Facebook Renames to Meta • Hacker News Board

Re: Facebook Renames to Meta

#641

Post by rl3 » Thu, Oct 28, 2021, 8:44 PM UTC

October 28th, 2021 4:44PM EDT

Following a new keynote from augmented reality company Meta on Thursday, scientists continue to investigate how Epic Games' MetaHuman technology has become categorically superior to real-life actors in terms of expressed humanistic qualities, seemingly overnight.

Responding to questions surrounding the unfortunate name clash, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney denied this would cement his position as a present day Eldon Tyrell: "We never said that. 'More human than human' isn't our motto and never was; today it just happens to be true. The technology is still in its early stages, and it clearly isn't there yet."

When asked for further clarification, Sweeney elaborated with candor: "It's eerie, you know? From the outset, we knew their strategy was to bring the one-dimensional qualities of stock photo models to life, we just didn't think they'd succeed this early."

"It's really made us question our product strategy as a whole." said Sweeney. "We're trying to make fake humans realistic, and they're trying to make real humans fake. What's their end game? It's kind of a mind fuck, honestly."

When reached for comment Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg declined to be interviewed for this article, electing instead to maintain an unblinking gaze as his arms continued to awkwardly gesture with sterile insincerity.

Re: Facebook Renames to Meta

#642

Post by Tenoke » Thu, Oct 28, 2021, 8:44 PM UTC

carbonguy wrote: post #631

Tenoke wrote: post #574

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>How much would it cost to just send every one of them an Oculus headset for free? 20-50 times what they earn per user.

I doubt it's THAT high a multiple - in 2020 they earned just over $32 per user [1] and an Oculus Quest 2 retails for $299; one assumes the manufacturing cost is lower, meaning the multiple is likely 9x or less. Of course, the essence of your point is true: Facebook doesn't make as much per year per user on average as a headset costs. [1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/234056/facebooks-average...

This is revenue and not profit and I've seen a lot of articles claiming that they are almost definitely selling headsets at a cost already[0]. Point stands either way for giving them free and selling at a cost is just a lesser version of that at any rate.

0. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.pcgamer.com/amp/oculus-will...,

Re: Facebook Renames to Meta

#643

Post by sundarurfriend » Thu, Oct 28, 2021, 8:45 PM UTC

dnautics wrote: post #611

uuddlrlr wrote: post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I don't think Facebook is constitutionally able to give up ad revenue gains This "fiduciary duty" meme really needs to die. Seriously the idea of fiduciary duty [to maximixe profit] is dystopian, corporations don't fuck us over because they have to they do it because they can. Edit: clarify

The "fiduciary duty meme" is exactly what GP did not mean as per their disclaimer. Constitutionally in this sense means "as a result of it's constitutive makeup", i.e., it's culture, hierarchy, incentive structures, employees, managers etc.

> The "fiduciary duty meme" is exactly what GP did not mean as per their disclaimer

which was added thanks to your parent comment.

Re: Facebook Renames to Meta

#644

Post by tracyhenry » Thu, Oct 28, 2021, 8:45 PM UTC

astlouis44 wrote: post #277

Sorry Zuckerberg, but the metaverse will NOT be a walled garden, tied to a social media company. Is the the internet, and more specifically, THE WEB itself as an immersive, distributed spatial ecosystem of worlds. The metaverse needs to be interoperable above all else, and this is unachievable with the equivalent of native, vendor locked apps controlled by an entity. The web already does this, as every site is govern…

> WebGPU, WebXR, WebAssembly, and WebTransport are the key foundational technologies to this future online space.

This sounds like a narrow view focusing on software. Hardware is apparently the bottleneck here. A 3D game on a website is at best semi-immersive. You need headsets/AR glasses to get full immersion.

Re: Facebook Renames to Meta

#645

Post by dmix » Thu, Oct 28, 2021, 8:46 PM UTC

gdilla wrote: post #409

daviding wrote: post #36

If there is going to be a metaverse, I'm not sure I want Facebook to own it. It's like a bad sci-fi pulp story. Given their investment and research, I wonder if they should open it all up (even if contradictory to short-term gains in ad revenue) so it has a chance to grow? Federate it a bit more than they are comfortable with, to at least give it a chance. I could see this flubbing out hard otherwise. I'm personally…

It's their metaverse. A walled garden metaverse. So maybe that isn't really a metaverse, but what they want you to think about a metaverse.

Zuckerberg repeatedly tried to say it will be an open standard with interop like HTTP links. Zero indication what that means.

If I was FB I would have announced at least a protocol or some technical foundation, even if it's purely preview.

Re: Facebook Renames to Meta

#646

Post by pb060 » Thu, Oct 28, 2021, 8:46 PM UTC

tsimionescu wrote: post #488

c0d4h wrote: post #434

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't speak for VR, but AR definitively has a future. You already see practical use of this technology with HUD-tech (Heads up display) in cars, but beyond that you'll find great applications for it within medicine/operations, transportation (directions), marketing (product information, authenticity verification), and the list goes on and on...

Yes, AR has some potential as an industrial or otherwise specialized technology. It won't be revolutionary or change the world in any way, but it will probably improve several kinds of processes, a background tech. VR is much more likely to either become the new TV or to die an obscure death, like 3D movies.

3D movies will come back and die again. And again, forever

Re: Facebook Renames to Meta

#647

Post by vehemenz » Thu, Oct 28, 2021, 8:47 PM UTC

Great. Now when I discuss metaphysics and metaethics, I have to subconsciously suppress the visage of history's most mediocre gazillionaire.

Re: Facebook Renames to Meta

#648

Post by pelasaco » Thu, Oct 28, 2021, 8:47 PM UTC

dmix wrote: post #637

pelasaco wrote: post #560

That's so woke, weird and awkward. Zuckerberg, trying to be natural, the interviewer, the parties.. I hope that isn't our future

Even the robot character was awkward.

almost as awkward as Zuckerberg nodding in the interview and saying how much fun he had playing some games.

Re: Facebook Renames to Meta

#649

Post by edgriebel » Thu, Oct 28, 2021, 8:48 PM UTC

minimaxir wrote: post #2

The rebrand was introduced as a "One More Thing" during the event keynote. A 2007 "One More Thing" was the announcement of the iPhone and the future of mobile computing. Now a 2021 "One More Thing" is the announcement of a company rebrand to avoid government regulation.

> rebrand to avoid government regulation

Aww, kids are so cute when they're having a temper tantrum

Re: Facebook Renames to Meta

#650

Post by edgriebel » Thu, Oct 28, 2021, 8:50 PM UTC

CodeGlitch wrote: post #363

Ansil849 wrote: post #20

In London, in the area around the London Eye, there is a tourist trap that offers a very poor 'haunted house' type of attraction, usually something having to do with zombies. As each iteration of this tourist trap gains a reputation for being total rubbish and gains one star reviews online, every few months the attraction rebrands to another name.

Takeaways in the UK also do this after the Foods Standards Agency shuts them down.

Same thing happens with Chinese restaurants in the states. New name, new sign out front, but oddly enough same fixtures, same items on the menu, and same folks behind the counter.