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People look at Meta with these bizarro rose-colored glasses, as if it was once a company with some nobel mission that lost its way. Facebook, from the very beg

People look at Meta with these bizarro rose-colored glasses, as if it was once a company with some nobel mission that lost its way. Facebook, from the very beginning, knew what it was doing once they found the "secret". They found, by accident, the ability tap into people's insecurities and exploit that to extract data and then serve ads that further insecurities. They found an emotional loop that printed dollars. People gave up an entire lifetime of information for free so they could feel connected. The Metaverse is just trying to get lightning to strike twice. It will probably get there. As people become more isolated they will become more insecure and place an even higher value on social interaction. VR sucks. Flat screens and fixed focal point lenses result in a huge out of focus area—you move your eyes within the headset and you can't focus—which feels unnatural. Eventually we will solve this, and once we do it will go mainstream. If you can look past the crappy optics and you log into VRChat today it feels… good. It feels like you are actually interacting with people. It simply feels good. Most people just can't look past the poor optics. You put a $2000 headset on the average person and their response is always, "Cool, but it's kinda heavy. Also, why is it so blurry?" Someone will solve this, eventually. Meta is banking on exactly what made Facebook. They will create a space that makes you feel good, and then get you to give up even more information and see even more ads designed explicitly to manipulate you because the advertiser knows so much about you. Honestly, it's a brilliant idea to try and do the same thing again but harder. Possible it's too early, but if you have billions to blow why not. Right now it's a product that only caters to the most socially isolated individuals. That will change. Why did my parents join Facebook? They did it because they were lonely. It's why the Facebook audience is now so old. It took them a while to come up with a UI that was easy enough for old people to use it, but they did. They are trying to do the same with VR. There's a pretty good chance of success in my opinion.

jareklupinski 4y ago
> you log into VRChat today it feels… good. It feels like you are actually interacting with people. That's exactly it: you're actually interacting with people. In the beginning, Facebook had _only_ people: your friends. If you logged into Facebook then and had 0 friends, arguably nothing would happen. Today, only about every 3rd post is by a person, even if you have hundreds of friends. There probably is a ratio of algorithmically-generated v.s human content that is acceptable to their users.... but I'm chasing the 100% too :)
BLKNSLVR 4y ago
I can't disagree with any of your points, which is quite depressing because none if it points towards a particularly inspiring future version of human civilization. It's slowly, inevitably moving towards / increasing the farming of humans.
- CatWChainsaw 4y ago
  Machines are superior, so we should all die.
lisasays 4y ago
Eventually we will solve this, and once we do it will go mainstream. Another point of view is that VR sucks for what it is, even if all the technical glitches were resolved tomorrow and everything worked perfectly. Why? People just don't want to zone out and spend that much time in a made-up universe. It's just not an appealing or interesting or useful experience for most folks (outside the niche universes of gaming, porn and certain teleconferencing use cases). Meanwhile the recent past is bursting with example of technologies that not only worked, but positively exploded from the get-go -- despite offering a plainly crappy experience on basic sensory levels. Hand-held TVs, VCRs (until something infinitely better came along), the first 20 years of the internet by and large -- for example. People didn't have to look past their shortcomings because they fulfilled obvious, basic needs and desires. It feels like you are actually interacting with people. Sorry, but if you're referring to the current state of the art here (overtly cartoon-like 3D avatars that sort of look like your friends) - that's plainly ludicrous.
- whakim 4y ago
  To play devil's advocate here, do you really think the actual problems with VR have anything to do with "spending time in a made-up universe"? In the future, why couldn't we have VR that didn't require you to wear a headset, that felt, smelt, looked and tasted just like the physical universe in every way? Would it really matter that the VR universe is "made-up"? Sure, that technology is far-off, but isn't it "just" a technology problem?
  - lisasays 4y ago
    In the future, why couldn't we have VR that didn't require you to wear a headset, that felt, smelt, looked and tasted just like the physical universe in every way? I can't begin to imagine what kind of technology we'd be talking about here - other than some kind of implant that effectively hijacked your entire central nervous system. Would it really matter that the VR universe is "made-up"? Beats me, but we're dealing with pure hypotheticals here.
- wkat4242 4y ago
  > Why? People just don't want to zone out and spend that much time in a made-up universe Sure this is why people don't binge watch Netflix, looking at purely made up stories. I'm sure there's a usecase for VR in entertainment. It's just that the killer app hasn't been found yet. Meta has been pushing things too hard and going down the traditional way. But the tech will succeed I'm sure.

jareklupinski 4y ago

> you log into VRChat today it feels… good. It feels like you are actually interacting with people. That's exactly it: you're actually interacting with people. In the beginning, Facebook had _only_ people: your friends. If you logged into Facebook then and had 0 friends, arguably nothing would happen. Today, only about every 3rd post is by a person, even if you have hundreds of friends. There probably is a ratio of algorithmically-generated v.s human content that is acceptable to their users.... but I'm chasing the 100% too :)

BLKNSLVR 4y ago

I can't disagree with any of your points, which is quite depressing because none if it points towards a particularly inspiring future version of human civilization. It's slowly, inevitably moving towards / increasing the farming of humans.

CatWChainsaw 4y ago
Machines are superior, so we should all die.

lisasays 4y ago

Eventually we will solve this, and once we do it will go mainstream. Another point of view is that VR sucks for what it is, even if all the technical glitches were resolved tomorrow and everything worked perfectly. Why? People just don't want to zone out and spend that much time in a made-up universe. It's just not an appealing or interesting or useful experience for most folks (outside the niche universes of gaming, porn and certain teleconferencing use cases). Meanwhile the recent past is bursting with example of technologies that not only worked, but positively exploded from the get-go -- despite offering a plainly crappy experience on basic sensory levels. Hand-held TVs, VCRs (until something infinitely better came along), the first 20 years of the internet by and large -- for example. People didn't have to look past their shortcomings because they fulfilled obvious, basic needs and desires. It feels like you are actually interacting with people. Sorry, but if you're referring to the current state of the art here (overtly cartoon-like 3D avatars that sort of look like your friends) - that's plainly ludicrous.

whakim 4y ago
To play devil's advocate here, do you really think the actual problems with VR have anything to do with "spending time in a made-up universe"? In the future, why couldn't we have VR that didn't require you to wear a headset, that felt, smelt, looked and tasted just like the physical universe in every way? Would it really matter that the VR universe is "made-up"? Sure, that technology is far-off, but isn't it "just" a technology problem?
- lisasays 4y ago
  In the future, why couldn't we have VR that didn't require you to wear a headset, that felt, smelt, looked and tasted just like the physical universe in every way? I can't begin to imagine what kind of technology we'd be talking about here - other than some kind of implant that effectively hijacked your entire central nervous system. Would it really matter that the VR universe is "made-up"? Beats me, but we're dealing with pure hypotheticals here.
wkat4242 4y ago
> Why? People just don't want to zone out and spend that much time in a made-up universe Sure this is why people don't binge watch Netflix, looking at purely made up stories. I'm sure there's a usecase for VR in entertainment. It's just that the killer app hasn't been found yet. Meta has been pushing things too hard and going down the traditional way. But the tech will succeed I'm sure.