I’m all for technological advancement. But there are other things that are simply bizarre “Meta new VR”. Eyesight on Apple Vision Pro is a prime example of this, since it uses a hyper-realistic reproduction of your face and four eye-tracking cameras to recreate your eyes on the front display. Let’s face it: it’s downright dystopian.
Apple isn’t the only business dabbling in this space, as Meta has teased a new XR headset called Mirror Lake that is equal parts spectacular and scary. Douglas Lanman, the company’s head of display systems research, revealed the advanced prototype at a discussion at the University of Arizona College of Optical Sciences, explaining how it is “practical to build now.”
However, don’t anticipate it any time soon, since the release date is planned for “the second half of the decade.” Regardless of my unease about seeing the user’s eyes, there’s a lot to be enthusiastic about in the future of Meta’s headsets.
The (Holo)Cake is not a lie
The first thing you’ll notice is how much thinner and more wearable this headset is in comparison to the Meta Quest 3. This boils down to a major breakthrough that will be critical for the future of VR headsets.
The first is what Meta refers to as HoloCake lenses — the next level up from Pancake lenses, which are used by everything including the Vision Pro — which allow for a much smaller lens design as well as a full electronic varifocal system for glasses users. Essentially, the image may be crystal clear without the use of lenses, and the prescription can be baked right into the holograms produced by the gadget.
One issue is that instead of regular LED backlit displays, Meta will have to turn to lasers to project the image into your eyes. There are risks in terms of heat generated and eye safety, but if these hypothetical mountains are overcome, you could see a huge improvement in color and picture quality.
We’re just passing through
The passthrough display is, of course, the major visual attraction here. Apple relies on four cameras in the Vision Pro, but Meta has adopted a different, more complex technique, with two cameras on either side staring back in the infrared spectrum.
This provides the headset multiple various angles of eye movement, which is perfect for the varifocal system. Passthrough that offers eye contact can be obtained by combining two Neural passthrough cameras and displays that face outwards.
I can understand the advantages – eye contact is vital — and I’m not trying to put out the fire of technological advancement, but doesn’t this simply look odd? Wearing a virtual reality headset is still a highly intimate and alienating experience. That’s not likely to change anytime soon, and I sincerely doubt that seeing someone’s eyes will help conversation with another person.
It’s a thinking experiment akin to using transparency mode with headphones. Because of the large pair of cans over your ears, you’ll still appear as if you don’t want to talk to anyone, and a visual depiction of your ears won’t change that. I’d love to be incorrect, but I’m not certain that seeing someone’s eyes would result in a different conclusion.
