Apple’s new ‘mixed reality’ headset strikes a blow against reality
So, it has arrived. Expected since at least 2021, Apple has debuted its Vision Pro headset computer.
Reaction has been largely positive, seemingly in part because recent years have seen Apple’s product launches confined to new CPUs (interesting only to technical people) or iterative updates to phones. Critics, such as they are, have mostly focussed on the specific deficiencies of the device: its weight, its battery life and the fact that it cannot uniformly render ultra high-definition video. Ho hum.
Wisely, Apple is avoiding use of the terms virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), both of which appear to be the kiss of death for any product not solely aimed at gamers or very particular industrial niches. Instead, the company has settled on calling it ‘spatial computing’, which, I suppose, at least implies a wide range of uses (though given how little computing computer users now perform, I do wonder if the time has come to ditch the term altogether).
Obviously, I have not used a Vision Pro, nor, in fact, do I intend to, so readers may want to bear that in mind as they read on. But let us just say: I am not a fan.
Videos posted on social media showing Vision Pro users walking, skateboarding and even driving while wearing the headset make my blood run cold. The revelation that the driving video – driving one of Tesla’s CyberTonkas, naturally – was staged does nothing to change this because safety is the least of my concerns.
No, the problem with the Vision Pro is its potential social consequences.
First of all, Vision Pro-wearers are effectively walking around with video cameras strapped to their heads. Obviously, while we are out in public we have no reasonable expectation of privacy, but, really, is an omni-surveillance future really what we want?
As I wrote last year: “There are also privacy concerns about any device that features inbuilt cameras (which Apple’s product may or may not feature) – think Google Glass. Not for nothing were its spying users dubbed ‘glassholes’.” In a more general sense, I am puzzled that in today’s era of pervasive Internet, anyone still responds to this or that new device with “whoop-whoop-impressive-tech!”.
I have no idea if the Vision Pro will be successful or not. Its list price of $3,500 (approx. €3,245) suggests it will remain a niche product for some time, but Apple is clearly betting on two things: the price coming down with economies of scale or a non-‘pro’ model, and some developer out in the wild creating a so-called ‘killer app’ that makes the device a must-have.
If Apple does succeed, the Vision Pro will only deepen the tech sector’s mining of our hitherto private lives for data, something that we really should have serious concerns about. Moreover, the simple smartphone – which, needless to say, has also had positive effects on our lives – has already driven us down a road of social isolation, a deadening overlap of work and leisure, and growing disconnection from reality and the present moment.
In addition to this, the mixed reality on offer from the Vision Pro poses a serious epistemic problem.
In the febrile demi monde that is the Internet, all manner of falsehoods fester and spread, something that will only get worse when it envelops us entirely. Let’s call augmented or mixed reality what it really is: unreality.
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