Privacy Lost is a propaganda-style short film about what AR could be if Zuckerberg gets his way
Ah, the Metaverse. Well, not in general — because the concept predates the Zuck by quite a while — but whatever, well, Meta wants it to be. An allegedly dystopian world, fueled by capitalism, marketing and some of the best AR/VR headsets out there.
And, sure — I’d hate to see that happen. But given that the Apple Vision Pro is looking to be the first adequate device to make use of true AR concepts and that the state of VR is pretty much “gaming, but it's a roller coaster with buttons”, are we really under any sort of threat?
Well, CEO and Chief Scientist of Unanimous AI — a company dabbling in very high-end group-based AI projects — wrote a short film about what that could feel like. And you know what? I hate it.
But I don’t believe it either.
The film is a very short, concentrated skit about two adults in a heavily augmented world. In fact, their reality is so augmented that you can’t see most of it without your AR goggles on. And here is where my first argument pops up — the closest thing to a pair of AR glasses like those in the flick was Google Glass, which — by the way — got completely canned recently.
Literally no other pair of AR glasses that I am aware of comes even close to something like this. Could it? Maybe. Should it? In terms of capability: for sure! But will we end up in a world like this? Well, not anytime soon, I’d reckon.
Further on, we get to a point where the said glasses turn out to be so capable, that they don’t just simulate the world the characters inhabit. They can also analyze them in real time in order to track their emotions accurately.
And by the way, we’re in 2023 and my Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is having issues with tracking my Blood Oxygen levels properly. Just for context. As in, we’re really, really, reallyfar away from any sort of system that could do anything close to this. But I digress.
The effort here is commendable. The budget was obviously on the lower end, but still: this isn’t about entertainment. I can certainly get behind the message of the film, but I still don’t believe that a reality like this is anywhere near “possible”.
But yes: Big Tech needs to be responsible with AI and AR, and VR. But given that Zuck’s dreams backfired in real time, due to how limited, despised and outlandish the very concept of such a Metaverse is… I think that, for now at least, we’re safe.
And, sure — I’d hate to see that happen. But given that the Apple Vision Pro is looking to be the first adequate device to make use of true AR concepts and that the state of VR is pretty much “gaming, but it's a roller coaster with buttons”, are we really under any sort of threat?
But I don’t believe it either.
The film is a very short, concentrated skit about two adults in a heavily augmented world. In fact, their reality is so augmented that you can’t see most of it without your AR goggles on. And here is where my first argument pops up — the closest thing to a pair of AR glasses like those in the flick was Google Glass, which — by the way — got completely canned recently.
Further on, we get to a point where the said glasses turn out to be so capable, that they don’t just simulate the world the characters inhabit. They can also analyze them in real time in order to track their emotions accurately.
And by the way, we’re in 2023 and my Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is having issues with tracking my Blood Oxygen levels properly. Just for context. As in, we’re really, really, reallyfar away from any sort of system that could do anything close to this. But I digress.
But yes: Big Tech needs to be responsible with AI and AR, and VR. But given that Zuck’s dreams backfired in real time, due to how limited, despised and outlandish the very concept of such a Metaverse is… I think that, for now at least, we’re safe.
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed: