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In a letter Zuckerberg sent to his employees after the launch of the Apple Vision Pro, he mentions: “[…] our vision for the metaverse and presence is fundamentally social. It’s about people interacting in new ways and feeling closer in new ways […] By contrast, every demo that they showed [Apple] was a person sitting on a couch by themself […]”. And here, undoubtedly, the co-founder of Facebook hits the mark masterfully.
I have already spoken about how and why we do not need a metaverse, but with the release of the Apple Vision Pro, this topic once again becomes crucially relevant. The world is recovering from an involuntary lockdown caused by COVID-19, a confinement that nobody wants to repeat, but it seems that neither companies nor the public are entirely averse to the idea of a lockdown economy. Yet, it seems consumers and companies have internalized an increased digitalization of businesses, new virtual stores, and the convenience of home delivery. It appears that we want—beg—to lose ourselves in individual bubbles, and long to move away from collective experiences.
The Apple Vision Pro presents itself as a spatial computer—or the future of the current PC—even more, it’s a mixed-reality device that can also immerse you in virtual reality. But is Apple really betting on the hybrid? Certainly not. A quick example is the video calls that the gadget promises, which will be conducted through Memojis—Apple’s avatars. These represent a gradual loss of contact with reality, with real people.
Mixed reality devices are not new; Zuckerberg’s Meta Quest, for a lower price, aims for the same, but do we really need it? Ready Player One and Upload, for example, show us how dystopian this can be. Although perhaps the ideal future would be something like the failed Google Glass6, even with them, the tech giants would likely try to shift us towards more individual pursuits.
Google, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft… they all seek to isolate us, wanting our interactions to be through the products and services they offer instead of human-to-human; the AI boom can be read under the same prism: they intend to create chatbots—like the ones already available—and other services that replace human assistance when we contact or interact with a company.
“[…] every demo that they showed [Apple] was a person sitting on a couch by themself […].”
In the video of the presentation, which lasts 9:11 minutes, only in a very brief scene do we see how one can “interact” with someone else while wearing the Apple Vision Pro. Everything else, everything, is about selling the idea of a personal immersive experience. Watch a movie? Watch it on a big screen, alone. Do meditation-yoga? Don’t go to a club, do it alone in the living room. Looking at photos to relive memories? Remember, intimately. Why do we want to lose contact with the other?
During the pandemic, we longed for the freedom we lost, while being confined. We hated Zoom, even though it seemed fun at first. We said we would rush to hug our loved ones and seek more time with them, but are we now hyped about the release of glasses that voluntarily return us to confinement?
Technology indeed enables us to do many things. Thanks to it, companies and projects function. Virtuality allows us to be in contact with anyone in the world with a simple touch. But it is one thing to have this as an option, and another for it to be our first choice. Don’t believe me?
Just a few decades ago, phone calls were the norm. If we wanted to say something to someone far away, we talked to them on the phone. Now, that’s reduced to a WhatsApp message; worse yet, news is no longer informed by direct messages, but an uploaded story, and it’s assumed that “our contacts,” no matter if they are physically by our side or not, will see it and thus find out. Face-to-face, voice-to-voice, the “letter to letter” has been diminishing. What guarantees us that, with these antecedents, the Apple Vision Pro, the Meta Quest, and what comes next, won’t lead us further away from one another?
In theory, the current human being requires interaction with others like them: we need to see/feel another person, it’s part of a necessity, but perhaps Maslow didn’t foresee the future. It seems that slowly, and with the help of technology companies, we are creating a new species: homo singula, one who prefers to live in their bubble than with others (term my own).
Is it therefore merely evolution, and hence, it should not concern us? Far from reality.
Although perhaps—assuming—homo singula is what follows in human evolution, the fact that this is a step forward in evolution does not necessarily mean it is correct. Something that allows humanity to be what it is, as broken as it currently is, is empathy, and it is primarily acquired through socialization. Interacting with others like us is what makes us empathetic, what makes us feel the pain of others; through socialization, per se, we are human. If we lose human contact, to be redundant, we dehumanize ourselves. War, murders, poverty… all will slowly become less impactful, less painful to us.
It seems that the release of the Apple Vision Pro does no harm. Even, as often happens with Apple, achieving standardization of a “new” industry—as mixed reality will be—may seem benign, but humans get used to everything very quickly. Do we really want to get used to not being next to other humans?
Honestly, as geeky as I consider myself, I don’t want that. The friction with the other, the caresses, the hugs, the fact of being physically present with people, sharing moments, and exchanging words face to face are invaluable experiences. Didn’t we have enough of being away from our acquaintances during COVID-19 to not choose it voluntarily by putting on glasses in our living room?
It’s true, the Apple Vision Pro can bring us closer to others who are far away, but it will also distance us from those who are near. Is this where we want to go? Are we going to allow it?
Miguel Ángel G. Calderón
Miguel Ángel G. Calderón is CEO of Filosofía en la Red. He holds a bachelor's degree in organizational psychology and is currently studying for a master's degree in philosophy and values. Previously, he also spent time studying religious sciences, law, and nursing.
