it is hilarious how the opening sentences written by this person refer to "Edgar Rice Borroughs", while pasted quotes and images refer to "Edgar Rice Burroughs".
The latter spelling is the correct one.
We need technology that is less immersive, not more
121–130 of 202 posts
Re: We need technology that is less immersive, not more
#122When I write poetry, song lyrics, or music, I am fully immersed. The difference between video games and art is that I create the environment that I am immersed within. Sure, like English or any other language, I’ve inherited the cultural context for my artistic endeavors, but that context is a basic requirement for any sort of immersive activity.
This is an important distinction that I agree with.
Glancing at your username I think I maybe know you through some mutual sf friends. The Page called they want a lot of their fernet back
Re: We need technology that is less immersive, not more
#123There's always someone complaining about good things being too good and people lose on the rest because of it. What about letting people have some personal responsibility?
Instead of complaining about games being too immersive, doom scrolling being too addictive etc, how about reminding people to make conscious decisions on how they spend their time and attention?
We're living in the era of external responsibility, every problem one has is caused by someone else.
Re: We need technology that is less immersive, not more
#124I feel like you only see articles like this written by game developers. Something about making video games for a living makes you question the value of what you’re creating.
Pfft. If I'm making a game I'm at least bringing a small amount of enjoyment to people's lives. When working to increase the profit margins of tech companies, I'm probably just working towards bringing a small amount of misery to people's lives.
Re: We need technology that is less immersive, not more
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
> But otherwise this warning is too early. When would the right time have been to warn people about the current generation of social media? We now have a ton of information about how technology will be used and abused, and we have a laundry list of known problems that we have not solved. Algorithmic social media and engagement-driven content are front and center. To me, the warning is appropriate not based on what ha…
The warnings started appropriately early in 2011, there should’ve been regulations in place by 2015. VR is still in 2006. Maybe let the first ad run in VR before you ascribe all the same problems to it.
What is it about VR that makes it meaningfully different enough from the current generation of problematic technology that we don't need to worry about the same problems?
This isn't a "gotcha" question; I'm genuinely curious. To me, VR is a new interface layer on top of a massive ecosystem, and the same people are building it. The ecosystem is where the problems exist, and VR is just the latest facade through which we interface with that ecosystem.
In this framing, it's not ascribing old problems to new technology as much as claiming that the new technology magnifies or intrinsically replicates the existing problems.
> The warnings started appropriately early in 2011, there should’ve been regulations in place by 2015
It's 2024 and the regulatory landscape is very poor or nearly nonexistent. Shouldn't this encourage more caution? i.e. we've already proven that looking back and deciding "oh yeah we should have been more careful" hasn't actually resolved the issue, and taking the same approach with emerging tech that has similar pitfalls seems doomed to repeat that.
I also don't think we had any idea what was coming when we were building the stacks that underlie the current web. We now have much clearer mental models of what the Internet and technology in general is capable of, and the resulting warnings are coming much earlier (appropriately, IMO).
Re: We need technology that is less immersive, not more
#126"I hope you’ll agree that humanity has a variety of important engineering problems to solve, and nicer-looking graphics is quite low on that list." I used to sneer at the social value of entertainment. Then covid lockdowns hit. I spent a lot of time playing Factorio. When professional sports resumed playing (in empty stadiums, with fake crowd noise on the broadcasts) I was happy to sit on the couch after work and wat…
The surgeon does not need images or Javascript or even CSS to listen or watch. She only needs the audio/video files. The problem with adding "graphics" that are purportedly to assist the surgeon in opening these files is that web developers have generally sold out to marketers and advertisers. As it happens, the best way to avoid the marketing and advertising is to bypass the "graphics".
Re: We need technology that is less immersive, not more
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
When my computer glitches, e.g. if a key stops working on my keyboard or the mouse doesn't respond as expected, I sometimes experience a physical sense of of discomfort or disorientation that's not unlike dizzyness or the feeling of missing a step on stairs. I think it's because, as you describe in terms of immersion, my brain has extended its concept of my body through my typing fingers to the computer screen, build…
I don’t buy this for even a minute. If my starter solenoid goes out on my old time Jeep I get the same feeling. (It’s happened a few times now). Does this mean the Jeep is now part of my body? Of course not. It’s called being annoyed or caught off guard by external stimuli. I think there is a large portion of people on this website who have not spent a day in years without their devices. That doesn’t mean their devic…
Bad news, my friend: you're a Jeep cyborg. Basically something from a Transformers movie.
And yeah, I'm stretching the argument a bit -- of course at least on a conscious level there's a boundary at my fingertips where I know that my body ends by the more generally accepted definition of "me".
Re: We need technology that is less immersive, not more
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
While I think most people understand this sentiment, the root issue here was the lock-down – Yes, if you imprison a whole nation it is good to have some sedation. You could say that a lot of people wouldn't have gone through lock-downs without alcohol and porn either. That does not make it more admirable. I agree in the sentiment that we have more important issues than providing ever more entertainment – we had no is…
Is it? I remember Marc Andreessen's comment near the height of the VR craze of ~2016, about "reality deserts". Some segment of the American population lives in an urban area (or suburban area / village with people they actually like), and for them, the idea that people might want to play computer games online instead of hanging out with their friends in person is unfathomable. But not everybody is privileged enough t…
People should unionize, shouldn't they?
I merely expressed an opinion of an alternative society I would rather be a part of and based on your comment, I don't seem to be the only one.
But it requires us to, collectively, value our time higher.
in the end am I from Denmark. and here we certainly have another approach to work life balance.
Re: We need technology that is less immersive, not more
#129Earlier quoted context omitted.
Civilization 1 and 2 was much greater experience than 5, although graphics was quite basic. This is in some other aspects means the opposite
But at time of release, Civ 1 and 2 had best-in-class graphics.
They’ve reached tabletop game quality and peaked there. Proves the point that we don’t need more immersive games than real life tabletop games, as our creative brain fills in the gaps.
Re: We need technology that is less immersive, not more
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
the work that pays is the unglamorous stuff that needs doing no, the work that pays is the unglamorous stuff that someone wants to get done to make a profit. the stuff that actually needs doing is the stuff that would be a benefit for our society.
"Profit" is just the difference between what people are willing to pay for a service and the full cost of what it takes to provide that service (which itself is defined as how much the different suppliers could be making doing other stuff). Business owners are rewarded for shifting resources away from activities that consumers don't value highly (as evidenced by their willingness to pay for them) to ones that they do…
my budget for meaningless entertainment is zero, so i am spending my money differently.