Hacker News: towaway15463

New comment by towaway15463 in "My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness"

towaway15463 — Sat, 08 Oct 2022 22:33:50 +0000

We’re still very far off from that and trending away from using more land in developed countries.

New comment by towaway15463 in "My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness"

towaway15463 — Sat, 08 Oct 2022 17:14:03 +0000

Tyranny generally results in stagnation. It’s a bottleneck. All the power and decisions reduced to a single individual or group of individuals leaves no room for experimentation and growth. Progress becomes single threaded instead of parallel.

New comment by towaway15463 in "My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness"

towaway15463 — Sat, 08 Oct 2022 17:10:43 +0000

Technically it’s possible in any environment except those that kill 100% of the population. Whatever survives, survives and reproduces.

New comment by towaway15463 in "My Trip to Space Filled Me with Overwhelming Sadness"

towaway15463 — Sat, 08 Oct 2022 17:04:57 +0000

Not really. As sentimental and time limited beings we don’t want to see things go extinct since we won’t be able to experience them again or be around to see what comes next. But in the larger picture we’re actually quite tame when it comes to extinction events. At least we are making an effort to limit the damage we’re doing. Space rocks and chemistry can’t do that. In the long run other species will evolve and maybe with luck we’ll have a hand in steering that evolution.

New comment by towaway15463 in "SimulaVR Has Been Subpoenaed by Meta Platforms, Inc"

towaway15463 — Sat, 08 Oct 2022 15:01:37 +0000

That’s odd because I have the opposite feeling. I almost never play regular computer games anymore because I see it as a time sink. I also avoid watching things by myself for the same reason. Playing a VR game or spending time with others in VR feels much more rewarding because I’m using my body instead of sitting in a chair and I feel more engaged with the people I talk to when they are embodied in an avatar and we are present in a space together vs just hearing their voice through headphones.

New comment by towaway15463 in "Computer Saturation and the Productivity Slowdown"

towaway15463 — Sat, 08 Oct 2022 14:56:11 +0000

Wealth transfer isn’t going to improve anyone’s well being. Making a better lifestyle more affordable by increasing productivity will though.

New comment by towaway15463 in "Computer Saturation and the Productivity Slowdown"

towaway15463 — Sat, 08 Oct 2022 14:54:11 +0000

Why should there be a limit on human productivity? After all it means we are getting more efficient at the things we are doing, doing more with less, is that not a laudable goal? Any time we have approached a limit we have found a way to cheat it, that’s cause for celebration.

New comment by towaway15463 in "SimulaVR Has Been Subpoenaed by Meta Platforms, Inc"

towaway15463 — Fri, 07 Oct 2022 23:40:04 +0000

This sounds like an argument against TV or movies or the internet. Those things are also substitutes for real life experiences and yet people still spend huge amounts of time with them. VR doesn’t have to preclude the rest of the world. It’s an addition to it. When you don’t have the money or the time or the energy to go out it’s nice to be able to jump into something like VR and have fun with others from the comfort of your home.

New comment by towaway15463 in "SimulaVR Has Been Subpoenaed by Meta Platforms, Inc"

towaway15463 — Thu, 06 Oct 2022 22:06:56 +0000

Well, I do watch movies with others in VR on a fairly regular basis and it’s great. Could be better, headsets need to be more comfortable and pass through has room for improvement but both of those things are on the very near horizon.

Look at the cambria demos, they’re already doing mixed reality by blending the room with the experience. No reason that can’t be used to put your couch, coffee table and SO in the virtual theatre. You also have to consider that a lot of the younger people using these won’t have dogs or kids to worry about.

New comment by towaway15463 in "Facebook reportedly laying off thousands of employees"

towaway15463 — Thu, 06 Oct 2022 21:00:29 +0000

Both the other commenters make good points. Meta is uniquely positioned to build the first metaverse. It may not be the only metaverse and it may not come out on top in the end but it will likely prove a lot of the technology and patterns that will continue to be used. That’s why I don’t think they’re mismatched, you might be right about them being too early. They’ll have to build a lot of it themselves and try to stay competitive in the market at the same time. Difficult, but other companies have done this. They’re off to a good start as well since their hardware currently dominates the market.

