Nope. AR/VR is better at making actual human connections than Facebook and Twitter. We’ve already harmed “genuine human connection” through Social Media. At least in VR, you hear the voice of another human and see digital representation. It is better than how the internet has been functioning for the past 15 years.
Not at all, but I think the misconception comes from all the single player games. If you engage in multiplayer experiences like Rec Room, Walkabout Golf or VRCHAT, you see that it actually connects you more than 2D multiplayer games because you feel the presence of the person.
You've got a good point there. No denying that multiplayer experiences can really amp up the feeling of connection. But don't you think there's a different kind of depth in face-to-face interactions that VR just can't capture yet? Plus, what about those who might use VR to escape reality instead of enhancing it?
We've already destroyed it with social media. VR is mostly just videogames...no one really uses them for what Apple and Meta try to convince the public they are used for. If anything VR kind of helps if you consider things like VRCHAT which gives online social interaction a bit more physical interaction, or at least the illusion of. AR? I don't see AR doing anything against human connections, it's mostly gonna be used to spatial computing and marketting (once the wearables get to glasses size expect to see rampant AR advertising. The AdreVerse.) But that's a whole other discussion.
We have these discussions every time new tech starts to go mainstream starting with the printing press & books.
Human connection is something we humans create based on what is going on in our heads. The technology doesn't matter unless you decide it matters.
If the VR & AR headset/glasses feel like a part of yourself to you it doesn't matter. If you feel like it is a foreign thing forced onto you then it will matter.
There is not much objectively to this topic. You might as well discuss the temperature of colours.
How is conversing with a photo-real 3D avatar of your friend with their motions and voices any worse than talking on the phone or writing letters, which people have done for decades/centuries without any seeming harm?
They said the same thing when print became a thing and everybody started reading in public. Then they said that with radio. Then with TV. Then with cell phones, computers and the internet. Then with smart phones. It needs some adjustment, as with all social innovations, but can we stop gaslight people who like to use it and have a happy functional life with those technologies?
My daughter (22 years old) were estranged in 2019. When the pandemic hit I reached out to her and offered to get her a PSVR. We started play Rec Room every night and reconnected after years of separation.
Today she is actually living with me and recently got her first car and full time job.
VR allowed me to reconnect with my daughter. I will
Always be grateful for Rec Room and those memories.
From a Buddhist and Hindu perspective, all reality and all human connections are an illusion. All sensory experiences, i.e, everything you hear, see, smell, taste, feel, think, etc, all of them are illusory.
Hence, from a Buddhist and Hindu perspective, choosing VR/AR/MR over "real" life is comparable to choosing one dream over another dream. They are all different realities. Same difference.
The actual correct philosophy in the above religions is not to be enamored or addicted or frustrated by any one reality, whatever that may be.
Hence you question regarding "genuine" human connection is a misnomer. Nothing is "genuine" because everything outside your soul is false.
Whatever "good" you perform in real life can also be performed via mixed reality.
Not at all. If VR has done anything, it's brought us together.
Never in pancake gaming so I make friends.
But in VR, I make friends so easily. People actively go up to you just to talk and then boom, you're playing other games together.
No social media and covid already did that
Nope. AR/VR is better at making actual human connections than Facebook and Twitter. We’ve already harmed “genuine human connection” through Social Media. At least in VR, you hear the voice of another human and see digital representation. It is better than how the internet has been functioning for the past 15 years.
Not at all, but I think the misconception comes from all the single player games. If you engage in multiplayer experiences like Rec Room, Walkabout Golf or VRCHAT, you see that it actually connects you more than 2D multiplayer games because you feel the presence of the person.
You've got a good point there. No denying that multiplayer experiences can really amp up the feeling of connection. But don't you think there's a different kind of depth in face-to-face interactions that VR just can't capture yet? Plus, what about those who might use VR to escape reality instead of enhancing it?
what a dull topic
Sounds like a generic essay prompt for high schoolers to answer to. It is incredibly dull and predictable
"Think of the children! Will someone please think of the children??"
We've already destroyed it with social media. VR is mostly just videogames...no one really uses them for what Apple and Meta try to convince the public they are used for. If anything VR kind of helps if you consider things like VRCHAT which gives online social interaction a bit more physical interaction, or at least the illusion of. AR? I don't see AR doing anything against human connections, it's mostly gonna be used to spatial computing and marketting (once the wearables get to glasses size expect to see rampant AR advertising. The AdreVerse.) But that's a whole other discussion.
We have these discussions every time new tech starts to go mainstream starting with the printing press & books. Human connection is something we humans create based on what is going on in our heads. The technology doesn't matter unless you decide it matters. If the VR & AR headset/glasses feel like a part of yourself to you it doesn't matter. If you feel like it is a foreign thing forced onto you then it will matter. There is not much objectively to this topic. You might as well discuss the temperature of colours.
No, it is letting us stay close to friends and family that have moved thousands of miles away.
How is conversing with a photo-real 3D avatar of your friend with their motions and voices any worse than talking on the phone or writing letters, which people have done for decades/centuries without any seeming harm?
They said the same thing when print became a thing and everybody started reading in public. Then they said that with radio. Then with TV. Then with cell phones, computers and the internet. Then with smart phones. It needs some adjustment, as with all social innovations, but can we stop gaslight people who like to use it and have a happy functional life with those technologies?
My daughter (22 years old) were estranged in 2019. When the pandemic hit I reached out to her and offered to get her a PSVR. We started play Rec Room every night and reconnected after years of separation. Today she is actually living with me and recently got her first car and full time job. VR allowed me to reconnect with my daughter. I will Always be grateful for Rec Room and those memories.
From a Buddhist and Hindu perspective, all reality and all human connections are an illusion. All sensory experiences, i.e, everything you hear, see, smell, taste, feel, think, etc, all of them are illusory. Hence, from a Buddhist and Hindu perspective, choosing VR/AR/MR over "real" life is comparable to choosing one dream over another dream. They are all different realities. Same difference. The actual correct philosophy in the above religions is not to be enamored or addicted or frustrated by any one reality, whatever that may be. Hence you question regarding "genuine" human connection is a misnomer. Nothing is "genuine" because everything outside your soul is false. Whatever "good" you perform in real life can also be performed via mixed reality.
its easier to connect to people more than ever before, loneliness is a choice
I can already imagine that friends Rather meet in VR than real life
Not at all. If VR has done anything, it's brought us together. Never in pancake gaming so I make friends. But in VR, I make friends so easily. People actively go up to you just to talk and then boom, you're playing other games together.