5 ms·

This is Facebook, a company worth billions of dollars, showcasing their last, earth shaking tech that is going to change mankind forever. Add silly hats and sta

by iagooar 10y ago

This is Facebook, a company worth billions of dollars, showcasing their last, earth shaking tech that is going to change mankind forever. Add silly hats and stars to your selfies! How could we live for so long without it!

dmreedy 10y ago
I hate to sound like I'm defending facebook, because on instinct I'd agree with you. But I always have to be careful to remind myself not to underestimate the power of play as a driver of discovery. Feynman spinning plates and whatnot.
- transcranial 10y ago
  Great video on the power of play as a driver of innovation/invention: https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2017/04/13/how-play-is-at-the-heart-of-many-world-changing-inventions/ https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2017/04/13/how-play-is-at-the...
  - laughingman2 10y ago
    But this isn't play you are speaking of, this is just a "play" on vanity to boost personal data collection by a soulless corporation.
yitchelle 10y ago
Perhaps the underlying technology is ground breaking, but I agree with you that the application of these technology is rather "first world problem".
- olivermarks 10y ago
  Adding this layer of snapchat style facial alteration doesn't solve FB's biggest problem, which is a race to the bottom for trivial mediocrity. I have pretty much given up looking at FB this year.
drozycki 10y ago
I wouldn't underestimate the need to associate positive emotion with AR in the early stages. Technophobia is a natural reaction when technology can alter our relationship with our environment. The opposite of silly can be unsettling. The Facebook social network is primarily a consumer product. Focusing first on applications with more societal value but narrower appeal (therapy for example) would be a business mistake. The stakes are also lower. No one gets hurt if a hat is misplaced on your shoulder. It is a misallocation of effort if maximizing social value is the goal. But it's not. Profit is an imperfect proxy.
- shostack 10y ago
  A perfect example of this would be the reception of Google Glass vs. Snapchat's Spectacles.
hokkos 10y ago
No the goal is to commoditize Snapchat AR filters.
gumby 10y ago
Why does technology have to move from Serious to Frivolous (or Enterprise to Consumer if you prefer?). Think the other way: consumers will be more tolerant of bugs or functionality gaps and can build ubiquity and experience, then it can branch out. E.g. if the googly-eyes don't track right it's no big deal, but when that has been more robustified then pilots can trust real time overlays of weather radar predictions through their cockpit windows.
- lou1306 10y ago
  I hope technological progress in avionics is grounded in something a little more solid than "Facebook googly-eyes work good enough".
  - gumby 10y ago
    Why? I used the example quasi-humorously but I meant it seriously. The iPhone has given rise to all sorts of ubiquitous technologies and applications -- so ubiquitous we don't notice them. Accelerometers weren't invented by Apple, but their pervasive use in high volume has driven the price down which has given rise to all sorts of other applications, many with the phone as bed. Security is much better than it would be if only banks and the military cared. Etc
septimus111 10y ago
So much cynicism here! Facebook knows they have to appeal to teenagers and so they are working on features that do (c.f. success of Snapchat). Yes, perhaps it would be better if teenagers spent their time reading Kant instead of sharing silly pictures! :)
- laughingman2 10y ago
  The cynicism is well justified. Facebook hires top talent, its sad that the top talent want to work on such problems for making profit instead of something else. The pioneers of internet like J. C. R. Licklider had grand visions, sad that the large part of current intellect pool only want to sell out personal data and make money.
  - septimus111 10y ago
    I agree that it's a shame our society doesn't place more importance on these 'grand visions'. That being said, I think the reason so many people are learning programming and studying computing is because there are big companies like FB where they can make a good living. So it's not like corporations are 'stealing' the talent away from academia, etc.

by iagooar 10y ago

dmreedy 10y ago

I hate to sound like I'm defending facebook, because on instinct I'd agree with you. But I always have to be careful to remind myself not to underestimate the power of play as a driver of discovery. Feynman spinning plates and whatnot.

transcranial 10y ago
Great video on the power of play as a driver of innovation/invention: https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2017/04/13/how-play-is-at-the-heart-of-many-world-changing-inventions/ https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2017/04/13/how-play-is-at-the...
- laughingman2 10y ago
  But this isn't play you are speaking of, this is just a "play" on vanity to boost personal data collection by a soulless corporation.

yitchelle 10y ago

Perhaps the underlying technology is ground breaking, but I agree with you that the application of these technology is rather "first world problem".

olivermarks 10y ago
Adding this layer of snapchat style facial alteration doesn't solve FB's biggest problem, which is a race to the bottom for trivial mediocrity. I have pretty much given up looking at FB this year.

drozycki 10y ago

I wouldn't underestimate the need to associate positive emotion with AR in the early stages. Technophobia is a natural reaction when technology can alter our relationship with our environment. The opposite of silly can be unsettling. The Facebook social network is primarily a consumer product. Focusing first on applications with more societal value but narrower appeal (therapy for example) would be a business mistake. The stakes are also lower. No one gets hurt if a hat is misplaced on your shoulder. It is a misallocation of effort if maximizing social value is the goal. But it's not. Profit is an imperfect proxy.

shostack 10y ago
A perfect example of this would be the reception of Google Glass vs. Snapchat's Spectacles.

hokkos 10y ago

No the goal is to commoditize Snapchat AR filters.

gumby 10y ago

Why does technology have to move from Serious to Frivolous (or Enterprise to Consumer if you prefer?). Think the other way: consumers will be more tolerant of bugs or functionality gaps and can build ubiquity and experience, then it can branch out. E.g. if the googly-eyes don't track right it's no big deal, but when that has been more robustified then pilots can trust real time overlays of weather radar predictions through their cockpit windows.

lou1306 10y ago
I hope technological progress in avionics is grounded in something a little more solid than "Facebook googly-eyes work good enough".
- gumby 10y ago
  Why? I used the example quasi-humorously but I meant it seriously. The iPhone has given rise to all sorts of ubiquitous technologies and applications -- so ubiquitous we don't notice them. Accelerometers weren't invented by Apple, but their pervasive use in high volume has driven the price down which has given rise to all sorts of other applications, many with the phone as bed. Security is much better than it would be if only banks and the military cared. Etc

septimus111 10y ago

So much cynicism here! Facebook knows they have to appeal to teenagers and so they are working on features that do (c.f. success of Snapchat). Yes, perhaps it would be better if teenagers spent their time reading Kant instead of sharing silly pictures! :)

laughingman2 10y ago
The cynicism is well justified. Facebook hires top talent, its sad that the top talent want to work on such problems for making profit instead of something else. The pioneers of internet like J. C. R. Licklider had grand visions, sad that the large part of current intellect pool only want to sell out personal data and make money.
- septimus111 10y ago
  I agree that it's a shame our society doesn't place more importance on these 'grand visions'. That being said, I think the reason so many people are learning programming and studying computing is because there are big companies like FB where they can make a good living. So it's not like corporations are 'stealing' the talent away from academia, etc.