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Virtual Zuck Fails To Connect (bbc.com)
Rory Cellan-Jones, writing for BBC: It must have seemed like a good idea. As a taster for a big announcement about Oculus VR on Wednesday, send Mark Zuckerberg on a little virtual reality trip, including a stop in Puerto Rico. But the reviews are in -- and they are not good. The sight of Mr Zuckerberg using VR to survey the devastation of an island still struggling to recover from Hurricane Maria may have been meant to convey Facebook's empathy with the victims. The fact that he was there in the form of a cartoon seemed to many the perfect visual metaphor for the gulf in understanding between Silicon Valley and the real world. Sure, he was talking about all the activities which his company had initiated to help the island, from helping people tell their families they were ok using Safety Check to sending Facebook employees to help restore connectivity. But cartoon Zuck showing us a 360 degree view of a flooded street before zipping back to a virtual California just seemed a little, well, crass. Is Facebook really concerned about the plight of Puerto Rico, or is it merely a handy backdrop to promote Oculus, whose sales have so far proved disappointing?
Did virtual Zuck get a chance to lob some?
What did the announcement taste like?
The real one saying they care about form over function is the author of the article. I hear no complaints about what Facebook is actually doing in Puerto Rico. In fact the article lists several things that sound quite helpful, even though Facebook is not a relief agency and has no charter to help at all. Yet this article complains about how Zuckerberg was rendered in a VR setting.
I am sure the article author has done much more to help Puerto Rico than Zuckerberg has.
The real cool part was lost because the message delivery felt like a PR stunt using devastation in PR.
What this really is good for:
Using Oculus like this is a way that professional relief planners and project managers can determine optimum load-out of emergency supplies before leaving the warehouse location, when it's much easier to add/remove/change the loadout on short notice.
There's nothing quite like *seeing* the environment. back-pack street-view cameras on dirt bikes comes to mind...
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Motive aside, I like this.
It is important that Congress connect to their constituents, see what they endure each day, talk with them, learn their problems, their needs. It's also important that Congress see the country as a whole, see the disasters which strike in remote locations, and the ones which make locations in the very heart of our nation remote by way of the sheer volume of destruction visited upon them.
We need a reasoned, rational approach to all things; yet men only move at an imperative driven by emotion. We'd best learn to restrain those emotions, because it is perhaps necessary that we face their assault so as to truly understand what need presents itself to our care. Here we have a low-cost, effective method to force direct exposure to those conditions upon ourselves, to step into a world thousands of miles away and see the hurt and the suffering around us, and to truly grasp the urgent need with which we are faced.
When men must contain their impulse to act, they are driven to seek a solution: it hurts, and it must stop.
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Is Facebook really concerned about the plight of Puerto Rico
I think we all have come to realize that the SJWs out there are really more concerned with signaling virtue more than actually solving problems.
Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
He's become one of these people who live in a bubble surrounded by sycophants who blow smoke up his ass all day about how great and meaningful he and Facebook is to the world, despite the fact that if Facebook actually did disappear overnight the only real effect on the world is probably greater productivity and some unemployed Facebook workers who will be needing new jobs. And this guy is coyly hinting he might want to run for President. I personally believe he'd be just as bad as Trump for mainly similar reasons - both think they're the greatest thing since sliced bread. Though where Trump harms by malice, Zuck would harm by out of touch ignorance.
a guy who had the enormous luck to turn a side project from his dorm room into a multibillion dollar business before being old enough to rent a car without paying extra has a little trouble "connecting" to the average person.
Some people have success and humility. Other people have success.
I'm still against the very idea of Trump being president, on the basis of, well him being completely unqualified to actually perform the actual duties. Or any actual duties at anything. He's basically a 'fake it until you can fake it" guy, with nothing underneath. I feel the exact same way about Reagan actually.
For the same reason, I'm going to be against Zuckerburg being anywhere near the presidency. It's cool that he can craft an advertising/communication empire from his college facebook project - but actually governing should mean a whole lot more than that.
