On Meta's VR Quest

Over the past few months, I have come across more than a few reports on meta and its virtual reality project. The updates that made their way onto my screen mostly seemed to either be reports on how much money the company was apparently losing on the project or really optimistic articles on the potential applications of virtual reality and the metaverse. So naturally, I began to ask, "How far has meta actually come with VR technology?"

With my question in mind, I began to sift through reports and articles all around the internet and finally, I stumbled upon one from over a year ago today titled “Passing the visual Turing Test”. This article gives us a glimpse into the challenges associated with building visual realism into a VR headset. It also goes on to reveal the steps taken to address the issues, explaining the prototypes that represent the research done and achievements made. It does generally express the sentiment that the quest for visual realism may still be a long way down the road. The way I see it, as with any form of emerging technology, you could just as easily be a day or a decade away.

My Thoughts

There certainly are lofty ambitions for virtual reality out there and while I believe VR has its own unique offering and will largely be successful, I am still skeptical about its potential to someday be as dominant as the smartphone. However, if this were ever to happen, virtual reality devices capable of offering an experience almost indistinguishable from physical reality would definitely be the best bet. If or when that will be is anyone's guess.