It seems that with each passing day, the stuff of science fiction leaps from the pages of Asimov and into reality. Animal cloning? Check. Drones? Check. Flying cars? Check. The Rift, a forthcoming virtual reality headset from Oculus VR, aims to join the list of groundbreaking innovations with an incredibly realistic rendering of both everyday life and fantastic worlds. As it turns out, The Rift has been brought to our attention thanks to various other modern technology innovations.

Oculus started raising funds for the new project on kickstarter, a website that reflects the growing trend in crowdsourcing. The internet is one of the world's great democratizing forces, giving inventors a chance to connect with people all over the world, even if they haven't moved out of the garage yet.