VR vs. AR Smack Talk: Magic Leap CEO Claims Virtual Reality Headsets Like Oculus Rift Might Cause Brain Damage

The Vanity Fair feature on the Oculus Rift covers pretty well-trodden territory, but it does include this very revealing passage featuring Rony Abovitz, CEO of Magic Leap, the Google-backed augmented reality company:

Abovitz is widely believed to be a genius, which means that even his wildest proclamations are taken seriously. Crucially, he has implied that virtual-reality systems, such as the Oculus Rift, could do more to a person’s brain than cause seasickness. “The brain is very neuroplastic,” Abovitz claimed during a Reddit Ask Me Anything interview. “And there is no doubt that near-eye stereoscopic 3D systems [like the Rift] have the potential to cause neurologic change.” What he means is that Oculus’s full-screen immersion might cause brain damage, unlike his projections onto the real world. This is partly gamesmanship—there’s no independent evidence to suggest that Abovitz’s version of a virtual reality will be any better for your brain than Luckey’s—and yet his claim may also contain more than a little truth. Some research suggests that both television and the Internet may hamper brain development, and it seems reasonable to think that a more intense, more immediate communications technology would be even worse.

Setting aside the last part of the passage for a bit (because it definitely deserves its own post), it's notable to me that we're starting to see some VR/AR smack talk happening in public. It suggests the industry is no longer just a community of supportive techie boosters, but an actual industry where competition's about to get pretty bruisey.

Oh, another nice passage from the Vanity Fair piece features Second Life's co-founder with his hand in the air (like he actually care):

Facebook had missed out on the chance to control mobile phones, which went mainstream at about the same time Zuckerberg was hacking away in his Harvard dorm. V.R., he decided, was about to have a similar moment. “These big computing platforms come around every 10 years,” he says. “I think it’s time to start working on the next one.” He invited Iribe to show him a prototype at Facebook’s headquarters.

The demo in Sandberg’s office went spectacularly well. “We were running around high-fiving,” says Cory Ondrejka, a Facebook engineer who was helping to lead Zuckerberg’s V.R. search.

That almost certainly undersells Cory's contribution to Facebook's Oculus acquisition, but that's also another post for another time.

Please share this post:

Tweet

 

Comments

[Cyberserenity]

Radio, television, the VCR, internet. It is all very dangerous to use.

[Arcadia Codesmith]

Some research suggests that reading Vanity Fair causes brain damage. Think I just made that up? Now you're getting the hang of it.