4 ms·

Facebook invests $50M to build the 'metaverse' in responsible manner

32 points by DocFeind 5y ago

ativzzz 5y ago
How on earth can FB > invest the money globally over two years to ensure metaverse technologies are "built in a way that's inclusive and empowering," when they can't even build their current platform to do that?
- icey 5y ago
  What if they think that their current platform does do that? Scary thought.
  - greyivy 5y ago
    They do. A lot of people do. Scary reality.
Datenstrom 5y ago
Actual footage from the Facebook board meeting discussing responsibly building the 'metaverse'. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpPE85Jogjw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpPE85Jogjw
smoldesu 5y ago
We had a shot at a real "Metaverse" around 20 years ago. New protocols were blowing up, p2p internet usage was off the charts, and new software was being developed at unfathomable speed. Eventually though, that fun and connected internet got shook down by the cable providers for not making enough money, so now we're trapped in this dystopian http hellscape. Microsoft started it, then Apple and Google followed their lead. Now, all it takes to be a success story in Silicon Valley is licking the boot of a Fortune 500 company. You aren't building a future system, you're hoisting a content silo that's locking people into an even more centralized, railroaded system than before. Facebook wouldn't be spending this kind of money if they didn't expect it to pay dividends. Keep that in mind as you read about anything "Metaverse" related.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
tengbretson 5y ago
As far as doomsday devices go, you have to admit, this one is definitely the most responsibly built.
taigeair 5y ago
the metaverse sounds like https://www.prod.there.com https://www.prod.there.com
ragona 5y ago
I would have scare quoted "responsible" instead of "metaverse", personally.
a_c 5y ago
IMVU, Eric Ries, lean start-up, metaverse, are we coming in full circle? Why metaverse now? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMVU https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMVU
- lotophage 5y ago
  There's a ton of them dating back to 1993: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaverse#Timeline_of_virtual_environments https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaverse#Timeline_of_virtual_...
  - riskneutral 5y ago
    The term Metaverse was coined in 1992 by Neil Stephenson, in the sci-fi novel Snow Crash. The fictional Metaverse is basically a networked version of the the sci-fi Holodeck from Star Trek, which first appeared in an episode aired in 1974. There is no way at all that Facebook is anywhere near having VR capabilities like the Holodeck in Star Trek, let alone the Metaverse in Snow Crash. So I don't understand what their pitch is. I like that they're spending $50 million working on the problem, but I don't think that the Oculus Rift is the going to turn into a Holodeck, or Facebook into the Metaverse, with just $50 million and 3-5 years.
    - jacobr1 5y ago
      The $50M isn't their internal R&D budget. It is the budget to spend on external groups, mostly university grants, to focus on things like how to make whatever "metaverse" gets built is somehow more inclusive and less-cyberpunk with all the dystopian overtones. I don't have any real expectations that we'll anything meaningful for the spend, but I'd like to be surprised.
DLA 5y ago
Facebook lies continuously. Just not credible. They need to restore trust with trustworthy action (not PR or Zuck “taking responsibility” for X) and real transparency.
trhway 5y ago
Sounds like Marc found some loose change in his pockets.
- annadane 5y ago
  All the money gained from scraping Whatsapp users' metadata, I'm sure. Or is it the lying about video metrics for 2 years? Hard to tell.
pryce 5y ago
I feel like treating at face value that Facebook is building things in a "responsible" manner—in the headline, even—is the opposite of journalism. If we showed our current state to people from 10 years ago, they would be too astonished to believe the a trail of desolation this company in particular has managed in just a short few years. The two biggest threats to population of the united states right now, by my reckoning, are the looming internal threat of civil war including the associated coup attempt, and inability to properly respond to the global pandemic. I can't see any interpretation in which social media (but epecially facebook) isn't driving both of these. It is more than likely pursuing these on purpose; in each of these cases, a massive section of the population now actively rejects information about the world from almost any other source, and prioritises recruitment. Make no mistake, facebook knows this shift in zeitgeist essentially makes Facebook far more valuable, regardless of the harm and even death it is causing to Americans, let alone people in other (more often forgotten about) nations.
- lupire 5y ago
  Imagine FB, Twitter, and YouTube don't exist. Do you believe whatever became the popular social media network would be any less toxic? Businesses respond to incentives. 20 years ago, Dick Cheney and friends burned trillions of dollars to ruin the lives of millions of people on wars for profit. Their main propaganda tool was The New York Times and Fox News. They didn't need FB to do it. And that's just one example.
RappingBoomer 5y ago
meanwhile, the usability of the site gets worse by the day...very clunky these days...this article sounds like wall st vaporware hype...all these big companies get worse on the core competencies the bigger they get
TradingPlaces 5y ago
This is the first thing Facebook mentions in the section titled “How We’re Building Responsibly” "We’ll work with experts in government, industry and academia to think through issues and opportunities in the metaverse. For instance, its success depends on building robust interoperability across services, so different companies’ experiences can work together.” This is about them being afraid that early adopters will be on other platforms like Roblox.

