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It's easy to make this judgement now when the headset has just been launched. But over the coming decades we are going to new see new types of social interactio

It's easy to make this judgement now when the headset has just been launched. But over the coming decades we are going to new see new types of social interaction that could enhance the world rather than break it apart. For example, being in Australia conferences in the EU and US require a 14 hour flight time and days of adjusting to a new time zone. Likewise there are people working two jobs, have children or are a carer who may want to experience the benefits of studying in person but can't. I suspect as the fidelity gets better that human need of being around other people is going to be fulfilled. Which could make a massive difference in terms of reducing loneliness and the feeling of isolation.

sanderjd 3y ago
> It's easy to make this judgement now when the headset has just been launched. But over the coming decades we are going to new see new types of social interaction that could enhance the world rather than break it apart. So ... in many ways my life has been this "over the coming decades" first the internet in general, then social media, then smart phones. And at each of those steps I said what you just said about this. But I dunno man! I have to say that I feel like the "this will lead to deterioration in valuable human bonds" crowd has been more thoroughly vindicated than my "we have to wait and see whether the good dominates the bad!" crowd.
- smaudet 3y ago
  See also the fallacy "its just technology the real problem is humans and how they use it". When used as an excuse this is disingenuous - the problem is tech - without it, humans were better off in whichever way it caused harm. We're just dumb hairless monkeys without our tools, barely harmful at all. Tech can have some benefits, but it also usually has some serious issues. If it didn't, we'd never need to update our tech to be safer, or pass legislation surrounding it. These issues exist regardless if there are humans driving or not - the only solution for some hypothetically superior race of beings is to not use it, at least in that iteration/form.
gutnor 3y ago
The world has to evolve in a different way than it is currently happening. Which is not impossible but those headset development are not cheap so the monetisation is a very high requirement. It is a lot easier to use those headset where they naturally fit: ultra-personalised experience. Like social media v2, lot of potential to connect human, but devolving into jailing human in echo chambers: you can keep in touch with your family and friends across the world, or you can get hooked into a forever stream of news/post/video/product customised to make you engage. VR headset used for games. I can see the social aspect winning. Spacial computing, I'm scared.
zdragnar 3y ago
We already have that with video calls. The headset adds a sense of depth, but since you're wearing it on your face, any visual of you is going to be artificially constructed (i.e. there's a rubber gasket over important facial muscles, so no camera could hope to capture them). I have much more hope for someone like Starline, though it seems they've gone the AI route to cut down on the number of cameras and hardware for blending them together. https://blog.google/technology/research/project-starline-prototype/ https://blog.google/technology/research/project-starline-pro...

sanderjd 3y ago

> It's easy to make this judgement now when the headset has just been launched. But over the coming decades we are going to new see new types of social interaction that could enhance the world rather than break it apart. So ... in many ways my life has been this "over the coming decades" first the internet in general, then social media, then smart phones. And at each of those steps I said what you just said about this. But I dunno man! I have to say that I feel like the "this will lead to deterioration in valuable human bonds" crowd has been more thoroughly vindicated than my "we have to wait and see whether the good dominates the bad!" crowd.

smaudet 3y ago
See also the fallacy "its just technology the real problem is humans and how they use it". When used as an excuse this is disingenuous - the problem is tech - without it, humans were better off in whichever way it caused harm. We're just dumb hairless monkeys without our tools, barely harmful at all. Tech can have some benefits, but it also usually has some serious issues. If it didn't, we'd never need to update our tech to be safer, or pass legislation surrounding it. These issues exist regardless if there are humans driving or not - the only solution for some hypothetically superior race of beings is to not use it, at least in that iteration/form.

gutnor 3y ago

The world has to evolve in a different way than it is currently happening. Which is not impossible but those headset development are not cheap so the monetisation is a very high requirement. It is a lot easier to use those headset where they naturally fit: ultra-personalised experience. Like social media v2, lot of potential to connect human, but devolving into jailing human in echo chambers: you can keep in touch with your family and friends across the world, or you can get hooked into a forever stream of news/post/video/product customised to make you engage. VR headset used for games. I can see the social aspect winning. Spacial computing, I'm scared.

zdragnar 3y ago

We already have that with video calls. The headset adds a sense of depth, but since you're wearing it on your face, any visual of you is going to be artificially constructed (i.e. there's a rubber gasket over important facial muscles, so no camera could hope to capture them). I have much more hope for someone like Starline, though it seems they've gone the AI route to cut down on the number of cameras and hardware for blending them together. https://blog.google/technology/research/project-starline-prototype/ https://blog.google/technology/research/project-starline-pro...