creative elements. When designing Hypatia, we have taken this idea and placed it at our core; it is our heart, and it takes center stage.

In the context of virtual reality, “social” has a whole new meaning. While being able to directly communicate with friends and family is important and already a part of our world, a great city relies on the idea of the “commons” to engage its population. The commons are those social places where people gather, such as parks, museums, clubs, trails, coffee shops, river walks, galleries, and places of higher learning. We are building a new commons open and accessible to all of humanity, all the time, and without leaving home.

Considering that over 1 Billion people a year travel to other destinations to take part in the special places our Earth has to offer, such as London, Manhattan, Paris, Venice, Kyoto, Machu Picchu, the Grand Canyon, the Great Pyramids, and countless spots between, Hypatia is to be the destination for when we cannot get away physically. Hypatia is a curated virtual city where, at any given time, we can visit a world-class museum, take in a show, go painting, dance the night away, solve a puzzle, or explore the sublime.

This is where creativity comes into play and allows us to build something new with Hypatia. Our global stage is a dynamic environment where the creative works of our citizens will find a platform. Just as we will supply the map, buildings, transportation, and landscape, we will be recruiting “Friends of Hypatia” to help us build much of the content. We can create the tools, but it will be our visitors who fill the streets with graffiti, musical performances, poetry, photographs, installations, and stage plays.

We recognize that not everyone is a creator, and not everyone wants to help build the metropolis of the future. We are laying the foundation and creating a large part of our virtual world to inspire our visitors to celebrate the work of others by simply participating in an active form of consumption made possible with the advent of virtual reality. Exactly the form and function of how Hypatia will work will be rolled out in the coming months.

Today, we are celebrating International Women’s Day by highlighting the involvement of all women in arts and sciences. Pictured above are the current women of Timefire. According to surveys conducted by the International Game Development Association (IGDA), women represent less than 30% of the game development workforce. The gender representation statistics for virtual reality development have yet to be published.

We strongly believe in building an inclusive and supportive community, which is why many of us at Timefire have created a Women in Games International (WIGI) chapter locally. There are many other organizations in which you can get involved to support women in game development, virtual reality, programming, technology, etc.

Let us all spend today discussing how to achieve equal representation and celebrating all women around the world.

Submitted by Jessica Sweeny

Humanity is on the verge of reconstructing mass production and communication, starting with the widespread use of the Internet. Smartphones, 3D printers, and now, virtual reality are adding to this momentum of changing the way we do things. As a society, we are encouraging individuality by supporting others to create and share their ideas with others around the world.

Virtual reality is an infinitely large stage where anything and everything is possible; Hypatia is but one particular medium. We at Timefire are creating more than just a game; we are offering a space where people choose what to do and create. It is from the power of our imaginations that we forge the tools, symbols, elements, and sounds that shape human culture.

In Hypatia, people will find an environment for exploring and creating all aspects of their potential. This ranges from music, art, education, mentoring, crafting, and exploration. In this virtual city we will not only be the creators but the curators of our emerging world of digital virtual art. Community, camaraderie, and creativity are imperative to Hypatia. We are relying on you, the players, to create the vast dynamics of this city’s culture.

We’ve all heard of the child prodigy who goes off to M.I.T. or Yale to explore their genius and earn a degree before they’re able to drive a car. On the other hand, there are those living in small towns or are cautious about allowing their children to roam the big city alone. So what do we do when we think our child could truly excel if only they, too, had the opportunity, were in the right place, or we had the resources?

We bring the mountain to us.

In a time of over-crowded public education, underfunded teachers, programs in the arts being cut, and rapidly advancing technologies that are driving the jobs of tomorrow, parents must make a choice on how they will give advantage to their children.

Hypatia will be that choice. We are the big city. We are the campus of the future where students will, in effect, be attending prep school for their university experience. In the space of Virtual Reality, humanity is going to build the cities and campuses of the future. Virtual Reality will be a place where culture, history, science, and community come alive.

It is most often the exploration and roaming of the world around us that lead curious minds to the hallowed halls of higher education, where one starts to truly encounter the luxury of finding knowledge. While most anyone can now attend college, the question remains: what will one do with their degree? It still holds true that specialized knowledge is a requirement to participate effectively in the workforce, but it is also now true that a broad spectrum of skills and social networking is essential to success.

In another age, many of us found our networking skills and social abilities on the streets where we grew up among our neighbors and throughout our community. These days, kids are driven everywhere, their days are managed, and their isolation can often be suffocating. One very important skill we are failing to learn is how to relate to a community and build a dialogue with those in our immediate vicinity, and yet it is becoming ever more obvious that we need a global reach in our hi-tech world.

Again, it will be in Hypatia and places like it where the social fabric of the community will be restored. Our local towns, cities, and states often cut off our exposure to the kind of communication and thinking that is driving job creation, which propels humanity forward. Like it or not, society evolves, and either we go with the flow, or we find ourselves trampled underfoot by the march of progress.

One of the goals of Timefire is to offer Hypatia as a tool to foster a new age of self-education. We are the spearhead of crowd-sourced teaching and learning. We predict that the United States must focus its attention on raising the intelligence and cognitive abilities of roughly 30% of our working-age population in the next 10-15 years in order to remain globally competitive. Our current education system may not be up to this herculean task. We must look to new methods that can catapult the minds of millions that have been allowed to lie fallow for far too long.

In the fall of 2015, 7.7 million adults over the age of 25 were attending university (NCES). What of the other 50+ million people who are falling behind the requirements of our modern workforce? Those working adults can neither afford the tuition, time away from family, or time away from their current low-paying jobs to participate in higher learning. This is where a radical experiment in immersive learning may point the way forward. In light of the glacial pace at which large systems bring change to society, we need a new system that can rapidly deliver results. We believe that Virtual Reality is that medium and teaching device.

Is our solution going to be a panacea? We can’t know with certainty but it is a serious step forward. Self-education through virtual reality will help a country right its listing ship against competitive countries in a battle for information.