ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a mainly theoretical study of the birth, development and current condition of augmented reality (AR). The authors approach is based on the concept of the world and the problems of its virtuality for unpacking a phenomenological perspective on the two major divisions of AR: the magic mirror and the magic lens. To this end, they explore the philosophical and social contexts of the phenomenon in a quest for the ideas that define our technology, but also for the situations of power in which those ideas develop. Out of this analysis two paradoxes emerge: the first is the rift between the contemporary uses of AR (from its application in military contexts to its capacity for enhancing the visibility of disadvantaged groups), while the second is the way in which our bodies still reject the most advanced mechanisms of immersion in the physical dimension. The authors thus sketch out a complex picture in which the definitive points of history, technology, entertainment and art—and their relationships with virtual reality—all coexist in relation with the individuals who experience them.
