Digital Dreams are Made of Wires and Things
Virtual Reality: The Year the Universe Ended — Part 2 (Facebook, Google, Virtual Worlds)
“Tell us, Robek.”
The static characters displayed drip with sardonic bemusement. I respond with a curt, Tell you…what?
“You always say crazy shit.. what do you think about virtual reality? Just a gimmick or maybe something more?” A reply that proves my anxiety driven suspicion.
Oh, I’ll tell you. At this point, it doesn’t matter. Anything I say (and type) is taken as a half-joke. They don’t know if I mean it or not and I don’t either. A lot has changed since 2012. I’ve changed. One or two glimpses of the infinite beyond may have been alright, but I fell in. I only have skepticism left to navigate by and I’m skeptical about how long those sails will fly. I’m not mad. Yet.
They wait while I type. “The internet is a horrible place for sarcasm”. I disagree. I’ve spent a very long time here. Everyone’s typing speaks volume of their character and their characters are full of life. We type as we are. In a chat, I have a flow — I won’t write a paragraph. I type lines of sentences, pressing return where I would pause verbally. I feel like it allows me to command a channel, but others find it annoying. I find what others think to be fascinating.
If you want to hear about Virtual Reality, you’ll have to listen on my perspective of where we’ve been. “Fine. We’ve got all night.” they reply, most likely having no such thing.
I outlined in Part 1 all of the conspiracies that form the Robek.World mythology. The goal of Part 1 was to provide a framework for assumptions, but not for me to draw conclusions.
Where We’ve Been
I spent very little time in Second Life. Conceptually, it’s an amazing thing. A user created world, where anything can be built and sold. Creativity is the currency. In the early days of Second Life, futurists flocked to it delivering lectures and engaging with the community. Professors liked to use it as models for X and Y (or as an excuse to play at school). Second Life was the engine for building a world.
You may remember Second Life from TV media and documentaries. There was a lot of fear mongering about it ruining lives and being a playground of perversion. People are unique and the world is full of idiots. There are idiots everywhere and on every platform. We enjoy horror stories, but reality is rather plain. The truth of the matter is that a majority of people using Second Life are just playing a virtual sandbox — the perverse nightmare, only a myth.
My first real foray into Second Life, outside of flying around and screaming, was several years ago. I was suffering from some major cabin fever, working from home and living in a new city. I didn’t have a lot going on and most of my interactions were coming from the internet. I was single, alone and bored.
One of my friends at the time was a major content creator on Second Life and I hopped on to see their shop. I discovered that one of my favorite Austin locales had a venue in Second Life (Barbarella) and I would go there and idle, listening to music in the background, as I worked from home. It was fun when there were DJs and I had fun building an avatar that felt like me.
This seemingly benign past-time actually did become a bit terrifying as I began to engage with more people. “What’s your age? You can’t be a month old.” I’m a month old, I just figured out how to use the platform. I didn’t have a history, but I wanted to look pretty and punk — the things I couldn’t bring myself to be in real life. “Oh that’s cool, want to come hang out at our place?” Our place was typically digital dives with small groups of regulars. Some were cool — but each one I went to, I found people hitting on me. It was an odd experience, I think I liked it.
These interactions became more and more common and people started dragging me to the dark corners of the Second Life world. One night, I logged out and never returned. It was too much. I didn’t want Second Life to become my second life. Maybe there was some truth to the perversion within this not-so-visceral virtual world.
If everyone eventually defaulted to fantasy in an open-world sandbox, what does this mean for Virtual Reality?
Mark’s Big Buy
You just don’t spend $2B USD on a gamble without having some sort of master plan. I’m sure you read the news at the time.
Palmer Luckey started work on his Virtual Reality headset in 2012, to much fanfare in the gaming community. Valve took an immediate interest and many followed suit. Valve’s relationship with Oculus has turned tumultuous since then, but that’s neither here nor there.
Palmer got a lucky break when Zuckerberg realized the hidden potential in having a complete immersion platform. You see, a smart phone is a great habit for business, but there’s this tricky problem of having the rest of the world around you. What’s the solution? How can I immerse you so deeply into my software, that you’ll never leave.
