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The last three years of my work will be permanently abandoned

ericlippert.com

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Re: The last three years of my work will be permanently abandoned

#411

Post by CGamesPlay »

ska wrote: post #121
stuff4ben wrote: post #69

He's not wrong about Meta's VR foray. VR as a technology is cool and revolutionary, Zuck's vision for it in our daily lives is not.

> VR as a technology is cool and revolutionary That's a funny way of saying decades old at this point and still not ready for prime time.

Fun fact, the idea of cellphones was "decades old" [0] in 1990 and not ready for prime time (clunky, not particularly useful outside of niche cases). Less than two more decades later, the iPhone came out and the entire world changed around them. VR is clearly still missing its "iPhone moment", and Meta is spending like hell to be the one to find it.

Full disclosure: I am (today) a VR nay-sayer, despite this comment.

[0] https://thenib.com/this-comic-from-1919-imagines-what-it-s-l...

Re: The last three years of my work will be permanently abandoned

#412

Post by minitoar »

killingtime74 wrote: post #393
brazzledazzle wrote: post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would he ever consider taking responsibility for something when he can't really be held accountable? It should be illegal to take a company public with special voting-only shares.

It is illegal on some stock exchanges. You are free to only buy your shares there. Also you are free to buy stocks on exchanges that do allow it but don't have two classes. No one is forcing anyone to buy Meta

Sorta. Meta is a component of the sp500. It’s pretty difficult to avoid buying that.

Re: The last three years of my work will be permanently abandoned

#413

Post by samplatt »

mr_gibbins wrote: post #206
MattGaiser wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> no one wants to wear VR goggles I would be curious how many people are willing to wear VR goggles for any amount of time. I spend easily 10-12 hours a day at my computer. I am absolutely someone who is happy working, socializing, playing, and learning all at the same desk. But I can't wear those goggles for even 2 hours. Are there people who can wear them for 12?

I can manage 15 minutes or so on my aging Oculus Quest but that's about it. There's a Netflix option on there, I can relax in a virtual cinema with surround sound and a screen sized big enough to feel like a cinema screen and I've not been able to watch anything because of the vertigo. I thought my kids would go crazy on it, perhaps I'm too old, out of touch etc. but they can do 15 mins max too. It's a novelty toy, q…

The Quest has a fairly low refresh rate, which is one of the main barriers to delivering a product that doesn't make you sick.

Back when Carmack was leading the tech dev, they came out with a rule saying that they needed a working minimum of 90fps for MOST people to tolerate VR.

The Quest headset screens operate at 72hz, iirc.

Re: The last three years of my work will be permanently abandoned

#414

Post by aporetics »

marcosdumay wrote: post #380
alisonatwork wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've often wondered this, especially when I quit a company out of principle, expecting that I wouldn't be the only one. But even when an entire department quits en masse, it turns out that none of us are ever as important as we thought we were. The guys on the top who make the real decisions are on the top because they are experts at driving their vision forward regardless of whatever happens underneath or around the…

> The guys on the top who make the real decisions are on the top because they are experts at driving their vision forward regardless of whatever happens underneath or around them. That's a funny way to say "rich".

And that’s just another way to say the end justifies the means.

Note that, among other things, the power of “the end justifies the means” lies in how it is reductive.

Re: The last three years of my work will be permanently abandoned

#415

Post by akiselev »

minitoar wrote: post #412
killingtime74 wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is illegal on some stock exchanges. You are free to only buy your shares there. Also you are free to buy stocks on exchanges that do allow it but don't have two classes. No one is forcing anyone to buy Meta

Sorta. Meta is a component of the sp500. It’s pretty difficult to avoid buying that.

Just go beat the market.

Re: The last three years of my work will be permanently abandoned

#416

Post by fanick »

treeman79 wrote: post #337
Obscurity4340 wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What was the ultimate underlying pathology?

High cranial pressure (IIH) and lots of minor strokes. Apparently I’m genetically prone to clots. (Factor 5)

Damn, I think I might have similar issues. Also diagnosed with Leiden. Should I be worried?

Re: The last three years of my work will be permanently abandoned

#417

Post by Simon_O_Rourke »

kelnos wrote: post #264
ericlippert wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see your point and don't mean to be argumentative, but a couple small corrections. First, the pivot to "meta" was just over a year ago, so it hasn't been quite years. Second, I haven't been shy about sharing my opinion internally, though I haven't been broadcasting it either. The first thing I said in our team group chat when we'd heard this announcement was (context, I am much older than most people on the team) "…

> Third, this opinion is indeed extremely common internally. It is intensely weird to me that people hold the opinion that their company is building something that is bad for the world, and yet they stay there and continue to help build it. I know that's easy to say as someone not in that situation, but not always easy to do for someone who is. I get that people don't always have a ton of choice about their employmen…

> It is intensely weird to me that people hold the opinion that their company is building something that is bad for the world, and yet they stay there and continue to help build it.

From Oppenheimer onwards this hasn't been too unusual - but what is unusual I think in Meta's case is the fact it's so widespread by smart folks.

Re: The last three years of my work will be permanently abandoned

#418

Post by andruby »

rightbyte wrote: post #286
ericlippert wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see your point and don't mean to be argumentative, but a couple small corrections. First, the pivot to "meta" was just over a year ago, so it hasn't been quite years. Second, I haven't been shy about sharing my opinion internally, though I haven't been broadcasting it either. The first thing I said in our team group chat when we'd heard this announcement was (context, I am much older than most people on the team) "…

Oh ... so in dystopian Snow Crash (I read up on it) there is a also dystopian virtual reality named Metaverse. Well, I wonder i Zuck knew about that. Interesting that the book essentially seems to render the "gig economy" as some dystopian element. Quite good prediction.

I can only recommend you to read the book. It's amazing.

It is so relevant for today, you'd be forgiven for not knowing it was actually published in 1992.

But really, it's probably the best book I've ever read.

Re: The last three years of my work will be permanently abandoned

#420

Post by actionfromafar »

fallingknife wrote: post #373
actionfromafar wrote: post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You change the environment where people to some extent live their lives. Stripmalls never hurt anyone either by that token.

People change the environment themselves by choosing that over the alternative. If you don't like the thing that other people chose that's a fair opinion to have, but it's hard to argue that harm was caused by it.

That's incredibly reductive.
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