I’m tired of corporations contributing to the misunderstanding of virtual reality as they deploy branding tactics in place of genuine education.
Apple and Meta employ marketing departments and vast legal teams attempting to imbue the vision of their executive leadership on the public. The terms “mixed-reality” and “spatial computer” as well as “augmented reality”, “metaverse”, and other similar phrases are used to obscure what is actually happening. In Meta Connect, this year I talked to Palmer Luckey, the founder of Anduril, about his project on oral histories. A few months before, at AWE, I had done the same thing with Palmer Luckey. I put forth the view to both that consumer headsets are fundamentally the same technology which drone operators use to end lives.
Wartalked with Kent ByeWe call those particular head-mounted displays First Person Viewers, but the biggest difference from consumer VR headsets is that they are single-purpose devices rather than general purpose computers. Instead of multitasking computing power, they feature long-range antennas designed to transport the operator into the body of a fast-moving flying machine packed with explosives.
So what happens when you hook up an antenna to a general-purpose computer like the $300 Quest 3S? Is it better than the FPV headsets? Anduril’s page for the
shows the basic idea, while showing the older Quest 2.1001010A fleet or satellites can map out the terrain from afar and show the surrounding area with people in it. Such a tool, laying out the physical world in front of you like the chess pieces on a game board, could look much like the playful app Wooorld, one of the
, whose users simply revisit their childhood home or play geography quizzes with friends.command and controlFloating above that live 3D map will be a 1080p virtual display, bigger than a 70-inch television mounted to a wall, showing the live view of an explosive-packed low-altitude remote-controlled drone that’s closing in on-the-ground targets.
Meta’s recent updates to Quest headsets, which bring best mixed reality experiences, could offer side panels with relevant information or even views to backup drones. The latest updates to Meta’s Quest headsets, which bring
, could offer side panels with relevant information or even views of backup drones. The pilots’ eyes are immediately drawn to the next drone as soon as the first one explodes. Each aircraft obliterates itself like a World War II kamikaze, without the loss of the pilot, as the next death package is already ready for a final run.
AImultitasking to Horizon OSOf course, automation is here as well to make these decisions for us instead of the pilots themselves, giving us
from Star Trek in 1967. Do you want to go into an incinerator just because the computer said you’re in the blast zone of a virtual weapon that doesn’t have to be used? I’m asking that question here, and hope by reading this, some people will also ask it. This is the question I ask, and by reading it I hope to convince others to do the same. You can begin to understand the implications of virtual reality when you realize that a wide-field headset blocks out all the real world and allows you to go anywhere. You can also begin to forget the branding exercises of corporations attempting to bend research and science fiction terminology to match corporate goals.
TransportationA Taste Of ArmageddonTim Cook saw the potential of VR when he shipped a headset to
while cancelling a car project. Mark Zuckerberg, who visited Valve at Oculus and Stanford in 2014 to interview Luckey for his
report on the project, saw the potential of VR. This is the route that I took myself in 2012 when I interviewed Stanford’s VR lead researcher and Mark Zuckerberg. You can see the potential in both the short-term as well as the long-term if you realize that the boomers, who created the technologies of the 20th century, are likely to pass away. You could be wearing your VR headset and use your open-air hands to fire projectiles at the dragons that are passing by your car. In a climate-controlled, enclosed environment with heat and air conditioning, you would feel a level of immersion that was previously only possible at
. You could feel dragon fire or the cold wind blowing on the moon in an enclosed autocar. Imagine a future where a Waymo vehicle drives itself through downtown Los Angeles with a VR headset on the passenger. Yes, VR headsets are time machines. “A lot of ideas are out there on improving transportation.”early adopters Alright, self-driving cars, hyperloops, and don’t get me wrong I love all of that stuff, but it’s 2017 and the biggest trend in transportation is that its a lot easier to move bits around than atoms,” Zuckerberg said early in this journey.first in-depth articleSex
VR is also used in large numbers by adults to partake in a more impactful kind of sexual interaction than traditional “sexting”. Bluetooth-connected accessories allow you to have any partner perform the act that you wish. OnlyFans (0
in 2024) is a good example of how common this aspect of modern sexuality has become. With the Internet moving bits, and a head-mounted display delivering embodiment, VR enables sex which neither transmits disease through contact nor results in unwanted pregnancy.future-facing conferences like SIGGRAPHWhat is risked by handing over the most fundamental of human bonding and evolution to the Internet as intermediary? People are already regretting that they rely on swipes of photos to make their initial impressions. However, these connections can still be geo-restricted, as people prefer to learn about someone by smelling, tasting, or feeling the warmth of skin. This transformation has already begun.
Games
If VR is reshaping war and sex while simultaneously collapsing distance such that transportation is poised for massive change too, why are so many companies and individuals focusing so much of their time and money on games? Games are fun. But I think that they are the part of this revolution that does not challenge people’s basic understanding of reality. For most people, games are low-stakes and therefore, discussing them does not cause a lot of future shock. You are not playing as the character when you feel that you have stepped inside the shoes rallying cry or Iron Man. You are the
. Now, transfer the embodiment of Roblox to public playgrounds such as VRChat Rec Room, Horizon Worlds, and Roblox. These free-to play spaces also have a few adults who are role-playing children. In a real-world environment, a person with mental illness can be seen from blocks away. However, in virtual reality and the incorrect safety settings that person may whisper into the child’s ear out of sight of parents. Some parents do not understand how these platforms protect their children.
Profit
I have spent nearly ten years at this news outlet amplifying the work of genuine artists making difficult decisions about how to navigate this technology. These tolls are used to provide services to developers, and to ensure the safety of users. The tolls also influence behavior on a secondary level. The sudden shift seems to be upending teams and risking livelihoods as the switch deprives them of eyeballs and wallets they learned to expect would arrive with the launch of each new Meta headset.$6.3 billion in gross revenuesWhile we cover this on an ongoing basis, I encourage you to become a member of UploadVR as we continue to shine a light on those artists and their work. It’s not that we are changing the focus of our work, but it was important to make sure the $300 VR headset was not just another Nintendo Switch. I wanted this statement in the past for history and you. The VR headset is a delivery system for a new paradigm in human behaviour, similar to the shift that followed the invention of the printing press.