This may or may not have been speculated — I wouldn’t know, I haven’t read a technology magazine since Wired put Adblocker Blockers up. I’m about to outline exactly what will happen with VR. I’ll even do it with fancy marketing terminology. When it comes true, you can point to my article and tell all of your friends “See, I told you so”. Because you did.
The Great Virtual Reality Strategy of Mark Zuckerberg and the rest of Silicon Valley
PHASE 1: VIRTUAL WORLDS (SECONDLIFE 2.0)
Great for businesses!
As the world and business becomes more globalized, digital offices are popping up everywhere. Working remotely is no longer something to be feared, but something great! More and more people are opting to work from home, and why shouldn’t they? Saves office costs and your quality of life goes up! The only problem is the loss of face-to-face encounters. Skype, Slack, whatever, are just too impersonal.
Luckily, Facebook has thought about this and is here to offer you a solution. Utilizing the best in virtual reality devices (named something else at the time of this release, because VR is for Gamers and not businesses — Probably named something like Face2Facebook or F2 or Facediddlydooverbmissingavowel) we’re making remote offices feel more personal. Enjoy face-to-face meetings again in your own personal digital office. Our software will allow you to build an environment that suits your brand and host meetings and discussions all within a 3D space. Using seamless technology, you can display presentations and wow your clients with the same experience they’d get in person.
Facebook is making it easier to connect — with our face recognition software, your digital identity will match your own, and with a quick setup time, you’re able to hop right in.
Great for Creators
Are you an expert developer or fantastic designer? A musician or creative marketer? With the roll out of Facebook Town* (*title pending), we’re giving you the opportunity to make money with your skills. Create digital assets for our virtual workspaces and lounge areas. Using Facebook Token payments, users can download your content and you can make some cold, hard cash. We’ll be releasing our API soon — so devs, make the implementations you dream of! Build games, applications, structures, pets — whatever you can think of (AS LONG AS IT ADHERES TO OUR CONTENT POLICY).
We’re connecting at a global level. Facebook wants to be the digital mall for creatives like you to sell your work and empower your brand.
Great for Advertising!
Are you a big brand, that needs more exposure? With the success of F2F and FacebookTown, we’re rolling out Virtual ads. Utilize many of our ad spaces across our platforms and networks. Our smart system will tailor your ads to the right audience, so your money is never wasted. A wide variety of advertising opportunities await in this truly visceral virtual world. Audio, video and imagery are tools to build the experience you want.
Take advantage of our digital property creation and build brand experiences that will turn prospects into customers and deliver massive ROI. We’ve retooled our advertising from the ground up and now allow you to pull directly from our directory of creators to partner with them. The best part? No fees.
Payments have never been easier.
Of course, the beginning will just be simple roll-outs through Messenger.
Stage 1: Google
Facebook won’t be the only one working on this great virtual roll-out. Google has its own plans and they will align similarly. There are many forces on the internet. There are good ones, evil ones and ones based on profit.
Facebook wants to be the internet. If it could, it would be the only place people would visit. It would have everything, the central hub of the internet. The hub world for your quests and meetings. They have all of your information, but they are using it to make Facebook #1.
Google needs other websites to exist because it is an information broker. As a core business practice, this works fine and having an open internet benefits them. In the future, they want to be the information curator. They have all of your information, but they are using it to create the Hivemind.
Free and Open Source are the people. Build what you want, study and dissect others’ work. The internet is an information highway, the collective knowledge share will empower humanity as individuals. This philosophy is great, but a FOSS internet suffers from lack of awareness and poor UI and Marketing. No market share. They have none of your information and wouldn’t know what to do with it.
There are others — Apple and Microsoft, of course. Everyone has their own end game. I keep forgetting that I’m talking about VR, and you’ll have to forgive me. Everyone is laughing at me at this point in the digital lecture hall (a Slack or Mattermost channel, most likely). I’m getting several emojis, there’s even a few RW ones that people like to use when I talk too much. I don’t mind it. “Okay, but where exactly are you going with this?”
Google has been experimenting with Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality through many devices. The Google Glass failed, but it was an interesting and needed experiment. Many will tell you that the battle is between AR and VR, but they serve different purposes. Glass showed us that the world wasn’t ready for the perceived privacy invasions of a practical AR tool — but PokemonGO showed that Leisure AR was acceptable and many businesses bought into the hype.