32 points by DocFeind 5y ago

How on earth can FB > invest the money globally over two years to ensure metaverse technologies are "built in a way that's inclusive and empowering," when they can't even build their current platform to do that?

icey 5y ago
What if they think that their current platform does do that? Scary thought.
- greyivy 5y ago
  They do. A lot of people do. Scary reality.

Datenstrom 5y ago

Actual footage from the Facebook board meeting discussing responsibly building the 'metaverse'. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpPE85Jogjw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpPE85Jogjw

smoldesu 5y ago

We had a shot at a real "Metaverse" around 20 years ago. New protocols were blowing up, p2p internet usage was off the charts, and new software was being developed at unfathomable speed. Eventually though, that fun and connected internet got shook down by the cable providers for not making enough money, so now we're trapped in this dystopian http hellscape. Microsoft started it, then Apple and Google followed their lead. Now, all it takes to be a success story in Silicon Valley is licking the boot of a Fortune 500 company. You aren't building a future system, you're hoisting a content silo that's locking people into an even more centralized, railroaded system than before. Facebook wouldn't be spending this kind of money if they didn't expect it to pay dividends. Keep that in mind as you read about anything "Metaverse" related.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

tengbretson 5y ago

As far as doomsday devices go, you have to admit, this one is definitely the most responsibly built.

taigeair 5y ago

the metaverse sounds like https://www.prod.there.com https://www.prod.there.com

ragona 5y ago

I would have scare quoted "responsible" instead of "metaverse", personally.

a_c 5y ago

IMVU, Eric Ries, lean start-up, metaverse, are we coming in full circle? Why metaverse now? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMVU https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMVU

lotophage 5y ago
There's a ton of them dating back to 1993: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaverse#Timeline_of_virtual_environments https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaverse#Timeline_of_virtual_...
- riskneutral 5y ago
  The term Metaverse was coined in 1992 by Neil Stephenson, in the sci-fi novel Snow Crash. The fictional Metaverse is basically a networked version of the the sci-fi Holodeck from Star Trek, which first appeared in an episode aired in 1974. There is no way at all that Facebook is anywhere near having VR capabilities like the Holodeck in Star Trek, let alone the Metaverse in Snow Crash. So I don't understand what their pitch is. I like that they're spending $50 million working on the problem, but I don't think that the Oculus Rift is the going to turn into a Holodeck, or Facebook into the Metaverse, with just $50 million and 3-5 years.
  - jacobr1 5y ago
    The $50M isn't their internal R&D budget. It is the budget to spend on external groups, mostly university grants, to focus on things like how to make whatever "metaverse" gets built is somehow more inclusive and less-cyberpunk with all the dystopian overtones. I don't have any real expectations that we'll anything meaningful for the spend, but I'd like to be surprised.

DLA 5y ago

Facebook lies continuously. Just not credible. They need to restore trust with trustworthy action (not PR or Zuck “taking responsibility” for X) and real transparency.

trhway 5y ago

Sounds like Marc found some loose change in his pockets.

annadane 5y ago
All the money gained from scraping Whatsapp users' metadata, I'm sure. Or is it the lying about video metrics for 2 years? Hard to tell.

pryce 5y ago

I feel like treating at face value that Facebook is building things in a "responsible" manner—in the headline, even—is the opposite of journalism. If we showed our current state to people from 10 years ago, they would be too astonished to believe the a trail of desolation this company in particular has managed in just a short few years. The two biggest threats to population of the united states right now, by my reckoning, are the looming internal threat of civil war including the associated coup attempt, and inability to properly respond to the global pandemic. I can't see any interpretation in which social media (but epecially facebook) isn't driving both of these. It is more than likely pursuing these on purpose; in each of these cases, a massive section of the population now actively rejects information about the world from almost any other source, and prioritises recruitment. Make no mistake, facebook knows this shift in zeitgeist essentially makes Facebook far more valuable, regardless of the harm and even death it is causing to Americans, let alone people in other (more often forgotten about) nations.

lupire 5y ago
Imagine FB, Twitter, and YouTube don't exist. Do you believe whatever became the popular social media network would be any less toxic? Businesses respond to incentives. 20 years ago, Dick Cheney and friends burned trillions of dollars to ruin the lives of millions of people on wars for profit. Their main propaganda tool was The New York Times and Fox News. They didn't need FB to do it. And that's just one example.

RappingBoomer 5y ago

meanwhile, the usability of the site gets worse by the day...very clunky these days...this article sounds like wall st vaporware hype...all these big companies get worse on the core competencies the bigger they get

TradingPlaces 5y ago

This is the first thing Facebook mentions in the section titled “How We’re Building Responsibly” "We’ll work with experts in government, industry and academia to think through issues and opportunities in the metaverse. For instance, its success depends on building robust interoperability across services, so different companies’ experiences can work together.” This is about them being afraid that early adopters will be on other platforms like Roblox.