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Neal Stephenson Joins Magic Leap

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Re: Neal Stephenson Joins Magic Leap

#111

Post by artbikes »

tomp wrote: post #45
carloscm wrote: post #10

This is notable not just because of Neal Stephenson, but because his blog post contains what I think is the most detailed public description of the tech so far: --- Here’s where you’re probably expecting the sales pitch about how mind-blowingly awesome the demo was. But it’s a little more interesting than that. Yes, I saw something on that optical table I had never seen before--something that only Magic Leap, as far…

Stupid question: Who is Neal Stephenson, and why is he famous? Wikipedia suggests that he's a sci-fi author, is there a particular reason for his fame, could you recommend some of his works?

Don't forget to tell Neal how much you love "The Big U" http://www.amazon.com/Big-U-Neal-Stephenson/dp/0380816032

Re: Neal Stephenson Joins Magic Leap

#112

Post by devindotcom »

billyhoffman wrote: post #109
Fuzzwah wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would also highly recommend: The Mongoliad semi-fictional view of mid-thirteenth century Mongol invasion of Europe Reamde MMO gold farming, social networking, criminal methods of the Russian mafia, Islamic terrorists

ugh. Reamde. Reamde starts off with a lot of interesting ideas, and then morphs into quite possibly the worst watered-down, airport-paperback, fourth-rate-Tom-Clancy-triller nonsense I have ever read. Avoid it at all costs. Unbelievable plot and character motives. ick.

Seconded. It's really awful. Read Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, and Anathem.

Re: Neal Stephenson Joins Magic Leap

#113

Post by Thrymr »

Fuzzwah wrote: post #78
Florin_Andrei wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Snow Crash for old school howling-metal cyberpunk. The Baroque Cycle for a semi-fictional view of the beginnings of science - the Newton and Hooke era. Anathem for an interesting take on the philosophy of science disguised as a sci-fi epic.

I would also highly recommend: The Mongoliad semi-fictional view of mid-thirteenth century Mongol invasion of Europe Reamde MMO gold farming, social networking, criminal methods of the Russian mafia, Islamic terrorists

The Mongoliad is team-written, and it shows. It's a sprawling, uneven work, with interesting parts, but also tedious one. It is in no small part a vehicle for the authors' interest in the technical aspects of fighting with medieval weaponry.

Re: Neal Stephenson Joins Magic Leap

#114

Post by Thrymr »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #64

Interesting hire. As a startup it seems an unlikely one, Neal is a wonderful author, and has a sharp wit, but as he explains "his brain is not useful" to the work at hand. I could see consulting with him, but hiring him struck me as odd. In terms of what Magic Leap purportedly does my guess would be that Daniel Suarez (Daemon, Freedom) might be a better choice in terms of a vision that applies somewhat directly.

Well, they've got to do something with that half billion dollars. Decisions that don't objectively make sense somehow become possible when you've got that kind of money to spend.

Re: Neal Stephenson Joins Magic Leap

#115

Post by nilkn »

valarauca1 wrote: post #22

So they are a holographic augmented reality company? From their site: >Imagine being able to generate images indistinguishable from real objects and then being able to place those images seamlessly into the real world. Sounds like you generate a hologram anywhere. And project it into the real world. Think Star Trek holodeck, but everywhere, or anywhere from what they are selling. And the holograms they're projecting…

They're making some sort of AR goggles. Despite all the imagery on their website, I'm not convinced there's anything holographic about what they're doing. In other words, this is a truly Herculean amount of marketing fluff. Google got interested probably only because they're targeting a form factor very similar to Google Glass.

Re: Neal Stephenson Joins Magic Leap

#116

Post by mattmanser »

RickHull wrote: post #72
Florin_Andrei wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Snow Crash for old school howling-metal cyberpunk. The Baroque Cycle for a semi-fictional view of the beginnings of science - the Newton and Hooke era. Anathem for an interesting take on the philosophy of science disguised as a sci-fi epic.

All are fantastic. I was put off by the beginning of Snow Crash initially, as there are some tongue-in-cheek bits that struck me as too campy. But I might not say that now, having read it a few times. The Baroque Cycle is a massive piece of work spanning 3 volumes, comprised of 8 nominally independent books. If it seems intimidating, just try the first one and see if you're not hooked. I'd love it if there was twice…

I'm reading Snow Crash at the moment for the first time.

The beginning is actually really tough going as a completely new reader today. It's just so ridiculous. I can see where he was coming from, as I grew up in that era, but it's actually pretty bizarre now given the reality is nation states, religion and banks turned out to be so much more powerful than corporations.

Which is one of the perils of predictions in ageing sci-fi.

I've been on a sci-fi kick recently of all the classics I never read (William Gibson, Ender's Game, The Mars Trilogy, Forever War, Starship Troopers, A Canticle For Leibowitz, Philip K. Dick, Hyperion Cantos, Ringworld) and re-reading some I've not read for a long time (Foundation Series).

I personally found that Snow Crash is by far the most dated book. Even Ringworld and the foundation series were better.

Re: Neal Stephenson Joins Magic Leap

#117

Post by Retric »

DanBC wrote: post #83
fla wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds more to me like a direct projection to retina. Has this ever been attempted ? Would that be working with lasers ?

There have been head-mounted "virtual retinal displays" that focus a laser onto the retina. I think they're mostly in patent hell. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_retinal_display

Manufacturers and commercial uses ... Consumer versions are expected to ship fall of 2015

It would be interesting if this was progressing because some major patent roadblocks where about to expire.

Re: Neal Stephenson Joins Magic Leap

#118

Post by Naga »

dripton wrote: post #110
jkaunisv1 wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man I am almost done Reamde and would not recommend that to anyone. I have a massive vocabulary and I was still looking up words every few pages. Every time I suspected it was a synonym for a simpler word, and every time I was right. Writing aside I've found the plot pretty slow with not much interesting happening for most of the Zula portions (ie. middle half of the book). Maybe Stephenson's level of detail just isn…

Tastes differ. I thought it was a fun story and a quick easy read. I'd recommend it to pretty much anyone. My wife, mother, and sister, all of whom are big readers but none of whom are really in the target nerd demographic, all liked it. Anathem and Diamond Age were harder for me because of the depth of ideas. I had to slow down and think to get through them. Baroque Cycle was harder because of the sheer number of ch…

I loved the Baroque Cycle, but I am also a history fan so a lot of the names were already familiar to me.

Re: Neal Stephenson Joins Magic Leap

#119

Post by miles932 »

hyperbovine wrote: post #9
miles932 wrote: post #2

OMG. I can think of no stronger endorsement of a technology. take my money NOW

"Having a product" comes to mind...

Hence why I said "technology". If this gives Stephenson a jaw-drop moment, it's something I'd like to see turned into something we can all use.

Re: Neal Stephenson Joins Magic Leap

#120

Post by miles932 »

king_magic wrote: post #20
miles932 wrote: post #2

OMG. I can think of no stronger endorsement of a technology. take my money NOW

... but, uh, what is the technology? What are you giving your money for? The website is pretty mystifying.

guesses based on analysis and conjecture: imagine a tiny projector which is tracking your eyes (and surrounding light conditions), and can project a 3d light field, rather than a 2d image onto them. With this device you could create the perception that you're looking at something in the real world which just ain't there. Hence the flying whales and tiny elephants n' such. It's a AR/VR/Display technology.
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