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So why does AR even exist? Is it too expensive to just have an outward facing camera (or 2 or 5) and re-render everything on the eye screens in real-time?

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I'm so shocked at this question that I don't know how to answer it other than yes it is very expensive to render in high resolution high fov low latency

So AR is essentially a transitional technology until we have better computers?

e: so I realize AR might be around for a while in things other than Goggles (like phones where resources are limited), but for fully goggled in people I assume VR > AR in nearly every way.

Why re-render the world when it's already there?

Because you can't render true black and rendering the world gives the developer more control over what the user sees.

I have no doubt that AR will power many "low end" gadgets like google-glass or snapchat's glasses, but for going full gargoyle mode, I imagine the ideal is a fully computer rendered landscape, even if it is mostly true to what you would see in the real world anyway (since it offers so much more power).

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