Monday, January 2, 2017

Virtual Reality is lonely, Augmented is... augmented

Thanks T!

With Augmented Reality, interacting with the world is going to be better. 

On a normal day I see half a dozen people I've seen and met before but can't remember a name, or where I've seen them before. Having a memory aid that can also recognize a face could be an astonishing social enhancement.

Not to mention that AR can help you do stuff, make things, remember, fix things and will enhance your abilities.

But when you put on a headset that replaces the world. That isolates you from everyone in it.




LA Times - Clipboard -- more at the source.


Turns out that the best “content” is other people. When people get together in online games they may fight dragons or shoot lasers — but they are being entertained primarily by the other players. Even single-player titles beg to be talked about with others, so chat rooms, blogs and podcasts pop up around them.

When tech companies suddenly have a big hit, it’s often because they got the social part right by accident. If we look at the most popular games of recent years — “World of Warcraft,” “League of Legends,” “Pokémon Go” — they are each a sparkly excuse for playing with and being around others. You can find better graphics and better stories in their genres, but they aren’t as much fun.

As a species, we’re still basically social monkeys. Without others, we grow bored, restless, frustrated and sad. There’s a reason that solitary confinement is such cruel punishment. So as new technologies emerge, the central question to ask is this: Does it help us enjoy one another, or get in the way? If you’re looking for a basic test of which technologies will go big or fall flat, that’s it.

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