New comment by towaway15463 in "SimulaVR Has Been Subpoenaed by Meta Platforms, Inc"

towaway15463 — Thu, 06 Oct 2022 20:50:46 +0000

Except it will have no games, cost $4k and will probably be difficult to port anything to. Great for Apple’s current mbpro market but ignored by everyone else.

New comment by towaway15463 in "SimulaVR Has Been Subpoenaed by Meta Platforms, Inc"

towaway15463 — Thu, 06 Oct 2022 20:46:55 +0000

Personally, I think that both TV and movies are going to be driving VR adoption. The Netflix of VR movies could be huge if they were able to offer the right content. A fully virtual theatre that gets new releases could also be big. The edge that VR had in these areas is that it essentially gives you a private theatre that you can enjoy with your friends and family. Leveraging a social network so that you can deliver notifications like “X is currently watching Y. Click to join” would be big. People already kind of do this with watch parties and discord.

New comment by towaway15463 in "Many scientists see fusion as the future of energy"

towaway15463 — Thu, 06 Oct 2022 13:43:30 +0000

Those numbers are easily found but you also have to ask the same questions about waste produced by manufacturing renewables.

New comment by towaway15463 in "Many scientists see fusion as the future of energy"

towaway15463 — Thu, 06 Oct 2022 13:36:15 +0000

I’d like to see a cost estimate in both dollars and land area for pumped hydro.

New comment by towaway15463 in "Many scientists see fusion as the future of energy"

towaway15463 — Thu, 06 Oct 2022 13:31:06 +0000

Here’s an enlightening calculation to do: total volume of fuel used by nuclear power plants over 100 years providing enough energy for the world vs total volume of turbine blades doing the same. Feel free to be generous with your lifetime estimates for turbines, the results will still be shocking. You can also repeat the calculation for any other fuel source or power generation method and be equally impressed.

New comment by towaway15463 in "Facebook reportedly laying off thousands of employees"

towaway15463 — Thu, 06 Oct 2022 13:16:18 +0000

How is their bet on VR misguided in your opinion?

New comment by towaway15463 in "Eye-tracking is a missing input device for VR experiences"

towaway15463 — Tue, 04 Oct 2022 16:13:48 +0000

Don’t forget that reverse pass through may be a thing so you might have a screen on the outside which opens up all kinds of possibilities.

New comment by towaway15463 in "Eye-tracking is a missing input device for VR experiences"

towaway15463 — Mon, 03 Oct 2022 13:51:32 +0000

I’d argue that if you wear it, especially in a highly visible location like over your eyes, then it is a fashion accessory. Like a hat or glasses it may serve a purpose but that doesn’t negate the need for it to look good.

Fashion will be vastly more important for mixed reality than it is for smart phones. A smart phone is more akin to a watch, fashion wise. You usually only see it when it’s being used. Mixed reality devices will be visible all the time and they will also mediate our social interactions with others.

New comment by towaway15463 in "Eye-tracking is a missing input device for VR experiences"

towaway15463 — Mon, 03 Oct 2022 01:24:03 +0000

Maybe it’s just me but the magic leap 2 looks way dorkier than a good pair of ski goggles. You could probably make them look more like shield sunglasses if you prefer that vibe.

New comment by towaway15463 in "Eye-tracking is a missing input device for VR experiences"

towaway15463 — Sun, 02 Oct 2022 18:25:20 +0000

I don’t think it’s that ambitious. Cambria is standalone, has colour pass through for mixed reality and has balanced the weight distribution better by using pancake lenses and putting the battery on the back. It will certainly be usable while sitting or standing still anywhere, although people will look at you weird if you do it in a coffee shop. It took Meta 3 years to get there from Quest 1 so I’d say given 5 years and some decent sales they could get it down to something that wouldn’t look too strange and would be comfortable enough to wear all day and would work while walking although I imagine that would pose similar risks as walking while using your phone. Instead of black rectangles we’ll be seeing ski-goggles everywhere.