There are a lot of rumours surrounding the upcoming Apple headset. I call them noise at best. I’m afraid Apple is losing focus on other areas, which would require much more attention to benefit this project. Maybe I’ll eat my words when this thing finally comes out. Maybe I’ll say “OMG,... blog.numericcitizen.me

@numericcitizen I recently stopped watching a video made by Marques Brownlee for the first time ever; it was about VR. I just don't care.

@SimonWoods @numericcitizen I simply don’t care even a little bit about VR/AR headsets.

@gdp @simonwoods so if you don't care, and I don't care either, who do you think really care about these?

@numericcitizen I’m not sure. I can’t think of a current use case for headsets outside of gaming. But Myke on Connected makes a compelling argument. If we want things like eyeglasses with displays in them, which could be useful, we probably have to start here. But we’re years away from such things and I just can’t bring myself to get excited about the prospects today.

@numericcitizen @simonwoods @gdp I think VR/AR will -- eventually -- be a godsend to people who are homebound, or who are care-givers of the homebound. During the pandemic, a local nursing home was in lockdown for the better part of a year. A 96 year old man I know connected with people extensively through a Grandpad tablet. That was extreme isolation, but I know a number of homebound people who are very isolated even without the constraints of the pandemic. I look forward to seeing what VR/AR can do to connect people who have a hard time leaving their homes.

@annahavron That sounds great. I doubt the Apple-made $3000 device is going to get that job done. I also seriously hope carers aren't rail-roaded into relying on US megacorps for this stuff; as a carer, I'm already unhappy to the extent with which we're just expected to sell our souls for basic human rights. It is foul in every sense of the word.

I'll care a lot more when the practical, world-changing, well-made, and most importantly empowering version of this technology exists. If it ever does.

Until then, I hope more people choose to use their energy to fix the problems in the real world that we are very much able to fix and would immediately help people like me. // @numericcitizen @gdp

@pimoore I don't see why we can't do both. I'm just concerned that people are overly focused on the virtual side of things when there are solvable problems in the actual world. // @gdp

@SimonWoods @gdp This is my concern as well; society is already immersed in too much digital—at times—to the detriment of our real lives.

@gdp I can imagine AR/VR improving our experience as we sit in front of our computers, something many of us do for much of the day. But then maybe our spending so much time there is the deeper problem, and we shouldn't be "improving" that experience but getting away from it? @annahavron I appreciate what you say about how it would improve the lives of isolated people, but I wonder if it would help to institutionalize social isolation even further. Why is there a 96-year-old man cut off from loved ones in a nursing home? Why do we have solitary homebound people? Is it this way in, say, India or Vietnam? Could it be different? But like a lot of social-justice thinking, this doesn't help the people embedded in the world as it is right now.

@annahavron @simonwoods @gdp it's certainly an interesting use case.

@SimonWoods I'm wondering if it will follow the path of the iPad, which started out as a pricy luxury toy; and now I see inexpensive tablets being used everywhere. And yes. It would be good to see more energy, ingenuity, time, money, and love dedicated to the myriad social and structural problems around care-giving, disability, and the needs of the very young and the very old.

@JMaxB Well, you may be slightly relieved to hear that once covid restrictions were over, the 96 year old man's family flooded the halls again to visit him, and take him places. (He had an incredibly active social life, but more medical needs than they could handle, at home.) In other parts of the world, of course, it is different: grandma and grandpa move in with the children and the grandchildren, and they are supported by the younger generations. My grandmother lived with us for some years while I was growing up. However, I am not sure I would like for my husband and me to give up our home, and move in with our adult kids. For one thing, quite a clash in musical tastes...