Head-mounted VR hardware will never happen, says Neal Stephenson - who coined the term ‘metaverse’

: ‘People don’t like wearing things on their faces and don’t trust those who do’

The Register

I really can’t stand him, he’s so hardball. Survival of the fittest etc. I wouldn’t consider him an authority.

I do think VR has its place, just not in every living room or every metro car. It was way overhyped but I do think it adds value in some cases.

AR probably even more. The stupid thing is just that Meta and Google always stick cameras on them. A heads up display in glasses would be useful in many cases. The camera id never use but it makes it insta creepy. Of course these companies are super creepy already too.

AR without cameras is kind of pointless, imo. The creep factor is huge, though. It would be reasonable (not easy, but reasonable) if people could curate what information about themselves was available to whom, but that would preclude the corporations having access to whatever information they could glean about everyone. And if they have it, why couldn’t they provide it to whoever is willing to pay them a small monthly fee for it?

Until that problem is solved, AR is going to be a very tough sell.

For me it would work. Just getting the notifications from my watch in the glasses would help a lot, and directions too. I had a Google glass and I’d often tape off the camera if I’d take it out in public (with big red tape so it’s visible). It would still be handy to see messages and maps.

At the very least it would need a physical sliding cover over the camera.