John Carmack had some choice words when he left Meta.
"We have a ridiculous amount of people and resources, but we constantly self-sabotage and squander effort. There is no way to sugar coat this; I think our organization is operating at half the effectiveness that would make me happy.
“It has been a struggle for me. I have a voice at the highest levels here, so it feels like I should be able to move things, but I’m evidently not persuasive enough. A good fraction of the things I complain about eventually turn my way after a year or two passes and evidence piles up, but I have never been able to kill stupid things before they cause damage, or set a direction and have a team actually stick to it. I think my influence at the margins has been positive, but it has never been a prime mover.”
Imagine getting John Carmack on your project and ignoring him. Like, what was the point? Zuck got lucky in the beginning and was cut throat enough to hold on to it, but he has no entrepreneurial talent.
Facebook would make considerably more money if he stayed out of the decision making processes and just let talented people do it. But ego is going to ego I guess.
Zuckerberg was paying for the Carmack name but thought he knew better.
Anyone remember when the media was sucking Meta’s dick over the metaverse like they’re doing now with AI?
Yeah but this also means they will shit on AI companies in a few years (I hope).
IT’S NOT A BUBBLE!!!
No, I’m worried now. What did I forget?
I want this level of self reflection when we look back at headlines like: “Did you know a child-raping terrorist that bankrupted every one of his businesses said he wants to invade Greenland!? See the 24-hour perpetual interview!!11”
$73G to make VR Miis with no legs
Meanwhile, VRChat:
This just proves any VR project without any trans people is doomed to fail
It wasn’t for nothing! I’m sure Meta generated tons of patents they’ll use to stifle anyone else in the industry who tries to innovate.
There’s not a lot they can patent. VR existed before they started this project, inside out tracking existed before they started this project, and there are other products with similar ideas that go far further than anything metaverse ever put out (I feel like it never even released).
MetaZuc looks more human than the real thing.
He is.
My conspiracy theory is that it was wildly successful, because the point wasn’t creating whatever VR space they claimed wanted to happen; it was to cover up the story of the Facebook papers. The timing lines up (both in October 2021 within a day or two). The additional patents acquired in the process are just a nice little bonus.
Investors ate up the idea from someone who has a history of wildly successful growth. And we all know, it would have been outcry from investors that caused any real change (in America at least) about Facebook’s business practices.
Can you pls elaborate on what Facebook Papers is? I am aware of the failure that is Facebooks Metaverse, but not whatever their ‘Papers’ thing is
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Facebook_leak
In 2021, an internal document leak from the company then known as Facebook (now Meta Platforms, or Meta) showed it was aware of harmful societal effects from its platforms, yet persisted in prioritizing profit over addressing these harms. The leak, released by whistleblower Frances Haugen, resulted in reporting from The Wall Street Journal in September, as The Facebook Files series, as well as the Facebook Papers, by a consortium of news outlets the next month.
Primarily, the reports revealed that, based on internally-commissioned studies, the company was fully aware of negative impacts on teenage users of Instagram, and the contribution of Facebook activity to violence in developing countries. Other takeaways of the leak include the impact of the company’s platforms on spreading false information, and Facebook’s policy of promoting inflammatory posts. Furthermore, Facebook was fully aware that harmful content was being pushed through Facebook algorithms reaching young users. The types of content included posts promoting anorexia nervosa and self-harm photos.
In October 2021, Whistleblower Aid filed eight anonymous whistleblower complaints with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on behalf of Haugen alleging securities fraud by the company, after Haugen leaked the company documents the previous month.[1][2][3] After publicly revealing her identity on 60 Minutes,[4][5] Haugen testified before the U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security about the content of the leaked documents and the complaints.[6] After the company renamed itself as Meta Platforms,[7] Whistleblower Aid filed two additional securities fraud complaints with the SEC against the company on behalf of Haugen in February 2022.[8]
In response to the media fallout, Facebook executives went on press tours to express Facebook’s position amidst the frenzy.[9] Facebook also did internal damage control with employees through in person sessions and memos.[10] They went on to do a rebranding and changed their logo as well as their name to Meta.[11]
I’m sorry, the free market allocated that cash to efficient uses.
They could have done this AND universal healthcare. Universal Healthcare would actually save us money allowing us to put more into useless BS like Meta VR.
There’s something wrong with anyone who doesn’t find that image disturbing.
Brrr.
Has no one commented on the side eye - “what the feck am I doing working for this idiot?”
I would’ve done it too. Live in the company parking lot, save until the music stops, retire early.
This is an amount that would cover university tuition for all American students for a year.
read one ai llc he paid 45b for was a total scam. posted a few months back; sigh; https://futurism.com/scale-ai-zuckerberg-incompetence
If it makes you feel better, that $77 billion was just numbers in a ledger. Vapor bucks. It was just a representation of Zuckerburg’s power in society, which is now gone. It’s not like $77 billion in food or housing vanished. The financial economy is mostly not backed by real things.
So you’re saying the VR industry is essential to the American economy and needs a bailout. /s
Just the GDP of Uruguay on bitstrip-like avatars
A little reminder that I consider myself as a market socialist who supports socialist pluralism (like in China), as well as redistribution of wealth from the rich snobs to everyone else through UBI and Georgism.
