If we don’t handle Apple properly, not only will we deploy what should be a wonderful technology in soul-crushing ways, but we may even bring closer a war with China. On the other hand, nothing is inevitable, and this new platform could actually reverse a lot of the bad dynamics we see in our culture. So yes, the stakes are high.
To understand the full extent of Apple’s power, I’m going to discuss my brief experience with the Vision Pro, sketch out Apple’s history, and then walk through the new device’s supply chain, to where the sophisticated M2 chip that powers this headset is made. (...)
The Apple Vision Pro headset looks like a genuine technological inflection point. It’s hard to overstate the hype about the device. ‘Absolutely Bonkers.’ ‘I normally don’t call tech things sort of magical or surreal like this but...’ ‘The most mind-blowing piece of tech I’ve ever tried.’ ‘Wearing the Vision Pro for hours on end will call into question what it means to compute, but also, what it means to live in the real world.’ And on and on…
I want one. I probably won’t buy one for awhile, for reasons I’ll get into, but it’s clear that Meta, and then Apple, have legitimized a whole new layer of computing with fantastic world-changing possibilities. And if there’s a killer application, then augmented and virtual reality, aka ‘spatial computing,’ will likely become ubiquitous. The most hopeful commentary came from YouTuber Cleo Abram, who pointed out that the technology, if developed properly, could allow us to reconnect with one another and end the epidemic of loneliness that is so pervasive in our fragmented atomistic and monopoly-dominated society.
If targeted advertising and polarized consolidated media and social networks cause us to become alienated from one another, then rich spatial computing could do the opposite. The emphasis, of course, is on the word ‘could.’
There’s another and much darker possibility.
by Matt Stoller, BIG | Read more:
Video: YouTube
[ed. It really is a very cool technology. I imagine the off-putting ski goggle-type weirdness of the headset will be resolved fairly quickly, much like early smartphone designs (brick to pocket device). Widespread adoption will likely follow, bringing down pricing. Whether this leads to Zuckerberg's metaverse vision or something else is still an open question.]
