One of the really amazing perks of working at a startup that was founded by an incredibly well-connected member of the New York City tech ecosystem is getting to go to events and conferences that you would never (okay — maybe not never, but probably not typically) get to attend otherwise.

Case in point: The VR and AR Tech Summit (that link will take you to next year’s event, but you’ll get an idea of what it’s all about).

Today my boss, Phil Delvecchio, moderated a panel of four representatives from the VR/AR startup ecosystem here in New York. 

For those of you who are reading this out of familial obligation and may have some interpretation needs, never fear: VR stands for Virtual Reality and AR stands for Augmented Reality. 

Virtual Reality is like that one scene from Johnny English 3 (they should never have made that movie but it works for illustration purposes). It’s where you’re completely immersed in a virtual world and have no sense of the real, physical world around you due to the intense stimuli that you’re receiving through a headset. 

Augment Reality is like the puppy filter on Instagram. It takes a real world situation and through the use of a phone (or other hand-held device), it adds a virtual layer to a physical object. It expands or adds to the current physical reality (as opposed to completely replacing it with a virtual one like in the case of virtual reality). 

Now that we’re all properly confused by my attempt to explain concepts I don’t understand, let’s move on. 

As I was saying, my boss moderated one of the discussion panels at this summit. Because Hapday believes in investing into their employees, their learning endeavors, and their professional growth, I was able to attend today’s presentations. (Also because they needed me to get some good pictures and videos of my boss to use for content, but that’s beside the point.)

If my struggle to explain the difference between AR and VR didn’t already make it abundantly clear to you, I’ll articulate it here. I know essentially nothing about this entire topic. I know that it exists in the world, and you can go do virtual reality video games at arcades for an exorbitant sum, but I really know nothing about the technology of it (or the direction we’re headed in the future). 

Today I learned so much about this world, and that was just from sitting in on 3 different panels and a keynote speaker. The biggest thing I learned was just how much I don’t know, which has definitely sparked some interest in further learning on a personal level. 

I did, however, learn some other things as well. These I will number in easy-to-read, easy-to-skim (looking at you, hiring managers) sections.

Takeaway #1 — On a human level, everyone wants to feel like they’re making an impact on the storyline. 

This is the main thrust behind VR and AR. This allows people to be immersed into a storyline and make a difference in the outcome. The days of two-dimensional, unengaged content consumption are drawing to a close (according to these guys). 

We’re entering an era of content and entertainment that is being largely driven by the active consumer. 

This point hit me on another dimension as well. They really boiled down a huge part of what a base desire of humanity is in general — the feeling of having an impact on the way things are. Making a change (for the better, hopefully) in a significant way. 

I think this is true in general life, as well as in the specific area of VR/AR content creation.

Takeaway #2 — 5G is a network that is going to shape the future of hardware development.

This will be a similar (but opposite) process to how the development of hardware necessitated the development of the 4G network.

I will be honest — this talk really made me feel like a very small phytoplankton in a very large superocean. 

Apparently I know even less about networks and cell phones and data and computing than I do about augmented and virtual reality. 

However, this talk was especially enlightening because the speaker (Joshua Ness, Sr. Manager of Verizon 5G Labs) took the time to outline what each of the networks (3G, 4G, etc.) actually meant. I’ll go into it at a later point, but for now, just know — 5G really is the next big paradigm shift just waiting to happen. 

(Granted — this was spoken by the guy who’s leading the charge, so take it with a grain of salt. But also I’m not even qualified to hold a salt shaker in this field, so take that grain of salt with another grain of salt.)

Takeaway #3 — Coding. Storytelling. Thinking. Self-motivation. Compassion. Empathy. 

When asked what skills we should be equipping the next generation with to prepare them for living and working with this all of this future technology that doesn’t even exist yet but we know is coming, those are the answers that were given. 

I think the juxtaposition of having “coding” right next to “storytelling” is beautiful. 

Even as we continue to become more and more technologically advanced, intertwined, and even dependent, it still doesn’t take away from the fact that humans are still humans. And that storytelling is still the best way we can convey (and consume) truth and ideas. 

The ability to think critically, feel compassion and empathy, and have intuition are some of the main distinguishing factors between not only you and all the other job candidates, but also you and the actual technology you’re creating. 

One of the speakers on one of the panels mentioned the concept of singularity, which I was also completely unfamiliar with in this context. After a quick Google search, I would advise against anyone performing a similar search if you wish to sleep well at night. In essence, it’s the idea that in the next couple of decades, humanity and technology will become so intertwined that they’re hardly distinguishable from each other and then AI rises up and takes over the world and that’s the end of humanity once and for all. 

Regardless of whether or not that’s going to play out in such a clear-cut way, I think there is truth in the fact that the lines between reality (and humanity) and technology are only going to be continually blurred.

That’s why it’s of utmost importance that, alongside the necessary technical knowledge and skills, we train the next generation to think critically, feel empathy, have compassion, and relate and connect with people on an emotional (and I’ll say spiritual) level.