Google Cardboard has been a nice entry level item for VR. It’s simple and utilizes cellphones and two lenses. Developers make mostly gimmicky applications, but it’s JUST FOR FUN. It really shines with video experiences and shows that immersion can be increased on the cheap. Slowly treading into the VR waters, seems to be the safest plan. Provide a cheap, effective means of being entertained by Virtual Reality and build off of the market later on. I’m unsure of what the future device will be.
Regardless, Google’s full VR world begins the same as Facebook’s. Of course, it utilizes Google’s suite of social services — such as YouTube and Plus. Allowing AdSense and AdWord partners to monetize the platform. Remember though, the goal is the hivemind. How can we ensure assimilation? What’s the point of the hivemind? Why would we want this. The power of collective thought is one that proves confirmation bias. Coincidence can be attribute to THE COLLECTIVE THOUGHT bringing the abstract into reality. The hivemind would have the ability to bring anything into existence. We’ll come back to this, so calm down.
Gaming: The Perfect Test Ground
Gamers are a weird market group. They are aggressive, loud and take to advertising horribly. They are, though, passionate. They are passionate and dedicated to their platforms and consoles, they seek innovation and deeper immersion. Many gamers who I’ve talked to are excited, but reserved about virtual reality.
“HTC is the shit. Sony is Shit. Valve’s going to do something great.” I’m not sure who said this, but I think they were wrong. I’ve been waiting for years to hop into the virtual reality gaming scene. The original investment was too great. I didn’t buy into Oculus when it was Valve’s favored device — opting instead to wait and demo everything that came out.
HTC’s Vive was the first VR device that I demoed and enjoyed. It allowed me to explore 3D space by walking around and interacting. I didn’t like that my movement was restricted into a cube. This is going to be a major problem for virtual reality, in general. Movement. Do you move with an analog stick, or should you walk around? Walking causes problems based on space — but sitting still causes many problems, most notably: motion sickness.
At trade shows, I’ve seen weird treadmill devices, meant to enable movement on in a virtual world. They look ridiculous and require special shoes — nothing more than a proof of concept… but I feel that this may eventually be the solution for Gamers. Miniaturization is always the important factor when delivering to consumers. These sorts of devices will have to become much more accessible and solve for individuals with disabilities as well.
I eventually settled on a PlaystationVR. The Batman demo sold me and I wanted it because Sony seemed to understand the problem with movement. Instead of trying to solve for it, they let their current tools just work for them. I do suffer from motion sickness, but everyone I’ve demoed the product to loves it. Space sims are the best aspect of Virtual Reality gaming right now. Star Wars: Battlefront has an amazing X-Wing mission that really proves how great virtual reality can be. Once controls are tightened and VR is easier to adapt into households, I think we’ll see a surge.
The once part is the problem — it’s an expensive commitment to purchase one of these devices, whether it’s for PC, console or mobile. It’s also a double-sided coin. If gamers don’t early adopt, companies won’t build on this technology. (Look at motion controls). If they do adopt, they have to suffer through technology woes and hope developers also embrace the technology.
Gamers are a great test market for companies like Facebook, though. Gamers are more impulsive when it comes to spends, and Facebook and Google are waiting patiently for developers to finely-tune virtual reality technology — while simultaneously building their own systems. There’s no rush, because no one has the best answer. Zuck can sit on Oculus technology, pay legal fees and ensure that he strikes at the most opportune moment. Gamers are the test rabbits.
Pornography has also been a huge boost for VR tech, with a few distributors developing their own VR tech. This is inevitable and don’t fool yourself, a huge draw to many people. Japanese VR ‘waifus’ are happening quickly and the perfect transition for Japanese Visual Novels is adapting the format to VR. Gamers aren’t afraid of the pornography aspect — many of their communities littered with lewds and porn. It’s mostly second nature. Second Life showed any virtual sandbox will produce a pornographic offshoot.
Virtual Neighborhoods
There’s only so much space on Earth, but in the digital world — space is infinite. While entrepreneurs like Elon Musk are pushing for the exploration of space — developers are pushing for the exploration of digital space. Second Life was the perfect alpha — a model that can be tweaked and improved upon by everyone. We have a couple of paths. Do we eat the digital lotus or do we choose to explore the vast expanses of the physical universe? I think we’ll opt for the former, it’s easier and the human imagination is incredible.
