AR, VR, and Plato's Cave: How Tech Is Betting on Our Discontent with Reality
Buddhists are always inviting us to cut through illusions and see reality for what it is. But why? Reality sucks. Even on its most superficial layer, reality is loud, smelly, cluttered, full of germs and people.
Tech companies know that: that's why they hope you'll slap a pair of giant goggles on your face to get away from it.
In high school, I thought that Plato's cave allegory1 implied that slaves would seek a way out of it, to find out what's casting shadows on their cage's walls.
But tech companies? They are betting you will want to take a stroll deeper into the cave with VR, and hand you a picnic basket.
Somebody dials in Apple Vision's Digital Crown adjusting their digital cataracts to shut out the crying babies on an airplane.
AR is no different, no matter how much Apple's marketing team dresses it up as a more humane way to do things.
Actually, AR is trickier than VR.
Rather than creating a new world of shadows, AR dresses up the old ones to look more exciting, convincing, and engaging. More real. “You don't like these shadows? But have you tried a virtual hat on your real cat?”
During the first iterations of Apple Vision, Jony Ive clashed2 with the Technology Development team: He was worried that a hyperrealistic VR device would disconnect people from reality.
Given how his handheld glass slates can disconnect some of us, those concerns seem founded. I agree that AR could indeed be a more humane way to do things.
Except for one obstacle.
The hardware is not the only problem—it's the ecosystem that powers it.
Can't wait for the same corporate geniuses who darkpattern people into conspiracy theories and buying $800k in solitaire power-ups3 to serve ads that know what I'm thinking before even I do—projected straight onto my eyeballs.
This person worked on Apple Vision's prototype (pardon me, Vision Pro.) They used many sensors and algorithms to crack one simple problem:
“Basically, mind reading.”
Optimizing KPIs based on predictive bio-feedback models inside alternative universes. Not creepy at all. But advertising already makes up fantasy worlds, so I guess it's perfect for VR.
If you feel that your phone screen can be addictive, imagine that coming to any object or space near you. With mind-reading.
Why bring a phone to the toilet if the surrounding surfaces can be even more addictive?
Pop-ups sprouting on toilet paper sheets, “Rip here to upgrade to our premium tissues. Only 5 left.” Or next to your hook-up's shoulder, “Enjoyed this? Tap 'GREATHOOKUP25' to apply 25% off my OF.”
And, of course, it'll be up to consumers (formerly known as people) to resist such addictive platforms. Because that's worked out so well in the past, and everyone learned how to manage their screen-time in a healthy way.
Shifting responsibility for handling mind-reading addictive tools to people is like shaming Plato's slaves for not burning their chains with laser eyes while flying out of the cave.
Star Trek answered the question, “What if AR games were paired with mind-reading tech?” Unsurprisingly, a robot was the only one immune to the dopamine shower.
Fast-forward a few decades:
- Ridiculous skiing googles are now contacts or implants.
- Predictive bio-feedback models reach 99.99% accuracy.
- UX and UI morph live via 20th generation LLMs based on what you see, feel, and perceive.
Can your kids deal with that? Can you deal with that?
To be fair, big tech has no fault. Nobody's holding a gun to your head, forcing you to plug in. But, if reality sucks, you could be begging for the cables to watch the shadows of the shadows.
From a Buddhist perspective, not much changes: 1, 10, or 10,000 worlds deep, isn't the practice the same? To cut through delusions, not to peel them away layer by layer like an onion.
And I entirely disagree with all those who say the price of an Apple Vision is too high.
To remake the wheel of suffering into a merry-go-round, a $3,500 entry ticket feels like a bargain.
Wanda Maximoff turns on VR Environments to find some relief from reality (using Digital Crown.)
In Plato's 'The Cave,' people chained in a cave mistake shadows cast by a fire for reality, symbolizing our misunderstanding of true reality. (Allegory of the Cave, Wikipedia.)↩
“Ive and his crew argued against a VR headset because they believe VR separates users from the people and world around them.” (Robertson, A., 2022, May, The full saga of Apple's troubled mixed reality headset has been revealed, Ars Technica.)↩
They call them “whales” for how much spend on in-app purchases.↩