Hacker News Reader

Comment by mechanical_bear | Hacker News Reader

Not sure how it will be bigger than mobile. In public I won’t be donning one of those headsets, but I will pull my phone out to comment on hacker news, or scroll news articles, etc. I don’t think my scenario is unusual.

View on HN

Eventually it will be on contact lenses. The point isn’t the hardware but the software stack whose outputs are “all visual and audio sensory perception” and inputs are “all body state.” This will be the all enveloping abstraction of interactive computing. Everything we have today will run within that context. The headsets today are a transitional tech and will also on their own get very small, thin, light, and culturally accepted to wear in public. And no, they won’t be ugly or hide your face.

For many, not being seen via an avatar will be akin to feeling unclothed. It will be strange and unlikely to be fully accepted by people who are above a certain age.

that's sorta like saying 'I can't see how computers will be bigger than pen and paper. In public I won't be using a mainframe computer, but I will pull my journal out of my pocket to take a note'.

the implicit premise is that the category (AR/VR/XR) remains the same but the technology improves until its better for pretty much all usecases we currently use 2d screens.

I can see your point, and admittedly I see how mine might come across a bit heavy on the Luddite. That said, I feel like this is one of those things that has been “just around the corner” for some time.

that's fair, and it does remain to be seen if the 'truly good VR/AR' is a few years away or several decades. I'm not optimistic about solving for virtual 'touch'/kinesthetic sense.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com