I have seen the future and it is augmented reality.

Actually, that’s a lie. But when Pokémon Go officially arrives in Canada, we will all see the future and find it hard to remember a time when fellow citizens were not hunting for imaginary creatures in public places.

You think the streets are teeming with distracted texters right now?

Just wait until people are also chasing cartoon characters only they can see.

There are cultural crazes and then there is the next-level hysteria that is Pokémon Go. In less than a week after it was released for iOS and Android devices in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, the mobile game is generating more news than the Kardashians, Rio, Ghostbusters, the UFC and Mr. Trump combined.

Even in countries like Canada, where the official release date is basically set at “any day now,” an early wave of Pokémania is storming towns and cities. Enthusiasts are finding ways to get around the current geo-restrictions and downloading the game. Then they are flocking to landmarks in search of elusive Pokémon.

On Monday night in Toronto, according to Reddit discussion threads, there were two planned Pokémon Go meet-ups, one at the CN Tower and another at Yonge-Dundas Square. Across the country, Canadians are trading tips and building new communities as a wave of ’90s-era nostalgia runs headfirst into augmented reality and people ditch their game consoles for the great outdoors.

Nintendo, which partnered with Niantic Labs and The Pokémon Company, is even riding Pokémon Go into territory it nearly forfeited: the business pages. When the Tokyo Stock Exchange closed on Monday, Nintendo’s share price had surged by 25 per cent. In three days of trading, the free app added $9 billion to the company’s market value. It’s like watching Pikachu turn rubber nickels into gold bullion.

But leaving aside the money and stratospheric popularity — there are reports Pokémon Go already has more Android users than Tinder and Twitter — what we have here is the first real glimpse of augmented reality as a mass phenomenon.

And if nothing else, we should at least consider the implications.

Pokémon Go uses GPS and the cameras on smartphones to blur the line between what is real and what is simulated. Pokémon are superimposed on the real world through your phone screen. They can appear anywhere. Or as the good people at Niantic explained: “We’re excited that Pokémon fans and gamers can now start exploring their very own neighbourhoods and cities to capture Pokémon using the Pokémon GO app. Players can discover and catch more than 100 Pokémon from the original Red and Blue games, take Pokémon into battle against other Pokémon at Gyms, uncover items including a variety of types of Poké Balls and eggs at PokéStops, hatch and train new Pokémon, and more.”

To the uninitiated, this might sound a bit PokéCrazy.

Especially when you realize the “and more” includes the possibility of armed robbery, stumbling upon dead bodies, walking into traffic, bumping into lampposts, falling down holes, meandering in concentric circles or loitering in public places for so long someone eventually calls 911 in a panic.

On Monday, CNN did a great job itemizing recent Pokémon snafus.

Dateline Wyoming: a 19-year-old wanders out looking for Pokémon along the banks of the Big Wind River on Friday and instead discovers a human corpse.

Dateline Massachusetts: a private home is accidentally listed as a Pokémon Gym and is overrun on the weekend by people wanting to “train their fictional characters.”

Dateline Missouri: police arrest four teens on Sunday morning and accuse them of robbery by using the game’s geolocation feature to “anticipate the location and level of seclusion of unwitting victims.”

Dateline Australia: after dozens stroll into the Darwin Police Station with their retinas glued to their phones, authorities issue a plea: “For those budding Pokemon Trainers out there using Pokemon Go — whilst the Darwin Police Station may feature as a Pokestop, please be advised that you don’t actually have to step inside in order to gain the pokeballs. It’s also a good idea to look up, away from your phone and both ways before crossing the street. That Sandshrew isn’t going anywhere fast.”

Does all of this amount to early hiccups as augmented reality — this blending of what’s really there and the illusion of what’s layered in via technology — finally blows up real big? And what might happen when the game rolls out in more countries this month and millions more rush out to capture Pokémon? What happens when every corner of Toronto — from the Distillery District to the CNE — is crawling with players staring at their phones in a state of oblivious concentration?

The upside is simple: this is a video game built upon the idea of real-life exploration. Getting people out and about, getting them active by flinging them off their couches and into their communities, all of this should be encouraged.

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Now we just need to make sure nobody gets hurt as the second Pokémon craze in two decades takes cultural flight this summer.

“We encourage all people playing Pokémon GO to be aware of their surroundings and to play with friends when going to new or unfamiliar places,” said Niantic in a statement. “Please remember to be safe and alert at all times.”