This week, Scott Higgins sits down with Ben Sax, a Philosophy and Film major from the class of 2003. Ben Sax recently patented his invention Perceptoscope, an augmented reality device built to resemble an old coin-operated binocular.
Perceptoscope photo courtesy of Ben Sax’s website
Ben Sax envisions Perceptoscope as a way to connect us to the past of the device’s setting. Look through Perceptoscope at Gettysburg, for instance, and you can see a stereoscopic recreation of the Battle of Gettysburg. Sax envisions it as a device for connecting us less to events and more to physical space, however.
“What I’m interested in is the history of the built environment, and how cities come to be, and the things we lose in that process,” he tells Professor Higgins. Sax speaks about the development process of these sorts of projects, as well as how we can use augmented reality to tell stories. The convergence of old and new technology, as well as the narrative experimentation, fit Perceptoscope snugly within the pantheon of CFILM projects. And Scott Higgins calls it “steampunk!” As if you could want anything more!
You can learn more about Perceptoscope at http://perceptoscope.com/.