There will be virtual neighborhoods in the virtual reality frontier. They will either be federated and decentralized or build around hubs like Facebook. These neighborhoods will have digital property. Just like the real world, property will come at a cost — people will be digital real estate moguls, some building vast empires and reselling them later on. Content creators are more important than ever. You see large companies like Disney trying to buy as many YouTubers as they can. The artists and developers will be offered a lucrative platform for income in digital space, not limited by the physical restraint of the real world.
Microsoft sees this value, while Apple ironically is moving away from it. Microsoft’s new marketing strategy for its Surface products is MICROSOFT IS FOR CONTENT CREATORS. I don’t believe Microsoft cares about creating its own virtual worlds, but it wants to ensure that the items and tools used to expand these worlds begin on its platform. It’s actually a brilliant, forward thinking strategy. Microsoft is a large advocate for AR, but anything built in AR world can be adapted for VR — so it’s a win/win.
Virtual Neighborhoods, as I’m calling them, is just the beginning. The gaming aspect will be incorporated into the “daily commute” and into all facets of the virtual world. Avatars will utilize face recognition tech, and also allow creators to build assets to personalize an avatar for yourself. This leads me to…
Identity in the Virtual World
Just like the Nymwars created, we’ll see two interesting things come from Virtual Worlds. One will be the individual attached to their ego. They will utilize the real life persona suite of tools and use VR for real-life business. Outside of this, they won’t care so much about Virtual Neighborhoods (unless they can use it for a virtual brand space).
Then you’ll have anonymous. The anime avatars and the identity persecuted. Second Life allowed many people to be the person they felt they were. Virtual Reality will truly allow you to explore that identity. As more technology is developed to enhance stimuli, these individuals will opt to live more in the virtual than the real world.
Drugs and Netflix
Disclaimer for this section: Please be responsible and don’t do anything illegal or harmful to yourself. I’d really like to reiterate this. This article does not condone substance abuse and the content that follows is meant merely for educational and entertainment purposes.
In the Early 90’s, a mysterious man named William White (not to be confused with Walter White) wrote the DXM bible “DXM FAQ”. Dextromethorphan is the active ingredient in over-the-counter cough syrup. White tried to clear up dangerous misconceptions about it in his FAQ. DXM is a disassociative and falls in a similar category to Ketamine and PCP. The stories tell of 4 plateaus when abusing DXM. The 3rd and 4th are somewhat psychedelic and can be scary and personality changing. It’s not typically abused, because it causes a variety of problems. The first is nausea. The second can act as an SSRI, which means once it kicks in — any pleasant experience won’t be remembered and all that you do remember is the vomiting. The third problem is that OTC drugs have a shitload of other things in them. Acetaminophen (the active ingredient in Tylenol) is often found in syrups, and too much of that will kill you. It is really easy to overdose on OTC medications through abuse.**
That being said, I’m fascinated by the many realities and worlds people live in. I’m fascinated by stories of mythology, rituals and psychedelics. Since I was young, I’ve read everything I can and spoken to as many people as I could on the topics. While my personal experience is tame, I have many notes throughout my years of research. In the past few years, since VR tech has started to take off, I’ve discovered a strange commonality between DXM and Virtual Reality.
‘George’ is a young C-Suite executive at a tech start-up, who experimented with DXM and had a love of gaming.
“I was at high 3rd plateau, not quite out of my mind — cognizant. I’m playing Bloodborne on the come up — and after turning it off because it got too real, I closed my eyes. In my daze, I found images (maybe dreams) too lifelike forming in my mind around the game. I felt like it had followed me off of the console. Now my whole reality was the Bloodborne world — the Hunter’s Dream theme playing somewhere, but not actually playing from anything. I was certain that (omitted plot device, spoiler) was the truth of our world, though you know me — I realized it was due to the drug. Able to separate myself from delusion and reality, I was able to enjoy thinking within the philosophical application of the “Hunter’s Dream”.
“That’s a bunch of crazy shit, George.” I told him laughing, but didn’t discount it. “I know, rw. It was interesting how seamlessly it merged with reality, but how distant it was after it was all over. Like a good dream or a movie”.
