What’s next for VR? More big words and shallow thinking

From left to right: Debra Anderson, DataVized, Roland Emmerich, VRenetic, Kai Falkenberg, NYC Mayor’d Office, Clint Kisker, Madison Wells Media, and Fast Company moderator, Daniel Terdiman

The motto of the Fast Company Innovation Festival is “leading with optimism.” But the “What’s Next for VR” panel gave me little to be optimistic about. The panelists missed a great chance to talk about the value of VR and risks the technology poses, choosing to focus instead on the technical challenges they face. There was such a lack of self awareness that I had to record rapid-fire style some of the most absurd statements:

1. Persuasive, addictive technology like Facebook is neutral, but if you create an immersive world that makes you feel good, that is good, said Clint Kisner, Madison Wells Media. What he failed to talk about is how he does that and what steps his company is taking to avoid negative outcomes. He forgets that Facebook did not set out to create the world’s biggest eco-chamber and fake news-infested platform. They simply did not do enough to prevent that. Long before they bought Oculus, they already had an alternative reality platform.
2. Another guru, Hollywood director Roland Emmerich, of VRenetic, without any sense of irony talked about how for VR to take off, we need to add social media to it. Otherwise, people miss the connection with others and, can you believe it, they take the headset off in 10–15 minutes. Surprise, surprise — he had just launched VResh, a VR streaming app that will enable social sharing. Oblivious, he added later on how kids these days are with their phones 10 inches from their faces 24/7. So if this battle is already lost, why don’t we put VR on the phone?
3. Debra Anderson, Datavized, seemed more aware of the needs to explore the impact of VR further. But the examples she used were about optimizing the individual experience — thinking about where text needs to be or how audio can be used — not about the long term impact on human communication, cognitive abilities, relationships, reality itself.
4. The only panelist who tried to talk about more than making the technology more immersive, but tried to connect it to real value was Kai Falkenberg, from NYC’s Mayor’s office of Media and Entertainment. She talked about healthcare, education and even tourism applications. To what extent people like her will have an impact is dubious: Emmerich literally rolled his eyes while she was talking.

We are humans. We get more excited by immediate possibilities than by having to think through long term consequences. That doesn’t mean we should not try. Especially at a time, when we lament the alternative reality we live in, after having failed to do so. After all, according to Internet folklore, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome.