5 ms·

As Facebook is one of the worst companies in existence today, I really hope they will not succeed in that new market.

by rainyMammoth 6y ago

Shared404 6y ago
Yep. I hope the best for VR/AR, and the worst for Facebook.
- goatinaboat 6y ago
  I hope the best for VR/AR, and the worst for Facebook It's funny, Tron was one of the most memorable movies of my childhood. Later I watched Star Trek with the Holodeck, read Neuromancer and Snow Crash, dabbled with VRML, played with the SGI CAVE at university. I ought to be hugely excited by the progress in VR. But... I'm just not. Because Facebook and friends are not doing it because it's cool or because it will be useful to humanity, to them it's just another siphon to hoover up and monetise your personal data by steering you into purchasing and voting decisions that benefit them, not you. After literally decades of anticipation, I doubt I will bother to participate in VR.
  - TeMPOraL 6y ago
    Your story also describes my personal disillusionment with technology more generally. Not with just VR, but with technology in general. All the time, I see ideas and technologies that have huge unrealized potential - they could be so much more - but they aren't, because they're being purposefully crippled by the companies who develop them, patent the shit out of them[0], and proceed to milk people for all they're worth using that tech. Everything is exploitative. And what about all that potential? Companies see it, alright - they wax about it in their marketing materials. Then they make sure it doesn't happen. -- [0] - While intended to protect from other alike competitors, this has a side effect of shutting off anyone who would like to develop technologies up to their potential.
    - Shared404 6y ago
      This resonates with me, more than I'd like. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with my life, and the more I know about technology, the more apprehensive I am about working with it. However, I do also believe that those of us who feel this way have something of a responsibility to fight back a little, in whatever way we can. Hopefully we can continue to keep a little space cleared of the FAANG's, and open for L/OSS. Or at least a neutral ground, where we can be reasonably sure that there isn't any nonsense going on.
    - treestumpquiet 6y ago
      I feel it too, the optimism has hit an organizational wall. I remember being worried about AOL’s take over of the internet and relieved when AOL went belly-up. I have the same worry about FANG and keep my fingers crossed that decentralization will replace them and they will go bankrupt from over-leveraging. Employee ownership in companies has to get better. Direction has become so opaque, hidden, and now quite frankly tasteless and borderline tacky.
      - lovecg 6y ago
        Why would employees want something drastically different for the company? Employees in general like to get paid.
  - bergie 6y ago
    > Because Facebook and friends are not doing it because it's cool or because it will be useful to humanity, to them it's just another siphon to hoover up and monetise your personal data by steering you into purchasing and voting decisions that benefit them, not you At least this means they’re taking us closer to that Cyberpunk dystopia.

As Facebook is one of the worst companies in existence today, I really hope they will not succeed in that new market.

Shared404 6y ago

Yep. I hope the best for VR/AR, and the worst for Facebook.

goatinaboat 6y ago
I hope the best for VR/AR, and the worst for Facebook It's funny, Tron was one of the most memorable movies of my childhood. Later I watched Star Trek with the Holodeck, read Neuromancer and Snow Crash, dabbled with VRML, played with the SGI CAVE at university. I ought to be hugely excited by the progress in VR. But... I'm just not. Because Facebook and friends are not doing it because it's cool or because it will be useful to humanity, to them it's just another siphon to hoover up and monetise your personal data by steering you into purchasing and voting decisions that benefit them, not you. After literally decades of anticipation, I doubt I will bother to participate in VR.
- TeMPOraL 6y ago
  Your story also describes my personal disillusionment with technology more generally. Not with just VR, but with technology in general. All the time, I see ideas and technologies that have huge unrealized potential - they could be so much more - but they aren't, because they're being purposefully crippled by the companies who develop them, patent the shit out of them[0], and proceed to milk people for all they're worth using that tech. Everything is exploitative. And what about all that potential? Companies see it, alright - they wax about it in their marketing materials. Then they make sure it doesn't happen. -- [0] - While intended to protect from other alike competitors, this has a side effect of shutting off anyone who would like to develop technologies up to their potential.
  - Shared404 6y ago
    This resonates with me, more than I'd like. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with my life, and the more I know about technology, the more apprehensive I am about working with it. However, I do also believe that those of us who feel this way have something of a responsibility to fight back a little, in whatever way we can. Hopefully we can continue to keep a little space cleared of the FAANG's, and open for L/OSS. Or at least a neutral ground, where we can be reasonably sure that there isn't any nonsense going on.
  - treestumpquiet 6y ago
    I feel it too, the optimism has hit an organizational wall. I remember being worried about AOL’s take over of the internet and relieved when AOL went belly-up. I have the same worry about FANG and keep my fingers crossed that decentralization will replace them and they will go bankrupt from over-leveraging. Employee ownership in companies has to get better. Direction has become so opaque, hidden, and now quite frankly tasteless and borderline tacky.
    - lovecg 6y ago
      Why would employees want something drastically different for the company? Employees in general like to get paid.
- bergie 6y ago
  > Because Facebook and friends are not doing it because it's cool or because it will be useful to humanity, to them it's just another siphon to hoover up and monetise your personal data by steering you into purchasing and voting decisions that benefit them, not you At least this means they’re taking us closer to that Cyberpunk dystopia.