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The metaverse is already here, it's called the internet

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41–50 of 138 posts

Re: The metaverse is already here, it's called the internet

#41
post #10

I'm a software developer and i pass literraly 80% of my time working to make my family survive to this world, and honestly the only thing that i have in mind it's to flippin go in the forest for a walk, i don't understand the thing of wanting so much to be isolated and wear a fucking VR mask, this world is fucked up !

It can be a pretty novel experience- neither VR headsets nor walks through a forest are substitutes for each other. I have access to many many acres of forest, and am quite familiar with it. For reasons unrelated to this discussion, I am unlikely to see many interesting places in person around the world... Pictures are nice, but will never do them justice. I wouldn't mind being able to take a 3d VR tour of them one b…

Agreed.

I don't think any of these things are substitutes for each other. A book about the arctic is not an alternative to a visit. It's a substitute for another book, maybe.

The main way VFR competes with other stuff is competition for time, in the sense that TV, social media and such are.

Re: The metaverse is already here, it's called the internet

#42
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having watched Zuckerberg’s keynote, I get the feeling he wants to feel excited again by building something new. Maintenance is a bit thankless and boring. That’s the vibe that I got.

There are worse things incredibly rich people could do to have fun. Why not just build a metaverse?

right? or why can’t he just build some space stuff like the rest of the billionaires lol

Re: The metaverse is already here, it's called the internet

#43
post #10

I'm a software developer and i pass literraly 80% of my time working to make my family survive to this world, and honestly the only thing that i have in mind it's to flippin go in the forest for a walk, i don't understand the thing of wanting so much to be isolated and wear a fucking VR mask, this world is fucked up !

Your comment's... https://stratechery.com/2021/meta/ in a nutshell.

But: As evidenced by the Gaming industry and the Entertainment industry ($150b+ combined rev), folks do want to escape from their usual environment.

If you're Facebook, and your mission's to connect the world, then metaverse sounds like one plausible solution to make that happen.

Re: The metaverse is already here, it's called the internet

#44
post #10

I'm a software developer and i pass literraly 80% of my time working to make my family survive to this world, and honestly the only thing that i have in mind it's to flippin go in the forest for a walk, i don't understand the thing of wanting so much to be isolated and wear a fucking VR mask, this world is fucked up !

Most people don't want that though, and that is why VR was a bust (compared to last century's dreams I mean).

VR has been a bust because decent VR requires a heavy thing attached to your head, basically an empty room in your house, and a computer that (at least pre-covid auto prices) cost more than many of the cars on the road in the United States.

My friend has had a vive for years, he has an entire room dedicated to it so you can actually walk around. Its being driven by a several thousand dollar computer and makes the room unusable for anything else as you have to keep the floor vacant so you can actually walk around. If I had a room to spare, and 5-6k dollars to drop, I'd have it but when you're taking home about $500 a week and don't have an empty room...

The cheaper options, where you're just sitting on your couch, aren't nearly as engaging or interesting (at least to me). Another thing to consider is how many people wear glasses, and how poorly these things work while wearing glasses because they mask them into your face and/or fog. If I want to get custom lens inserts, I'm looking at another $300-500 cost every 12-18 months (that's assuming any can actually accommodate my astigmatism and the prism requirements I need).

Re: The metaverse is already here, it's called the internet

#45
post #10

I'm a software developer and i pass literraly 80% of my time working to make my family survive to this world, and honestly the only thing that i have in mind it's to flippin go in the forest for a walk, i don't understand the thing of wanting so much to be isolated and wear a fucking VR mask, this world is fucked up !

Yeah as a trail runner and technologist, I enjoy VR but I'm not sure anything could replace the sights, smells, and feeling of going on a run through the woods. Similarly I think there is room for both VR-sports (and e-sports) and traditional IRL athletics. One doesn't replace the other, but the skills, strategy, physical performance and endurance are very different to watch and to experience (each great/ fascinating…

Physical and virtual sports are similar in most regards, except when it comes to environmental impact. Taking a walk/swim in nature does little to no damage to your environment, unless you make it a big competition.

In comparison, any computerized activity will require tons of resources (and related industrial pollution) and slave labor to produce the hardware you're using, and more energy/resources to power the device. I'm not against video games, but do we need more hardware? Our hardware is extremely powerful already (though games are rarely optimized in any way) and as much as i can see human progress via Internet connectivity, i don't see any "usefulness" for VR technology: it seems to me that apart from requiring more hardware and potentially fueling gaming addictions and social isolation, there is little to no value proposition compared to Second Life and other software we've had for decades.

Re: The metaverse is already here, it's called the internet

#46
Error 42: not the metaverse, a metaverse. the intrusive advertising, click bait metaverse. funded by advertising and includes google, facebook, youtube etc.

A pretty poor one, as it does great harm to the inhabitants. Intrusive advertising is based on being able to target specific people with messages (tracking). Different messages for different people. Gee, its almost like this mechanism might engender mistrust and divisiveness. Which in turn might fracture communities. And gee, one might even consider that foreign governments might use this as a weapon. Or potential dictators and other bad actors. Gee.

The clickbait metaverse is only one of an infinite number of alternatives. Each metaverse has a set of rules for how the inhabitants operate. Wikipedia and craigslist come to mind as non-members of the clickbait metaverse. Other rules would - for example no tracking - would create other metaverses.

Re: The metaverse is already here, it's called the internet

#47
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having watched Zuckerberg’s keynote, I get the feeling he wants to feel excited again by building something new. Maintenance is a bit thankless and boring. That’s the vibe that I got.

There are worse things incredibly rich people could do to have fun. Why not just build a metaverse?

Or build a rocket and go to space? Oh wait.

Re: The metaverse is already here, it's called the internet

#48
We should talk more about that ‘crappy life’ outside the virtual world. China reduces kids computer gaming sessions and invests in actually improving living conditions. Facebook’s ad sponsored empire turns productive members of society into zombies amidst a crumbling infrastructure. There surely is room for VR and AR in improving aspects of life but Mark’s vision has a taste of dystopia.

Re: The metaverse is already here, it's called the internet

#49

Error 42: not the metaverse, a metaverse. the intrusive advertising, click bait metaverse. funded by advertising and includes google, facebook, youtube etc. A pretty poor one, as it does great harm to the inhabitants. Intrusive advertising is based on being able to target specific people with messages (tracking). Different messages for different people. Gee, its almost like this mechanism might engender mistrust and…

Computer people have been trapped in a Silicon Valley mindset for decades, thinking there are universal rules to human interactions (namely game theory). You're spot on that many different universes/cultures are possible, and desirable.

We need a radical alternative to this shithole that Nation States and corporations have designed for us, or our children won't even have clear air or water left because we will have polluted everything, and for what?

Re: The metaverse is already here, it's called the internet

#50
post #10

I'm a software developer and i pass literraly 80% of my time working to make my family survive to this world, and honestly the only thing that i have in mind it's to flippin go in the forest for a walk, i don't understand the thing of wanting so much to be isolated and wear a fucking VR mask, this world is fucked up !

not everyone has your kind of life

Exactly. These 'software developers' may not like it but the hundreds of millions of other non-developers will.

These will be the same software developers that will end up building Progressive Web Apps for smart glasses made by a big tech company.

Probably it will have both AR and VR capabilities built in and the use case will be to use AR for outdoors (and indoors) and VR for indoors only.

Like it or not, it is going to happen and they will be building it anyway.

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