Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

CategoryVirtual Reality

frankensteins lady
display model mannequin face portrait
Type
post
Author
Nathan Jacobson
Date
March 9, 2023
Categorized
Virtual Reality
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The Composite

Seductive Optics and Skeuomorphic Intelligence, Part IV.
Nathan Jacobson
March 9, 2023
6
Virtual Reality

This is the last in a series. Read Part I, Part II – “Moving PIxels“, and Part III -“Talking Boxes“. The greatest aspiration of artificial intelligence Frankensteins is stitching together all the sundry parts into a moving, talking, seeing, and interacting android. Today, this composite of technologies is most famously embodied in Sophia. This android from Hanson Robotics is an international “celebrity”, appearing on late night shows and on the exhibit floors of tech conferences. With how many things are we on the brink of becoming acquainted, if cowardice or carelessness did not restrain our inquiries. Mary Shelley, Frankenstein On its marketing page, Sophia’s marketing department puts the following words in its mouth, as though it has a sense of self Read More ›

talking-mannequin-boxes
Type
post
Author
Nathan Jacobson
Date
March 8, 2023
Categorized
Virtual Reality
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Talking Boxes

Seductive Optics and Skeuomorphic Intelligence, Part III.
Nathan Jacobson
March 8, 2023
4
Virtual Reality
There will be synthesized versions of gravelly voices, deep baritones, fast talkers, low talkers, high talkers, yada, yada, yada. Amazon has added functions to enable Alexa to whisper, emphasize a word, or mimic local slang. But as our talking boxes run their routines, they understand nothing. Read More ›
mirror ball mannequin
Male mannequin covered with slices of a mirror on a black background
Type
post
Author
Nathan Jacobson
Date
March 7, 2023
Categorized
Virtual Reality
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Moving Pixels

Seductive Optics and Skeuomorphic Intelligence, Part II.
Nathan Jacobson
March 7, 2023
5
Virtual Reality
Whatever emotions we bring to the movie or to the game ourselves, our digital allies and enemies breathe no breaths, make no sacrifices, feel no lonely deaths. Living, dying, or respawning, they are as dead as a dead pixel. Read More ›
mannequin body parts piled up in a carton box
mannequin body parts piled up in a carton box outdoor
Type
post
Author
Nathan Jacobson
Date
March 6, 2023
Categorized
Virtual Reality
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Seductive Optics and Skeuomorphic Intelligence

Appearance and reality in art and artificial intelligence
Nathan Jacobson
March 6, 2023
6
Virtual Reality
Things are not always as they seem. Artificial intelligence is like that. Art may be visually indistinguishable from a man or woman, passing the art equivalent of a Turing Test, we know they're not in the least the same kind of thing as what they portray. Paint does not suffer. Stone does not breathe. Read More ›
dissolving metaverse
introduction to the metaverse universe. Man wearing augmented reality glasses for future technology. transition to the virtual world.
Type
post
Author
Peter Biles
Date
January 25, 2023
Categorized
Virtual Reality
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More Bad News for the Metaverse

Virtual reality projects are losing steam across the tech industry in the wake of layoffs and investor skepticism
Peter Biles
January 25, 2023
2
Virtual Reality

Big tech companies across the spectrum, including Meta, Microsoft, and Apple, are scaling back on virtual reality research and development. The technological demands of the metaverse are more advanced than CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg have anticipated, and employees are feeling the impact. Microsoft recently laid off 10,000 workers, cutting funding from the lab responsible for the production of its mixed-reality “HoloLens.” The army was originally in the works to use the Microsoft lens for aids in combat and training, but the technology has since been labeled as “dangerous and poorly designed.” Meta laid off 11,000 employees last November and continues to struggle to gain interest and traction for its ambitious metaverse project. A report from Insider notes that a combination Read More ›

metaverse-technology-future-concept-vr-virtual-digital-reality-cyber-metaverse-simulation-innovation-connection-global-blockchain-experiences-network-futuristic-3d-rendering-stockpack-adobe-stock
Metaverse technology future concept. VR virtual digital reality cyber metaverse simulation Innovation connection global blockchain experiences network futuristic. 3d rendering.
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post
Author
News
Date
October 7, 2022
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Virtual Reality
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How’s Mark Zuckerberg’s Metaverse Doing These Days?

That’s been quite the flop — but the world of virtual reality and avatars is mainstreaming quite rapidly
News
October 7, 2022
6
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Virtual Reality

Apple’s Tim Cook doesn’t think much of it, apparently. Billions of dollars later, lots of people don’t: As waves of critics pointed out, the design of this “immersive” world is astoundingly underwhelming. In the cursed screenshot, Zuck’s pasty, robotic avatar — the design of which is perhaps a half step above a Wii Mii — is pictured in front of a sparse, sad landscape upon which arbitrarily sized replicas of France’s Eiffel Tower and Spain’s Tibidabo Cathedral are uncomfortably plopped. Maggie Harrison, “Wave of criticism hits Zuckerberg’s Metaverse for looking like crap” at Futurism (August 17, 2021) It turns out, even employees who built it don’t use it. At Forbes, the Money columnist thinks the basic idea is the way Read More ›

automotive-engineer-use-virtual-reality-headset-for-virtual-electric-car-3d-model-design-analysis-and-improvement-3d-graphics-visualization-shows-fully-developed-vehicle-prototype-analysed-optimized-stockpack-adobe-stock
Automotive Engineer Use Virtual Reality Headset for Virtual Electric Car 3D Model Design Analysis and Improvement. 3D Graphics Visualization Shows Fully Developed Vehicle Prototype Analysed Optimized
Type
post
Author
News
Date
August 4, 2022
Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Censorship, Data Privacy, Surveillance, Technocracy, Virtual Reality
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Why Don’t Some Tech Moguls Like Web3, the New Internet?

Web3 is a decentralized, less controlled version of the internet, as George Gilder predicted in Life After Google
News
August 4, 2022
10
Artificial Intelligence, Censorship, Data Privacy, Surveillance, Technocracy, Virtual Reality

In this week’s podcast, “Web3: The next generation of the internet” (August 4, 2022), Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks interviews graduate student Adam Goad and Dr. Austin Egbert, both in computer engineering at Baylor University, on the coming decentralization of the internet. With developments like the ones they discuss looming, Big Tech may be seeing a waistline trim. This is the Part I of the first of the three discussions. https://mindmatters.ai/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/08/Mind-Matters-198-Adam-Goad-Austin-Egbert.mp3 A partial transcript and Additional Resources follow. Dr. Marks began by discussing all the services he gets from Google, confessing that he has not needed to go to a library in over two decades. But… Robert J. Marks: Now, is Google just being nice in giving me Read More ›