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Any future avatar based communication system (VR/AR) needs to be open source and auditable if it’s going to mediate a large portion of human affairs and interac

by gfodor 7y ago

Any future avatar based communication system (VR/AR) needs to be open source and auditable if it’s going to mediate a large portion of human affairs and interaction. It also needs to be actually decentralized, the way the web and Internet are. We are working on it at Mozilla: hubs.mozilla.com More info here: https://github.com/mozilla/hubs-cloud/wiki/The-Web-Emergent-Metaverse https://github.com/mozilla/hubs-cloud/wiki/The-Web-Emergent-...

freepor 7y ago
Why is this requirement particular to AR/VR, or is it just a desire to attach this requirement onto a big tech trend?
- sudopluto 7y ago
  Did you even read the link he posted?
- npo9 7y ago
  Judging from his post the author believes AR/VR can provide a sense of “presence” that will recreate how we interact socially on the net. I remain skeptical, but this has been a recent argument coming from oculus devs and others in the VR/AR community.
utopian3 7y ago
> It also needs to be actually decentralized, the way the web and Internet are. The more you look at the web/Internet, you’ll notice it’s not as decentralized as most people believe
- gfodor 7y ago
  agree, but it's the best example we currently have of a global scale decentralized digital network. (crypto assets aside, which aren't really a good analog to what i'm talking about here) would be happy to make a better one tho!
Polylactic_acid 7y ago
VR communication systems are a toy/gimmick like second life was. I have spent some time with VRchat and see no reason why it would end up becoming a primary method of communication over IM/social media. Its a good way to mess around and have some fun but its less convenient than existing methods.
- npo9 7y ago
  That’s true today. Is it true 10 years from today? If AR/VR becomes built into a form factor similar to reading glasses today I suspect we will see a lot more avatar based chatting.
  - Polylactic_acid 7y ago
    For what purpose though? Front facing cameras are in every device now and IM/voice chat is still more common. I guess it depends if you are communicating for function or for social/entertainment purposes. I just don't see the added value of avatar communication other than the novelty of being a video game character or a fox person
    - gfodor 7y ago
      The value of avatar based communication, vs video in particular, is about: - social presence: the feeling of being together and of unmediated communication - shared spatial awareness: the ability to have a shared reference frame of physical reality these are the two key features of face to face communication that digital communication tools have largely failed to replicate. (as studied by academic research) I also conjecture there's a third: - ability to dynamically spawn and manipulate contextual mixed media in a shared spatial environment (videos, images, 3d models, data, etc) These three characteristics combined are met already today to some degree by modern day video games, but VR/AR seems likely to be the key tool to knock down much of the barrier regarding social presence due to its ability to transmit many more forms of non-verbal communication between people than existing tools.
- gfodor 7y ago

by gfodor 7y ago

freepor 7y ago

Why is this requirement particular to AR/VR, or is it just a desire to attach this requirement onto a big tech trend?

sudopluto 7y ago
Did you even read the link he posted?
npo9 7y ago
Judging from his post the author believes AR/VR can provide a sense of “presence” that will recreate how we interact socially on the net. I remain skeptical, but this has been a recent argument coming from oculus devs and others in the VR/AR community.

utopian3 7y ago

> It also needs to be actually decentralized, the way the web and Internet are. The more you look at the web/Internet, you’ll notice it’s not as decentralized as most people believe

gfodor 7y ago
agree, but it's the best example we currently have of a global scale decentralized digital network. (crypto assets aside, which aren't really a good analog to what i'm talking about here) would be happy to make a better one tho!

Polylactic_acid 7y ago

VR communication systems are a toy/gimmick like second life was. I have spent some time with VRchat and see no reason why it would end up becoming a primary method of communication over IM/social media. Its a good way to mess around and have some fun but its less convenient than existing methods.

npo9 7y ago
That’s true today. Is it true 10 years from today? If AR/VR becomes built into a form factor similar to reading glasses today I suspect we will see a lot more avatar based chatting.
- Polylactic_acid 7y ago
  For what purpose though? Front facing cameras are in every device now and IM/voice chat is still more common. I guess it depends if you are communicating for function or for social/entertainment purposes. I just don't see the added value of avatar communication other than the novelty of being a video game character or a fox person
  - gfodor 7y ago
    The value of avatar based communication, vs video in particular, is about: - social presence: the feeling of being together and of unmediated communication - shared spatial awareness: the ability to have a shared reference frame of physical reality these are the two key features of face to face communication that digital communication tools have largely failed to replicate. (as studied by academic research) I also conjecture there's a third: - ability to dynamically spawn and manipulate contextual mixed media in a shared spatial environment (videos, images, 3d models, data, etc) These three characteristics combined are met already today to some degree by modern day video games, but VR/AR seems likely to be the key tool to knock down much of the barrier regarding social presence due to its ability to transmit many more forms of non-verbal communication between people than existing tools.
gfodor 7y ago