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Comment by leetharris | Hacker News Reader

This is such an incredibly pessimistic and simplistic view. It is a private company funding research that will eventually lead to revolutionary devices.

Imagine if people in the 1940s/50s said, "wow we could have spent all this money on something besides these giant vacuum tube machines that just add up a few numbers."

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There's a difference between deep tech research (which truly can be revolutionary) and "revolutionary" consumer gizmos. I don't think the analogy holds.

Are any of us in the position to truly know that. I feel that throughout history there were always groups of people that dismissed new innovations. Trying to be as unbiased with that statement, I don’t know what the future holds.

I wholeheartedly agree with you in regards to VR (its a fun trinket and while I love my VR flight-sim in the end it is nothing but a toy), but I think AR certainly has potential.

For instance, just imagine wearing a set of AR goggles while <working on your car/building some furniture/whatever> and having an exploded parts diagram available at your beck and call in relation to the physical item in front of you, with assembly/disassembly steps shown should you so desire.

Do you really think that AR and VR will only be "gizmos" forever?

I can think of dozens of real world applications off the top of my head. AR assistance for challenging professional situations (surgery, mechanical repairs, etc), PTSD treatment, AR warfare, gaming, and so much more. And this is with our limited viewpoint in the year 2024.

When headsets (or the evolution of them) are eventually the size of reading glasses and cost very little, this could change the world.

Unfortunately change the world will likely mean zombifying most of the population with social media streams. At least with a phone even the most addicted have to put it down sometimes when they need to use both hands.

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