When I was writing the third Fox book, DeathWeb, (and also before that) I needed a social media system to be the basis for the story. So, I invented LifeWeb, the overarching social media platform of the future. It embodied a number of the negative aspects of social media of various types I see today.
Obviously, I was basically renaming and expanding Facebook. The rationale given in the books for LifeWeb displacing ‘other companies’ was the integration of a voting application into LifeWeb which let ordinary people vote without having to use the government’s overcomplicated and opaque application. That’s why Facebook isn’t around and LifeWeb is, not to avoid trademark infringement. Honest.
And then, along came Meta and the Metaverse. Suddenly, there’s another reason LifeWeb won. (I’m ignoring the whole emphasis on NFTs thing here, but that’s another factor.) The thing is that LifeWeb focuses around AR (augmented reality) while the Metaverse is a VR (virtual reality) experience. LifeWeb adds to your experience of the real world while Metaverse is intended to replace it. VR is an aspect of Fox’s (and Tatsu’s) world, but most of your experience there comes in the form of the virtual world appearing within the real world. It’s a different strategy for implementing the next generation of internet interfaces, and there’s a lot of discussion about these days over which will become the standard. I think AR will be more common than VR. I did when I wrote the first Fox book, and I still think so. I guess we’ll see whether I’m right.
As a sort of aside, if you wan to see what I think is one of the best visualisations of the kind of world Fox and Tatsu live in, I recommend Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 on Netflix. You don’t have to watch all of it, just the first episode. (I actually quite like the series, even if the ending is a bit confusing, but I may be the only one who does. It rates a 6.59 out of 10 on MyAnimeList.) You have meetings taking place in VR, and you have the rush of AR adverts Togusa brushes aside when we first meet him. More than any other visual media I’ve seen, this is the kind of thing I think of when I’m writing for Fox or Tatsu.
And now, back to reality. Which sucks. Bring on full-sensory VR!
Witches and Ray-Guns 
My perspective is as someone who is decidedly not a gamer. I don’t do any VR and just random AR where useful. I tend to agree that AR is the better interface for everyday life especially seeing as we’re already there. VR may offer a better (or maybe just different) gaming experience and could greatly enhance other forms of entertainment such as immersive movies and LARPing / choose-you-own-adventure but AR is already pervasive in ways we don’t think about.
Beyond games & Snapchat filters, just changing to a virtual background in Zoom, Meet, etc. is a form of AR. Google Lens live translations is hugely useful AR. Cars have a fair bit of subtle AR: Heads up displays, backup cameras w/overlay lines to guide, around-view systems that display if you get too close to something, etc. And while there’s no presentation layer, I imagine a lot of the same tech AR uses for environment/item recognition has gone into things like the Amazon Fresh store Dash Cart (https://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=21289116011) that just understands what you add/remove from your cart. It even goes to the effort of counting produce items that are priced by weight. Because it just can.
I’ve never worn a VR helmet or gloves and have basically no desire to do so. AR works in my environment without me really having to even be aware of it.
Anyway, I have GitS:SAC_2045 downloaded (StreamFab FTW) and in queue to watch after I finish Arcane & Love Death + Robots. I’m also working through the Dust SF shorts on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/c/watchdust/videos).
As an aside, my wife & I took a cruise from Athens to Rome in May; I re-read the Thaumatology books on flights and when there was free time. Rereading books and series I enjoy is great mental comfort food.
I’ve never tried VR either (as far as I recall). I’d like to, but I don’t see anyt applications available at the moment which would make me want to go through the discomfort.
I don’t think Facebook/Meta is actively ignoring AR in favour of VR. I think they just can’t make it work without cumbersome hardware. Google played around with Google Glass a while back and scrapped it. Microsoft is still developing Hololens. Technology just isn’t at that point yet. Once it is, Facebook will just buy it up the same way they bought Oculus.
Possibly, but there seems to be a definite slant toward a VR-based environment in everything they do currently.
I think the hardware they are using is pretty cumbersome, though. Roll on neural interfaces.
VR is okay, but for people with visual disabilities (like me) it doesn’t do much. I simply cannot focus well enough to enjoy it.
The tech WILL improve, we all know that. Will it work for people with only one eye? *shrug* We shall see.
I WOULD like to see Augmented Reality more.
Hm. The big problem Google Glass had, so far as I was concerned, was that it didn’t work with normal glasses. I thought that was stupid. Still, the tech will eventually improve.
I’d love to see both becoming useful, but I think it’ll be a while before it happens.
As someone who wears glasses and has a reduced depth perception, I can’t say VR, AR or 3D has ever really held much interest for me. Its cool technology, don’t get me wrong, but a fair amount of people won’t actually be able to make effectieve use of it without some major upgrades to the said technology.
The simple fact you need a ‘wearable’ to make it work hinders a lot of people and a larger reliance on in for commercial purposes will be hindered by the everyone who hasn’t gor 20/20 vision. (At leas that is my personal opinion thus far)
Gr Cloak