> The brain has had to adapt to many body plans over the course of its evolution, and it’s pre-adapted to work with more.
I think highly of Jaron and his unique point of view, but this is invalid.
Where Will Virtual Reality Take Us?
21–30 of 79 posts
Re: Where Will Virtual Reality Take Us?
#22Between 2016 and 2024, an advanced alien race arrived and was preparing to make first contact with humanity. Their primary goal was to ensure that the human race would be a good steward of their technological heritage they were about to bestow upon mankind. After observing the large wasteful investments in techs such as during the Crypto mania, AR/VR mania, and Gen AI mania, the alien race decided that the human race…
> Crypto mania, AR/VR mania, and Gen AI mania One of the things I will never stop finding weird, is the tendency to group together things that aren't really related. I wonder if I do it too? If I did, I expect I wouldn't notice…
I think you can make a case they’re related; they’re all technologies that have been hyped in much the same way by much the same people. That’s not to say they’ll all end up in the same place, however — it seems already clear to me that ‘Gen AI’ has far more readily-applicable utility than, say, cryptocurrencies. I think you’re just objecting on the basis that AI is obviously already immensely useful while other hyped technologies (in their current state) aren’t.
> I wonder if I do it too? If I did, I expect I wouldn't notice…
A very good point! You might not. But grouping things together that don’t immediately seem related can be one of the most fruitful acts of all…
‘Mathematics is the art of giving the same name to different things’ - Henri Poincaré.
Re: Where Will Virtual Reality Take Us?
#23I like this article. It expands on the big question for VR. We have this technology, it's here, it's mostly good enough (with the caveats the article lays out) for a variety of purposes. But what is the purpose consumers will want to use it for? Apple has been the king of telling consumers what they want for years. If they can't sell VR, I don't think anyone can sell VR. This feels like the make or break moment for V…
TL;DR: People want useful or fun, not "VR"
> If they can't sell VR, I don't think anyone can sell VR
Imagine having as many monitors as you need. Anywhere. Rearrange them whenever and however, even on airplanes! It all weighs under 1 pound (0.45 kg).
How much would you pay? I'd pay at least $600.
> where we'll know what people want to use it for/if it's capable of living in the mainstream
A cheaper, better multi-monitor replacement would be very useful. It might even be fun in some cases, but it's still mostly a productivity tool.
Unfortunately, short-term incentives seem to limit funding to projects with potential for:
1. Platform lock-in (Apple Vision, Oculus)
2. Ecosystem extension (Apple Vision, Valve Index)
> or if it's forever going to live as a niche product
Is having 2+ monitors an obscure niche? An overwhelming number of offices and other workspaces disagree.
Re: Where Will Virtual Reality Take Us?
#24Reading the headline, I was about to say porn, but Apple will forbid it and Zuck will watch over your shoulder, so I guess not.
Re: Where Will Virtual Reality Take Us?
#25I like this article. It expands on the big question for VR. We have this technology, it's here, it's mostly good enough (with the caveats the article lays out) for a variety of purposes. But what is the purpose consumers will want to use it for? Apple has been the king of telling consumers what they want for years. If they can't sell VR, I don't think anyone can sell VR. This feels like the make or break moment for V…
I think that's why the initial version is the "Pro" and why it's so so expensive. Laptops/Computers have "text/spreadsheets" as their fundamental unit of usage, phones and tablets have images/videos. So right now we have all this awesome hardware, but we still really haven't found our VisiCalc/Instagram for VR just yet.
The spreadsheets of VR (well, AR) is spreadsheets. The marketing of Vision Pro is literally that you can have a lot of spreadsheets open in the room around you, without being limited by the size of displays you can carry with you.
I think this is a better approach than trying to get people to do spreadsheets in the metaverse.
Re: Where Will Virtual Reality Take Us?
#26I like this article. It expands on the big question for VR. We have this technology, it's here, it's mostly good enough (with the caveats the article lays out) for a variety of purposes. But what is the purpose consumers will want to use it for? Apple has been the king of telling consumers what they want for years. If they can't sell VR, I don't think anyone can sell VR. This feels like the make or break moment for V…
TL;DR: People want useful or fun, not "VR" > If they can't sell VR, I don't think anyone can sell VR Imagine having as many monitors as you need. Anywhere. Rearrange them whenever and however, even on airplanes! It all weighs under 1 pound (0.45 kg). How much would you pay? I'd pay at least $600. > where we'll know what people want to use it for/if it's capable of living in the mainstream A cheaper, better multi-moni…
if VR is about having virtual monitors then thats not a Very enticing proposition
Re: Where Will Virtual Reality Take Us?
#27[deleted]
Re: Where Will Virtual Reality Take Us?
#28> Life within a construction is life without a frontier. It is closed, calculated, and pointless. Reality, real reality, the mysterious physical stuff, is open, unknown, and beyond us; we must not lose it. Only a tiny minority of people have lived on a frontier, that’s sort of the inherent to the definition. Most people now live in a very constructed environment (urban areas). In the past, most people lived somewhere…
Virtual reality will be the ultimate CAPTCHA system. Virtual scenarios can be constructed to motivate and engage the VR user, while simultaneously mapping to a real problem to be solved for the operator. In a way, every user will be helping to push forward in some (perhaps unknown to them) frontier.
Re: Where Will Virtual Reality Take Us?
#29> Life within a construction is life without a frontier. It is closed, calculated, and pointless. Reality, real reality, the mysterious physical stuff, is open, unknown, and beyond us; we must not lose it. Only a tiny minority of people have lived on a frontier, that’s sort of the inherent to the definition. Most people now live in a very constructed environment (urban areas). In the past, most people lived somewhere…
It is disingenuous to conflate artificial physical and artificial virtual environments. If this is the kind of thinking that is accepted in contemporary discourse without challenge, then it won’t be long before everyone becomes completely subjugated by mediocrity pretending to vanguard. I would take a mediocre physical couch over a virtual one any day. At least, my buttocks will have some cushion with a real couch. W…
That conflation is what Baudrillard addressed in Simulacra and Simulation (a book that the cast of the Matrix were required to read before filming started). When environments are designed, the blueprint is what one experiences in those environments, the conceptual underpinning, even if the environment consists of matter. In a sense, they try to tell us what to think. The book came out in 1983, so these are old ideas, not really vanguard anymore, but it raises legitimate points that are becoming a lot more noticeably believable with the rise of information technology. I think the OP has a point.
Re: Where Will Virtual Reality Take Us?
#30A profound truth, however, is that the greatest mysteries are found in conserved systems, which can become rich and complex, not in infinite ones, which stretch out like blank white sheets to the edge of the cosmos.
Is imagination not infinite?