Facebook has 10,000 People Trying to Make a VR World

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What is your opinion on The Reality is AR and VR are Edging Toward the Mainstream?

This is an excellent article providing an overview of the AR/VR sector.

What are some of the varying perspectives on this subject that you’re aware of?

The benefits of this technology are pretty obvious, especially during the pandemic. People are sitting lonely in their homes, and many of them, including me, lack communication.

Also, people with disabilities now can get the opportunity to touch different experiences without leaving their homes.

The negative side is that the world is steadily moving towards isolation. We can end up living in our concrete boxes without even needing to leave them. How would this affect our mental health? Nobody knows yet. But the surge of cognitive issues during pandemics speaks volumes.

What are some of the nuances people frequently miss when discussing this subject matter?

The most apparent nuance is privacy.

Oculus is currently the leader of the market. And it is owned by Facebook(Meta). You can’t even use it without a Facebook account. This corporation is renowned for being involved in scandals with personal information and their usage of it.

There was information that executives of Instagram were aware that their product negatively impacts users, and they did nothing because the user involvement was growing. Imagine what they can do with their VR headsets. They can exploit our lizard brain, which we cannot control, thus manipulating our attention, mind, and will.

Sounds scary, huh?

What is your favorite quote or paragraph from this article? Why?

“In the early months of 2021, Facebook reportedly had 10,000 people -- one-fifth of its workforce -- working on AR and VR.” - this is the one.

I didn’t know that they hired so many people to work on this task. It’s the equivalent of the entire population of a small town trying to make a VR world. Such a workforce definitely will achieve mind-blowing results.

Was there a part of the article that you didn’t necessarily think about before, what was it?

I didn’t think that VR relies on 5G heavily.

Theoretically, with high-speed internet, we will minimize the amount of hardware in VR headsets and stream already processed images to the user.

Is there anything else about this you’d like us to know?

I was curious about the Oculus Quest 2 set and bought it for myself. Unfortunately, it causes significant eye strain for me. Overall, the experience is excellent, but this thing doesn’t suit my sensitive eyes.