The future is right before our eyes

Facebook’s acquisition of Oculus VR is very different to any of its previous operations: the latter is a company considered by many to be a real star of the video game scene, one that has managed to generate a lot of attention at all levels and a lot of positive comments … but one that nevertheless had limited itself to entertaining people. Not that this is small potatoes. Any company that can attract the likes of John Carmack, the genius behind id Software, the creators of some legendary games, and way ahead of their time, has my full respect. These are not just any old games.

But outside the world of videogaming, few people take the idea of spending our online time by holding a black box up against our eyes seriously. Virtual reality is still just a game, albeit a gamer’s wet dream, allowing them to immerse themselves in another world, isolated from all reality. An undoubtedly attractive idea, as those who have had the opportunity to use the Oculus VR at trade shows will testify, where it has been on show for the last couple of years. The company’s success in raising crowdfunding through Kickstarter or Sony’s recently expressed interest with its project Morpheus further testifies to the public’s faith in its capacity to create new worlds we can believe in.

Mark Zuckerberg’s decision might just be based on a desire to become a venture capitalist, an…