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

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

#21

Post by zdragnar »

q4Zar wrote: 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 bit.

Edit: That said, living in VR and never going for a walk through a forest would be utterly dystopian and nightmarish for me. The only thing keeping me from daily walks in the woods right now is hunting season.

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

#22

Post by ttiurani »

meheleventyone wrote: post #2

I thought the juxtaposition between the cringey, overproduced keynote and Carmack’s talk was amazing. Just a guy in front of some monitors telling you the whole thing you just watched was nonsense. It was beautiful.

Carmack's point about it being about products is so important. Same way a game engine is an almost accidental side result from a great game, a worthwhile "metaverse" will be a accidental result of one or more great, useful products.

Have to say it's entertaining to see Carmack roast Zuck publicly.

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

#23

Post by kupopuffs »

q4Zar wrote: 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

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

#24

Post by wayoutthere »

q4Zar wrote: 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 !

Nobody really wants that; which I think is what Facebook is missing (sorry, not calling them Meta just like we still call Alphabet Google). I personally like VR, but in no way do I think it’s a replacement for the real world. For me, it’s just a more immersive video game experience that I can only handle for about an hour at a time.

IMO Facebook wants you to experience life entirely though their platform, because once you take a step back you realize that Facebook is this weird alternate world where everyone is angry all the time, truth has no meaning and there are no social norms.

Meanwhile, when you DO step back into real life, you realize many of the people who probably want to murder you online are perfectly nice in person. Or that most of the people you talk to on Facebook are people you used to be friends with but would never make time to see in real life because you’re not that close anymore. And that Facebook might not be reflective of reality, which threatens their engagement metrics. So they want to shape your reality to be less threatening to them. I couldn’t think of a more dystopian concept — fortunately the value proposition is not appealing to most.

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

#25

Post by aaron695 »

Part of the reason Ready Player Two tanked was people were no longer willing to put up with the fact OASIS was a shitty place no one would be spending any time in.

Readers were willing to not think too hard for the first book because the nostalgia was cool.

Second book you realise most people couldn't actually feel anything like touch in OASIS, what's the point, why were they all in there so much.

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

#26

Post by netcan »

q4Zar wrote: 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 !

I have an oculus, which I bought mostly out of interest. Not really a gamer.

Anyway, I use it once or twice a month to play a zombie shooting game with my brother, who lives overseas. We shoot zombies for an hour and chat. It feels kind of similar to golfing, bowling or somesuch. We can't do those in person, so we do it in VR.

So for me, VR is kind of a comms tool. A place to catch up. Alternative to video calls. Calling is great, but doing something together it just a normal way of bonding.

As always, the tech is a canvas. You can paint any pictures on it. That said, yeah... This kind of tech & gaming has shown a real proclivity for isolating us from reality and each other.

OOH, I think social VR has a lot of immediate potential, with current and next generation tech. It'll take a while before the user base, hardware, etc. will support blockbuster gaming, films and such. Social stuff can be more lightweight and simple. In that sense, fb is a sensible home for VR.

OTOH, fb's approach to software if goddam awful. Their whole paradigm is making software that makes people do things, not software that people do stuff with. That's likely to tip the balance in the antipattern favour.

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

#27

Post by bsenftner »

And a 720 degree fully immersive virtual reality has successfully existed in human society for thousands of years. It is called the written word, and in story form is 100% successful transporting an individual anywhere, realistically, and fully immersive. The Metaverse is simply an immature projection of what some early thinkers imagined, and whatever the Internet becomes it is not going to be that stupid commercial fantasy.

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

#28

Post by robmccoll »

q4Zar wrote: 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 in their own way).

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

#29

Post by Arisaka1 »

q4Zar wrote: 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 !

Remarks like these remind me of something John Carmack said in Joe Rogan's interview:

>“There’s this piece of art that goes around the internet of this dystopian kid in a corner, drooling, with goggles on with rainbow pictures and it’s a terrible looking place,” Carmack told Rogan. “And people say, ‘This is the world you’re trying to build, people plugged into virtual reality and ignoring the world around them.’”

>“Is his life really better if he takes them off and he’s in this horrible place?” he asked. “I live in Dallas. It’s 100 degrees there. We change the world around us in all that we do. We live in air-conditioning. People don’t generally go, ‘Oh, you’re not experiencing the world around you because of air-conditioning’ … That is what human beings do, we bend the world to our will.”

I guess it's a matter of perspective but I will say this: I had to isolate myself for months during covid, because of chronic issues that increase the risk of getting ICU'd. And while I missed social contact and leisurely walking under the sun, I can't say that I ever felt imprisoned. If anything, in times like these I would love to have even the emulation of the experience that is walking through a forest without having to worry about my allergies, my joints, snakes or getting lost.

What this all means is that, you're not "better" or "worse" than me for wanting to go in the countryside. You're only different. The whole notion of "you have no life if you work in front of a computer most of the time" was absurd to begin with. How is doing something that I enjoy doing "no life"? The solution to that is simple: Instead of applying societal pressure by pointing out that someone refuses to have a life by focusing too much into games, programming, anime or whatnot to inspect the reasons why they're not attracted to what you claim to be as "having a life".

What I'm saying is, getting out once or twice a week to get my sun exposure for some vitamin D works just fine for me, and I hope people will stop pointing out that "I don't have a life because I prefer X over Y". It's wrong, it's borderline "no true Scotchman" and pivots over the real issue that is respecting people's preferences without feeling that you have "more life" than others.

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