Meta exec says the metaverse will eventually be as important as smartphones

[midian182]

A hot potato: Are you excited about the metaverse? Probably not. But Meta's chief product officer Chris Cox believes the naysayers will one day be proved wrong: when the virtual reality platform becomes so important in our everyday lives that it'll be comparable to smartphones.

Speaking during a panel about the VR technology at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, yesterday (via Insider), Cox said Meta believes that "one day that computing platform will be as important as the smartphone has become in our lifetimes."

Cox said Meta has been trying to build a virtual reality product line for almost a decade that is affordable, accessible, and impressive. The idea is for it to be incorporated into a broad range of areas, from social experiences and fitness to gaming, medicine, and drug development. Meta also wants it used to design the likes of sneakers and cars.

Few people share this optimistic vision of a metaverse becoming as widespread and important as smartphones. One analyst recently predicted that most metaverse business projects will have shuttered by 2025. There was also a survey of almost 10,000 teens last year in which half said they were uninterested in the metaverse. Even some Meta staff are unconvinced.

Another concern for advocates might be 2022's declining VR sales, though a pandemic-induced uptick from a year earlier played a part in the falling figures, admittedly. The recent departure of John Carmack, who left the company with some damning words, was also a blow.

Cox believes that one of the biggest problems with the metaverse in its current form is its lack of interoperability with other platforms. "I think the Internet is a very good way of thinking about the metaverse, because some parts of the Internet are very coherent with each other," he said, an example of the interoperability that "doesn't exist yet for the metaverse."

Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg continues to bet big on the metaverse. Reality Labs, the Meta division responsible for its metaverse ambitions, has lost around $16 billion since the start of 2021. But Zuck's faith remains unwavering; the CEO says rewards for all this investment won't appear for another decade, at which point the virtual reality platform could potentially start earning hundreds of billions, if not trillions, of dollars.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/97314-meta-exec-metaverse-eventually-important-smartphones.html

 

[Vulcanproject]

People actually want smartphones

 

[Lozzy]

It's got very little chance of being as important to me as Facebook... and I'm not on Facebook

 

[Threadcount]

What happens when you die in the Metaverse...and can I be the ONE like Neo.

 

[Beerfloat]

People want to reach out to other people in virtual spaces, like social media, forums, online games and other online communities. I don't doubt that.

Does that mean most people want a unified online pervasive world, run by one or a few corporations, tied to your real ID, where advertisers can target you with surgical precision and life and work blend seamlessly? Probably not.

I can think of few entities I want to engage less with than the likes of Meta, Amazon, TikTok or Apple. Well, maybe the People's Republic of China. But it's not far off.

 

[Puiu]

Sure, it will become really important. It's just that it won't be the one Facebook made

 

[SirDigby]

I feel like if we keep saying no he's going to go crazy and try and enslave us in the metaverse as a big "I'll show you".

 

[Strontium]

Fortunately, it's not illegal to be stupid.

 

[PEnnn]

I think he's trying to convince himself, and Zucky, how important their work is.

 

[NewSparrow]

I think they realized they spent to much there is no turning back and unfortunately it's becoming a sinking ship. Best to jump overboard like the Titanic.

 

[wiyosaya]

This is what everyone says about their new invention - until reality slaps them in the face and raises its middle finger to them.

For me, from a standpoint that is paramount to me, fitness, nothing can beat being out in nature. There's no way that a "meta verse" will mimic that to any truly realistic extent in the near, or perhaps, even the distant future - meaning the entire environment including the air in that environment. Not to mention, who wants to always look like a cartoon character?

Unfortunately, the world seems to be filling up with execs that have nothing to offer except their empty bravado and loads of hot air coming out every orifice.

IMO - if one truly wants a virtual reality that goes far beyond what any technological "meta verse" can offer, learn Lucid Dreaming.

 

[wiyosaya]

But Zuck's faith remains unwavering; the CEO says rewards for all this investment won't appear for another decade, at which point the virtual reality platform could potentially start earning hundreds of billions, if not trillions, of dollars

Ah, we see the true motive behind this - unabashed GREED.

 

[Carlos GarPov]

What happens when you die in the Metaverse...and can I be the ONE like Neo.

hahaha

 

[letsgoiowa]

There's a difference between Facebook's branded Metaverse(TM) and the reality we're going to experience in the next decade or so where we'll start seeing VR and AR become quite normal and useful. Heck, by 2040 we'll probably be putting on VR glasses barely thicker than current prescription lenses and hanging out with friends in a 3d space instead of through a silly 2D screen.

 

[BadThad]

One thing to say to him: AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

 

[RudyBob]

If you are a Tele Tubby that is probably correct

 

[RudyBob]

There's a difference between Facebook's branded Metaverse(TM) and the reality we're going to experience in the next decade or so where we'll start seeing VR and AR become quite normal and useful. Heck, by 2040 we'll probably be putting on VR glasses barely thicker than current prescription lenses and hanging out with friends in a 3d space instead of through a silly 2D screen.

Yea That would be cool.

 

[wiyosaya]

I have visions of couch potatoes sprouting new shoots while their hearts, minds, and bodies atrophy.

 

[FaTaL]

I will never join this stupid metaverse nor do I have a sht about anyone in it.

 

[Gezzer]

There's a difference between Facebook's branded Metaverse(TM) and the reality we're going to experience in the next decade or so where we'll start seeing VR and AR become quite normal and useful. Heck, by 2040 we'll probably be putting on VR glasses barely thicker than current prescription lenses and hanging out with friends in a 3d space instead of through a silly 2D screen.

And that's the important part. Current VR interface/display tech is too cumbersome to create an all persuasive metaverse. Currently gaming and porn are about the only areas that hold any appeal for the majority of users IMHO. But when you consider what happened with 3D HDTVs and the much lighter glasses required, I don't even think light VR "glasses" will be simple and easy enough to create mass adoption. I foresee the only thing that will work being holographic projection with gesture recognition. Problem is that sort of tech is far off, if ever.

 

[OortCloud]

Some form of VR/AR will almost certainly become massively prevalent at some point, but whether it is Zucks or some other yet-to-be released system only time will tell.

 

[Last Ranger]

What else would he say? That's it's a gimmick and no one in his right mind would pay for it?