4 ms·

I cringed a bit when I saw this. It is one thing to go to Puerto Rico and walk around a block of houses to raise awereness. But to do this in VR, not even taki

I cringed a bit when I saw this. It is one thing to go to Puerto Rico and walk around a block of houses to raise awereness. But to do this in VR, not even taking the effort to actually go there... it's a bit. I don't know. I guess tone-deaf is a good word for it. Just feels like those pictures where people pose for a selfie next to the homeless people they just handed €1 to.

brndnmtthws 9y ago
It's also sickening that this feels like some kind of product promotion piggybacking on the devastation in PR.
coldcode 9y ago
The people of Puerto Rico are suffering in Actual Reality using VR to visit them is unbelievably dense. Doing it as a cartoon is even worse.
- hackinthebochs 9y ago
  No, its a way for the rest of us to visit the devastation in a way that triggers our empathy. This isn't about Zuck, this is about the rest of the country that has basically been ignoring PR.
  - leereeves 9y ago
    The rest of the country hasn't been ignoring Puerto Rico. It's been in the news everyday for weeks. FEMA and other agencies sent 20,000 people to help. Tens of billions of dollars for aid have been approved by Congress or requested by Trump. Perhaps you've been misled by partisan claims that Trump is failing to respond.
vorotato 9y ago
I mean they were in Puerto Rico, but yeah there is an emotional distancing with VR that they really really should have been aware of. They probably were aware of it and zuck overrided.
- drzaiusapelord 9y ago
  >zuck overrided. I really do wonder if Zuck is a functional sociopath, and not in a 'jokey' way but in a clinical fashion. Many of his top level decisions seem to show a complete lack of empathy and his reputation like calling Facebook users "dumb fucks" for trusting him, really seem to fit the bill. Perhaps we can excuse a lot of this for his relatively young age he found success at, or even just write him off as on the spectrum and tone-deaf as opposed to sociopathic, but its something to consider and worry about considering his vast influence. Sadly, in the world of US executives, a certain level of sociopathy seems to be the norm. Or at least, learned pseudo-sociopathy (The Gervais Principle) [2]. There's many critical writings about what under-regulated capitalism leads to[1] and the type of people who end up the most successful in such environments, but I'm not sure if HN is the place to have this conversation considering its ultimately a forum for entrepreneurs. But there are pressing questions and ones I imagine that will be more important as income inequality and automation begin to eat the world. [1] https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/11/sociopathic-capitalism/506240/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/11/sociopa... [2] https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-or-the-office-according-to-the-office/ https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-...
ourmandave 9y ago
It's the Wii-like avatars against the devastation backdrop that really makes it so cringey. Don't worry, the next release will have Snapchat filters instead.
bobjordan 9y ago
I have a rift and rarely use it because of nausea. I can definitely see how viewing a scene like this in 360-degree video from a rift could create a level of empathy just not possible by any other means. Of course, Mark could easily jump on a plane and actually go to Puerto Rico, but most of the planet can't. He's creating a platform that one day could have something like news clip videos in VR of scenes like this. That's a potential game-changer to get more people involved in assistance. Most of us don't search out bad news, we filter through it, so we can move on with our lives. It's a lot harder to ignore something you've seen after viewing in VR 360 degree video. I think its not moving in the wrong direction to attempt to have actual serious use cases besides games and entertainment.
WillReplyfFood 9y ago
Should have brought a 3d Scanner.. this could have been the next call of looty level.
hackinthebochs 9y ago
>I don't know. I guess tone-deaf is a good word for it. These kinds of responses are completely bone-headed. You know why Puerto Rico hasn't received the kind of awareness (and hence resources) that Texas and Florida received? It's because people are so disconnected to the devastation. Anything that makes the devastation more real to the rest of the country is doing genuine good for Puerto Rico. Facebook uses their technology to do just that and people can't wait admonish Zuckerberg when they get the chance.
- leereeves 9y ago
  > Puerto Rico hasn't received the kind of awareness (and hence resources) that Texas and Florida received That's completely false. Puerto Rico received 10x as much coverage as Texas and Florida.

brndnmtthws 9y ago

It's also sickening that this feels like some kind of product promotion piggybacking on the devastation in PR.

coldcode 9y ago

The people of Puerto Rico are suffering in Actual Reality using VR to visit them is unbelievably dense. Doing it as a cartoon is even worse.

hackinthebochs 9y ago
No, its a way for the rest of us to visit the devastation in a way that triggers our empathy. This isn't about Zuck, this is about the rest of the country that has basically been ignoring PR.
- leereeves 9y ago
  The rest of the country hasn't been ignoring Puerto Rico. It's been in the news everyday for weeks. FEMA and other agencies sent 20,000 people to help. Tens of billions of dollars for aid have been approved by Congress or requested by Trump. Perhaps you've been misled by partisan claims that Trump is failing to respond.

vorotato 9y ago

I mean they were in Puerto Rico, but yeah there is an emotional distancing with VR that they really really should have been aware of. They probably were aware of it and zuck overrided.

drzaiusapelord 9y ago
>zuck overrided. I really do wonder if Zuck is a functional sociopath, and not in a 'jokey' way but in a clinical fashion. Many of his top level decisions seem to show a complete lack of empathy and his reputation like calling Facebook users "dumb fucks" for trusting him, really seem to fit the bill. Perhaps we can excuse a lot of this for his relatively young age he found success at, or even just write him off as on the spectrum and tone-deaf as opposed to sociopathic, but its something to consider and worry about considering his vast influence. Sadly, in the world of US executives, a certain level of sociopathy seems to be the norm. Or at least, learned pseudo-sociopathy (The Gervais Principle) [2]. There's many critical writings about what under-regulated capitalism leads to[1] and the type of people who end up the most successful in such environments, but I'm not sure if HN is the place to have this conversation considering its ultimately a forum for entrepreneurs. But there are pressing questions and ones I imagine that will be more important as income inequality and automation begin to eat the world. [1] https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/11/sociopathic-capitalism/506240/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/11/sociopa... [2] https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-or-the-office-according-to-the-office/ https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-...

ourmandave 9y ago

It's the Wii-like avatars against the devastation backdrop that really makes it so cringey. Don't worry, the next release will have Snapchat filters instead.

bobjordan 9y ago

I have a rift and rarely use it because of nausea. I can definitely see how viewing a scene like this in 360-degree video from a rift could create a level of empathy just not possible by any other means. Of course, Mark could easily jump on a plane and actually go to Puerto Rico, but most of the planet can't. He's creating a platform that one day could have something like news clip videos in VR of scenes like this. That's a potential game-changer to get more people involved in assistance. Most of us don't search out bad news, we filter through it, so we can move on with our lives. It's a lot harder to ignore something you've seen after viewing in VR 360 degree video. I think its not moving in the wrong direction to attempt to have actual serious use cases besides games and entertainment.

WillReplyfFood 9y ago

Should have brought a 3d Scanner.. this could have been the next call of looty level.

hackinthebochs 9y ago

>I don't know. I guess tone-deaf is a good word for it. These kinds of responses are completely bone-headed. You know why Puerto Rico hasn't received the kind of awareness (and hence resources) that Texas and Florida received? It's because people are so disconnected to the devastation. Anything that makes the devastation more real to the rest of the country is doing genuine good for Puerto Rico. Facebook uses their technology to do just that and people can't wait admonish Zuckerberg when they get the chance.

leereeves 9y ago
> Puerto Rico hasn't received the kind of awareness (and hence resources) that Texas and Florida received That's completely false. Puerto Rico received 10x as much coverage as Texas and Florida.