I'm not talking about the abstract feelings here - being able to construct a society that cares for the least among us, manages real tragedy, deals responsibly with international incidents, and maintains a sense of civic humility - those things matter. Republican, democrat, whatever - the shared governance of the people is an important responsibility, and maximizing company profits does not qualify you alone for those demands. Indeed - those same skills would lead more to a twisted mercantilism if used to govern, and that doesn't work for long without deep tragedy and large-scale dysfunction.
Here's hoping he's running a 'Brewster's Millions' campaign here.
let me know when there's an oculus 'virtual boxing match' starring zuck. i imagine the lines would be pretty long to buy one of those goofy headsets if it meant you got to pummel the Hitler of privacy concerns.
Zuck and Oculus can suck my big hairy balls.
- First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then ???, then profit.
I think it is fair to say that most technical leaders of our time don't really understand anything about people in general. Oh they know how to make a buck off of them, but beyond that they are very out of touch.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
Here's a link to the video: https://www.facebook.com/zuck/videos/vb.4/10104094186863501/
Also, none of the articles I looked at on this topic included a link to the video. What is it with "news" no longer linking to their sources? C'mon people!
</getoffmylawn></rant>
"Cartoon" and "Death Toll" should not be applicable to the same media presentation.
I actually think the problem here wasn't actual insensitivity, but rather failure to anticipate a shortcoming of the avatar technology employed. Zuck's cartoon representation doesn't reproduce any emotional expression, just the kind of upbeat, non-Duchenne smile you get from a hotel receptionist greeting you as the 100th guest that morning. The jolly Zuck cartoon figure surveying scenes of horrific devastation gives the inescapable impression of sociopathy.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
You've been stealing from Me. I know it.
Was the video a bit in poor taste? sure. Should they have had a more serious demeanor when showing people's loss? probably. Especially the Rachel character.. Zuck had a much better demeanor IMHO she sounded more like she was marketing making sure they kept talking about the VR.
All that being said: The efforts they highlighted are real efforts that are working towards real results in helping the people of Puerto Rico. I'll give them a lot of leeway when it comes to squeezing a bit of PR out of PR when the the efforts are more than just fluff. I only hope some of that generosity is going to the USVI and other island nations as well as they are in as bad or worse shape and now out of the spotlight since Puerto Rico is a more visible aide target.
Put 'em back on, zuck
- First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then ???, then profit.
...that zero zucks were given.
I'll show myself out.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
Why would anyone care?
If a company is making a case that they're concerned, then it becomes fair to expect them to be.
You wouldn't expect a company to be concerned about a plight, other than how it might affect their sales or equity.
If, as so many suits insist, corporations should be treated as people, then I think it's also fair to demand that they behave like people.
I expect people to have some measure of compassion -- at least enough to avoid capitalizing on a disaster -- and if they don't then there's nothing wrong with calling them out on it.
The VR scene isn't interesting to me, so I haven't been following it. I just assumed that OR was the best selling such device. But your comment made me look up some numbers.
Apparently, the OR is selling 2/3rds as many units as the Vive -- even taking into account a fairly steep summer discount that made the Rift cheaper.
I wonder if the "Facebook stink" might be more powerful than I thought it would be.
Social justice warriors change the world for the better by fighting oppression and inequality.
I think this is how social justice warriors see themselves.
The rest of us mostly see them as tilting at windmills for their own gratification and/or local social standing.
It's surprisingly easy to see them that way from the outside. But the person you hear about tends to be the one with the loudest voice, not the typical one, much less the one you should take as representative of what the movement aspires to. There are lots of people who dedicate their lives to making the world better because they like helping people. While there are some noisemakers who do it for social standing (among SJWs just like in pretty much every other population), there are also lots of great people just working hard to help people in pain.
Real lawyers write in C++
Everybody sees it. When he dresses up in real men's work clothes and tries to handle tools my stomach literally tries to turn inside out. It is painful.
I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock