Virtual Reality vs Augmented Reality: What’s the difference?

Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one!

Can you guess who said that? In case you thought Albert Einstein, you are absolutely correct! (And in case you didn’t, do brush up on your general knowledge!) Anyway, Albert Einstein was probably not thinking about the myriad ways that modern reality can be twisted when he said this, but this quote sure fits the situation.

Both Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality can be used to change our reality. They can expand our vision or even transport us to wonderful new places until the only question that remains is “What is real and what is not?”. However, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality are not exactly the same (If they were, they wouldn’t have different names!!!). So this article primarily tries to understand Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality and through this understanding, know the answer to “What’s the Difference Between Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality?”.

Imagine really traveling through the Pokemon World! This world is lush green and populated with small towns having identical looking nurses and police officers! You run around collecting pokemon and getting occasional electric shocks from Pikachu! This Pokemon World can truly exist for you using Virtual Reality.

In other words, Virtual Reality can use technology to create a simulated environment (a Pokemon environment in this case!). This simulated environment can be totally different than the reality of this world and yet you can perceive it as reality. So Virtual Reality is really just that, a “Virtual Reality” that you can move around in and experience as if you were really there. This is stated quite succinctly by Palmer Luckey, Founder of Oculus Rift as:

Why shouldn’t people be able to teleport wherever they want?