TODAY: BUSINESS FUTURES | 48 ANALYSIS Despite the remarkable However, increasingly, advances in virtualization and immersive technologies are able to transport us into an entirely virtual progress of technology, world or seamlessly bring virtual data into the real world. from the telegraph to After years of research and development (R&D) and investment, these technologies are becoming more affordable and gradually fax machines to video- migrating from gaming to other industries. conferencing, the physical Virtual reality (VR) could mean there will be less and less practical constraints of distance difference between what can be achieved by someone who is physically in the office and by a remote worker whose presence and geography still in meetings—and in chats at the water cooler—is virtual. Indeed, eventually, there may be no need to maintain physical offices, shape how we live, work, as remote workers interact entirely in a virtual office environment. produce and consume. Products could be designed more quickly and economically in a virtual reality world. Rather than building physical prototypes to look for mistakes, engineers and researchers would be able to spot errors in VR at an earlier point in development. Ford is already using VR in its vehicle design.24 Augmented reality (AR) can also be used to improve manufacturing accuracy and productivity: Displaying work instructions on the objects being handled means workers no longer need to look away from what they are doing to see the next step in an instruction manual. THE WORLD OF REDESIGNING THTHEE I IMAMAGIGINANATIONTION THE AGE OF “TECHNO-POLITICS” LIFE E ECONOMYCONOMY (IN)SECURITY