Facebook invests $50M to build the 'metaverse' in responsible manner(reuters.com)
reuters.com
Facebook invests $50M to build the 'metaverse' in responsible manner
https://www.reuters.com/technology/facebook-invests-50-mln-build-metaverse-responsible-manner-2021-09-27/
22 comments
How on earth can FB
> invest the money globally over two years to ensure metaverse technologies are "built in a way that's inclusive and empowering,"
when they can't even build their current platform to do that?
> invest the money globally over two years to ensure metaverse technologies are "built in a way that's inclusive and empowering,"
when they can't even build their current platform to do that?
We had a shot at a real "Metaverse" around 20 years ago. New protocols were blowing up, p2p internet usage was off the charts, and new software was being developed at unfathomable speed. Eventually though, that fun and connected internet got shook down by the cable providers for not making enough money, so now we're trapped in this dystopian http hellscape. Microsoft started it, then Apple and Google followed their lead. Now, all it takes to be a success story in Silicon Valley is licking the boot of a Fortune 500 company. You aren't building a future system, you're hoisting a content silo that's locking people into an even more centralized, railroaded system than before.
Facebook wouldn't be spending this kind of money if they didn't expect it to pay dividends. Keep that in mind as you read about anything "Metaverse" related.
Facebook wouldn't be spending this kind of money if they didn't expect it to pay dividends. Keep that in mind as you read about anything "Metaverse" related.
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Actual footage from the Facebook board meeting discussing responsibly building the 'metaverse'.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpPE85Jogjw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpPE85Jogjw
IMVU, Eric Ries, lean start-up, metaverse, are we coming in full circle? Why metaverse now?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMVU
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMVU
There's a ton of them dating back to 1993: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaverse#Timeline_of_virtual_...
The term Metaverse was coined in 1992 by Neil Stephenson, in the sci-fi novel Snow Crash. The fictional Metaverse is basically a networked version of the the sci-fi Holodeck from Star Trek, which first appeared in an episode aired in 1974.
There is no way at all that Facebook is anywhere near having VR capabilities like the Holodeck in Star Trek, let alone the Metaverse in Snow Crash. So I don't understand what their pitch is. I like that they're spending $50 million working on the problem, but I don't think that the Oculus Rift is the going to turn into a Holodeck, or Facebook into the Metaverse, with just $50 million and 3-5 years.
There is no way at all that Facebook is anywhere near having VR capabilities like the Holodeck in Star Trek, let alone the Metaverse in Snow Crash. So I don't understand what their pitch is. I like that they're spending $50 million working on the problem, but I don't think that the Oculus Rift is the going to turn into a Holodeck, or Facebook into the Metaverse, with just $50 million and 3-5 years.
The $50M isn't their internal R&D budget. It is the budget to spend on external groups, mostly university grants, to focus on things like how to make whatever "metaverse" gets built is somehow more inclusive and less-cyberpunk with all the dystopian overtones.
I don't have any real expectations that we'll anything meaningful for the spend, but I'd like to be surprised.
I don't have any real expectations that we'll anything meaningful for the spend, but I'd like to be surprised.
As far as doomsday devices go, you have to admit, this one is definitely the most responsibly built.
I would have scare quoted "responsible" instead of "metaverse", personally.
This is the first thing Facebook mentions in the section titled “How We’re Building Responsibly”
"We’ll work with experts in government, industry and academia to think through issues and opportunities in the metaverse. For instance, its success depends on building robust interoperability across services, so different companies’ experiences can work together.”
This is about them being afraid that early adopters will be on other platforms like Roblox.
"We’ll work with experts in government, industry and academia to think through issues and opportunities in the metaverse. For instance, its success depends on building robust interoperability across services, so different companies’ experiences can work together.”
This is about them being afraid that early adopters will be on other platforms like Roblox.
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meanwhile, the usability of the site gets worse by the day...very clunky these days...this article sounds like wall st vaporware hype...all these big companies get worse on the core competencies the bigger they get
the metaverse sounds like https://www.prod.there.com
Facebook lies continuously. Just not credible. They need to restore trust with trustworthy action (not PR or Zuck “taking responsibility” for X) and real transparency.
If we showed our current state to people from 10 years ago, they would be too astonished to believe the a trail of desolation this company in particular has managed in just a short few years. The two biggest threats to population of the united states right now, by my reckoning, are the looming internal threat of civil war including the associated coup attempt, and inability to properly respond to the global pandemic.
I can't see any interpretation in which social media (but epecially facebook) isn't driving both of these. It is more than likely pursuing these on purpose; in each of these cases, a massive section of the population now actively rejects information about the world from almost any other source, and prioritises recruitment. Make no mistake, facebook knows this shift in zeitgeist essentially makes Facebook far more valuable, regardless of the harm and even death it is causing to Americans, let alone people in other (more often forgotten about) nations.