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John Carmack moving to a new position at Oculus

kojack
MVP
MVP
From his facebook page:

Starting this week, I’m moving to a "Consulting CTO” position with Oculus.

I will still have a voice in the development work, but it will only be consuming a modest slice of my time.


As for what I am going to be doing with the rest of my time: When I
think back over everything I have done across games, aerospace, and VR, I
have always felt that I had at least a vague “line of sight” to the
solutions, even if they were unconventional or unproven. I have
sometimes wondered how I would fare with a problem where the solution
really isn’t in sight. I decided that I should give it a try before I
get too old.

I’m going to work on artificial general intelligence (AGI).


I think it is possible, enormously valuable, and that I have a
non-negligible chance of making a difference there, so by a Pascal’s
Mugging sort of logic, I should be working on it.

For the time
being at least, I am going to be going about it “Victorian Gentleman
Scientist” style, pursuing my inquiries from home, and drafting my son
into the work.

Runner up for next project was cost effective
nuclear fission reactors, which wouldn’t have been as suitable for that
style of work.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2547632585471243&id=100006735798590

https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/1194754916293722114


So it sounds like he'll be less involved with VR from now on, focusing more on AI in his personal time instead. If that's what he's interested in, good on him.


Author: Oculus Monitor,  Auto Oculus Touch,  Forum Dark Mode, Phantom Touch Remover,  X-Plane Fixer
Hardware: Threadripper 1950x, MSI Gaming Trio 2080TI, Asrock X399 Taich
Headsets: Wrap 1200VR, DK1, DK2, CV1, Rift-S, GearVR, Go, Quest, Quest 2, Reverb G2
86 REPLIES 86

Zenbane
MVP
MVP

MowTin said:

I think he realizes that VR is limited by the limitations of modern processors. We need a major breakthrough in processor technology. 



I think he realizes that there are many limitations not with the tech itself, but how the entire ecosystem has evolved. I brought a lot of this up in my last "were the critics right" thread. And Carmack expressed similar frustrations in a recent video, which was shown on this forum as well.

VR as a whole is hitting a major downturn. It will take a couple of years before something big hits again. And the VR Hype train will return in full force.

RedRizla
Honored Visionary
I think VR has hit a wall until either hardware prices come down, or eye tracking tech arrives which would do away with the need for a Geforce 2080ti. A lot of people I speak to just want VR to resemble looking at a 1080p monitor. The HP Reverb come close to doing that but you need a Geforce 1080ti or a Geforce 2080ti and not everyone can afford these cards. I think VR will pick up pace again in a few years time when hopefully we will see monitor resolutions and great tracking. I think that is all VR needs to push it to the next level IMO.

It would also help if Valve and HTC put their hand in their pockets and helped out with the development of VR games. 

kevinw729
Honored Visionary
I see many people stating the "hit a wall" claim in forums regarding the current state of VR. I look at it as an issue of reality catching up with the hyperbole of others. We are seeing a similar situation surrounding Magic Leap, where over inflated claims, linked to major investments are coming home and the investors are looking for an exit. With regarding PC VR the situation seems to have been additionally hampered by a walled-garden approach that saw each manufacturer feel they could coral their ecosystem. I hope the next phase in consumer VR will see a more "open-platform" approach. For this phase however a lot rides on the "Standalone" aspirations of OculusVR, Samsung, Pico and others that will be launching at CES. 
https://vrawards.aixr.org/ "The Out-of-Home Immersive Entertainment Frontier: Expanding Interactive Boundaries in Leisure Facilities" https://www.amazon.co.uk/Out-Home-Immersive-Entertainment-Frontier/dp/1472426959

hoppingbunny123
Rising Star
corrected

kojack
MVP
MVP



cv1 weighs 1.76 pounds (and its too damn heavy)
the quest is 1.25 pounds in weight
rift s 1.1 pounds
the valve index is 1.78 pounds
the reverb is 1.1 pounds
the cosmos is 1.42 pounds


No, the Rift CV1 is 1.04 pounds (470g).
The Go is 2g lighter than the CV1.

Author: Oculus Monitor,  Auto Oculus Touch,  Forum Dark Mode, Phantom Touch Remover,  X-Plane Fixer
Hardware: Threadripper 1950x, MSI Gaming Trio 2080TI, Asrock X399 Taich
Headsets: Wrap 1200VR, DK1, DK2, CV1, Rift-S, GearVR, Go, Quest, Quest 2, Reverb G2

Richooal
Consultant


the cv1 is really heavy and i had to buy a new face plate to fit my face and it got hot and i could only use it for a short amount of time.

and im a tech savvy man whos got enthusiasm for this, i imagine a old person doing this would become frustrated. i want to say this because this is really the major problem, vr headsets like the cv1 and quest need to be extremely comfortable and have ipd adjustment available. it all comes down to the weight of the vr headset. it has to be about as half as heavy as the cv1 which weighs; 1.76 pounds, needs to be about .88 pounds.

cv1 weighs 1.76 pounds (and its too damn heavy)

the quest is 1.25 pounds in weight

rift s 1.1 pounds

the valve index is 1.78 pounds

the reverb is 1.1 pounds

the cosmos is 1.42 pounds

the vr headsets need to be about .9 pounds to be mass marketable


i point out the weight with word of beefy quest type products in the future and the manufacturers not wanting to put the portable pc on a separate belt worn accessory because of the cable. the product will go to waste because people wont wear a heavy toy on their head. old people can put up with cables and happily ignore them so the youth has to be strong too and live with the cable.



I'm sure Carmack will read this and make all the necessary changes while he's still consulting.
i5 6600k - GTX1060 - 8GB RAM - Rift CV1 + 3 Sensors - 1 minor problem
Dear Oculus, If it ain't broke, don't fix it, please.

hoppingbunny123
Rising Star
corrected


hoppingbunny123
Rising Star
corrected

Zenbane
MVP
MVP




Quoting Amazon for the real weight isn't a reliable source. Amazon is just the reseller. Your link isn't giving weight from either Amazon or Oculus, it is giving it from a reseller who is trying to dump an old CV1.

The CV1 weighs 1.04 pounds (or 470 grams). Which means it is lighter than all the other headsets you listed. Yet you tried to make is seem like the heaviest.


You could just weigh  it yourself though if you really have doubts.

hoppingbunny123
Rising Star
corrected