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Comment by vineyardmike | Hacker News Reader

> IMO Meta is fundamentally built on data collection

Isn’t their whole Metaverse thing a gamble to get away from that? Why does data collection prevent creating a good VR experience. If anything it should align goals well (spend as much time in VR as possible, so as much in VR as possible). Besides, most DataCollection companies offer CollectionFree enterprise contracts… which is where the money for this probably is.

(Btw I’m a huge fan of this sort of product and I hope a respectful company wins.. I’m just skeptical that meta can’t fund their way to success. )

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> Isn’t their whole Metaverse thing a gamble to get away from that?

Many of us think Meta is trying to gain as much market as they can early, so they can leverage eye tracking and mm wave tech for very invasive biometric collection and ad targeting in the future. Reasonable minds can disagree on that.

Pretty sure Zuck has said outright that the goal is to own the economy of the metaverse… selling digital stuff and digital places with digital ads and (digital?) media.

It could be a gambit to track your eyes but that seems even harder with worse reward than taking a 30% cut as the next App Store.

> It could be a gambit to track your eyes but that seems even harder with worse reward than taking a 30% cut as the next App Store.

No these are the same thing. Tracking pupil response to stimuli tells advertisers how a human is reacting to what they see. It lets Meta sell a platform to advertisers where they can target humans in particular emotional states, or at certain times when that individual is more likely to make a purchase.

Maybe eye tracking is the fallback plan for when everyone figures out NFTs are the strongest known combination of expensive and valueless.

What? They’re doing VR because they think it’s the basis for the next general computing platform, and owning the platform gives you unlimited access to the user’s data. And in VR, that data includes the user’s gaze, height, physical fitness, high resolution 3D model of their gaming area, and other inferred or measured biometrics. As well as every virtual strip club, naughty video, and indiscreet personal message.

…and access to take a 30% cut when people buy and sell things. Which is probably more profitable and less liable to get legislated away.

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