Kate is a musician, with a love of 2005 Indie rock. You know the kind of shit. Basically the stuff that made rock so generic. Don’t get me wrong, I love it — Modest Mouse, Deathcab, etc — but you have to admit that while brilliant, created a whole generation of musicians that use the structure as a template for every song. Anyways, Kate told me about her experience with DXM as a kid.
When I was in High School, I used it a couple of times. I never did a lot, just 2nd plateau (I guess, that’s what YOU call it, rw). It was cool, because I could put in headphones, put on an album and just ride it. Like a rollercoaster, I guess. The songs would build a narrative and I could interact in it like a dream. Most of the time it was like a movie from my imagination. Kind of stopped working after a while though, but it was unique for a while.
The strangest story I heard was from someone I knew only from the internet. I’m not entirely certain what their career or field was, but they were good at systems and had an incredibly large knowledge on Japanese doujinshi. I’ll just call him ‘N’.
I was browsing porn on my VR device and high out of my mind on OTC (dxm). Suddenly, I felt like I had become the girl in the video and for the rest of the night, I was her.
I asked ’N’ to expand on this a bit more, but it was difficult to ever get that much out and he’s probably not thrilled I’m sharing this story for everyone to read. Sorry, bud — don’t give consent next time.
The common thread between these experiences was experiencing something that played the senses, but wasn’t physically tangible.
If you ‘Google’ Ketamine Clinic, you’ll see a massive list of results. In the past few years, a lot of great research and empirical evidence has started to come up about the ‘benefits of ketamine treatments’, specifically when used to treat depression and chronic pain. These clinics choose a safe dose and create a relaxing and safe environment for their patients. Sometimes they play music and sometimes they do a guided thing. Most of these patients see results that can improve their quality of life for weeks. While several of these doctors say that their treatment isn’t a cure, they do say that the improvement in QoL is worth it for their patients. If you compare the experience of professional ketamine treatment to recreational DXM abuse, they sort of actually align — begging the question of disassociative drugs for identity, trauma and therapeutic application. (Edit 4,4,2019: If you want a great read about the current state of Ketamine trials, I highly recommend this article on Wired.)
Of course, we can also dismiss all of this as mumbo-jumbo and hippy shit — but I’ll let you draw your own conclusion.
We’re at an incredibly interesting point in our history about the practical application of drugs VS the fear-mongering of the past. It isn’t absurd to see legalization of some restricted items and even commercialization. Therefore, I think Reed Hastings has a point when he believes that we’ll take a drug for entertainment — and one to turn it off.
This ties back into VR because:
If you can solve for extrasensory stimuli and enhancement to immersion within VR without new technology and implants, why wouldn’t you?
The Simulation
I’m eager to hop into the Matrix. I have many issues that can’t be solved, clearly. I believe that in an environment where I can be anything, I can work to discover who I actually am. This is problematic for me.
So returning to the Hivemind. When the universe ended in 2012, weird shit started happening. Whether that’s multiverses overlapping, the discovery that when we die we hop universes, or that maybe weird shit just happens because our simulation is driven by our collective thoughts.
Some really high-up folks truly believe that reality is malleable. Whether or not this is, I can’t tell you in this part of our series. The idea is that prayer causes miracles, memes get Trump elected, and a hivemind focused on a single goal will devour the universe or create it (see below).
If we are trapped in a simulation, maybe we can break out of it. Maybe these series of coincidences and strange events occurring around are happening because of something real! Maybe we have more control.
Virtual Reality is the fork in the road. For some, it is a lucrative business opportunity. For others, it’s an experiment to solve for breaking out of the simulation by living within a simulated reality.
The others though, will opt for Space.
We’ll save this for Part 3.
- * Please don’t abuse drugs
- https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/national-helpline
SAMHSA’s National Helpline — 1–800–662-HELP (4357)
SAMHSA’s National Helpline is a free, confidential, 24/7, 365-day-a-year treatment referral and information service (in English and Spanish) for individuals and families facing mental and/or substance use disorders.
FAQ
What the fuck is a robek.world?
We’re internet historians and gonzo journalists. In true gonzo fashion, editing is an after-thought and all of our journalism is subject to interpretation.
Who does the art for your articles?
Me?
Why are you writing this crap? Is this satire or serious?
Yes
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