Tag: Apple Vision Pro

Revisiting The Potential Future Of Hollywood & AI-Generated ‘Immersive Media’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Someone from the Los Angeles area looked at one of my blog posts about AI and “immersive media” from a while ago, so that got me thinking about where things stand now. I still think that live theatre is the future. I still think that, by say, 2030, Broadway will, in some way, replace Hollywood as the destination of young men and women who want to act for a living.

It could be a few years beyond that, but it’s coming. I say this because there is a capitalistic imperative to essentially replace all — all — of Hollywood with AI generated art. This is all going to happen in the context of what I call the “Petite Singularity” that I predict is going to happen by the end of the decade.

We may not be uploading our minds into the cloud, but there is going to be a lot of future shock. I mean, I got into an argument with an AI recently where I found myself saying “I’m sorry” like I was arguing with a passive-aggressive woman. Ugh.

So, the technology is zooming towards us. I hold to my prediction that at some point in the near future, your TV will scan your face and generate very personalized content based on existing IP. It will, on the fly, generate, say, a new Star Wars movie that is a bit darker than the usual fair, just because that is your mood at that specific moment.

There will be no shared reality. We’ll all have our own little media cocoons that we live in. We won’t be able to have any water cooler talk — at all — because we’ll all be watching slightly different versions of the same show.

Anyway, it’s a future we’re going to have to prepare for. I still believe that there might be a really big shift away from movie theatres towards live theatre. If you’re a 15-year-old, you’ll go to live theatre with your date instead of a movie because, well, movies in that context won’t exist anymore.

And all of this will happen really, really fast. Too fast for anyone to process it.

The thing I have my doubts about now is the idea that anyone will use the Apple Vision Pro. I may have gotten that part of my prediction just plain wrong. While I do think that Augmented Reality has a bright future, Virtuality Reality…not so much.

I just don’t see the usecase for it. At least not in the near term. I suppose it might be good for immersive media, but that’s a lot closer to 20 years from now, not five or six. The technology just isn’t there yet. And the goggles will have to be a lot less bulky.

I’m still waiting for my “MindCap,” something similar to the technology in 3001: Final Odyssey or maybe Strange Days. Anyway, regardless, if we can somehow avoid a civil war, revolution and or WW3 in the next few months, something interesting might happen.

We Need A New Gawker

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Reading Ben Smith’s book “Traffic” has really riled me up on a daydreaming basis. It seems like with the rise of Xinnals that the time is ripe for a online publication that would follow in the footsteps of the 80s Spy Magazine and the early aughts Gawker.

Something snarky that would take the “cool kids” of media, culture and entertainment down a notch every once in a while.

And, yet, there are a lot — A LOT — of problems with this idea.

One is, lulz, something like a Gawker is quaint and moot in the age of AI. We may all be talking to our Digital Personal Assistant in the metaverse using our Apple Vision Pros and the whole idea of “reading” will be cast aside like cursive.

So, I think this is it. We’re never going to get punk back. We’re never going to have another a late night TV talkshow host who is like a young David Letterman and we’re never going to have another Spy or Gawker.


The economics just aren’t there.

I can tell you one thing, though, if I had the means to at least attempt a startup that was meant to follow in the footsteps of Spy and Gawker, I would do it. But it wouldn’t be as much fun as Nick Denton back in the day, though, cause I would be 20 years older — or more — doing it.

I hate being old.

Hollywood Just Hit The Iceberg: OpenAI’s Sora Is A ‘Burn, Hollywood, Burn’ Advance In AI Movie Technology

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It may take a little while — 18 months? — but there is going to come a moment in the not-so-distant future when we have a Her movie future where our digital personal assistant will, on the fly, churn on VR narrative immersive media for our Apple Vision Pros.

The beautiful Zendaya.

I don’t see how “human” Hollywood has much of a long term future unless Congress passes some sort of carveout whereby a certain amount of entertainment HAS to be created by the hand of man, rather than an AI. And if we’ve gotten to that point, I could see maybe neo-Luddism being the natural evolution of MAGA.

I mean, if 3 million high paying blue collar transportation jobs go poof overnight, that is going to have a severe economic impact. At this point, my only question is if “The Fourth Turning” is going to somehow pause development of all this cool shit while we bomb ourselves into oblivion because of “vibes.”

I continue to feel very uneasy about America’s political future. Shit is going to get really complicated really soon and it could be that all this cool stuff we keep expecting to happen in the next few years simply will be punted down the road until we decide if we’re going to be an autocracy or not.

Good luck.

We Need A Cultural Reset

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I don’t know if this is the cultural equivalent of The Fourth Turning or not, but it seems like we need some sort of cultural reset. It we need to lurch into a new, more exciting future. We exist in some sort of luminal state whereby a bunch of old people control culture.

I honestly don’t know how to fix this problem.

But I suppose if there was some sort of Fourth Turning then once it was over and we came out the other side, we would have a new, vibrant culture again. But it definitely seems as though we’re stuck in a cultural malaise for the foreseeable future.

I also think that people aren’t thinking through how bad things suck at the moment in general. I suppose there is a possibility that technology will fix the problem. Some combination of AI and the Apple Vision Pro going mainstream might be the thing that prompts some sort of cultural reset or vibe shift.

I hope, is all I gotta say.

Facebook Is In Trouble

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Facebook is very much for The Olds now. So much so that I could see the rise of AI on the Apple Vision Pro being The End for Facebook as we know it. It may be revived as an app on the AVP because it’s something of a utility, but there could be a little bit of a bumpy period between now and then.

We’re about to lurch into the future in a big, big way and there will be winners and losers. And there is at least a possibility that Facebook could turn into something akin to Blockbuster and it just not survive the transition into this new era.

Everything is about to change very quickly. All that has to happen is, say, AVP 4.0 come out with a $1,200 price point and a lot lighter headset and wham! We wake up and everyone is wearing one of the damn things. There will be a huge vibe shift to the point that people will think, “Gee, I remember before everyone walked around with what looks like a Star Trek Visor.”

It will be interesting to see how things play out going forward.

The Release Of The Apple Vision Pro as The Long-Awaited ‘Vibe Shift’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

We may finally lurch into a new era if people feel comfortable wearing the Apple Vision Pro in public. The moment that happens, then the usual dynamics of capitalism will kick in and, before you know it, the headsets will start to be leaner and sleeker to the point that there will be a Before and an After.

But that’s all very speculative at the moment.

A lot could go wrong. It could be that a Second American Civil War / WW3 might break out. It could be that the Apple Vision Pro is all hype and, in the end, no one will want one and, as such, we will punt the dream of a vibe shift down the road another few years.

But the combination of VR / AR, robotics and AI all coming to a head at the same time is definitely the makings of a vibe shift in the near, near future. No one, especially me, can predict the future, so, lulz.

Who knows.

Next Generation AI Generated Media Is A Compelling Use Case For The Apple Vision Pro

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Now, of course, it’s possible that the fucking Fourth Turning will happen starting in late 2024, early 2025 and we’ll have to sort that out first, but there is also a chance that a combination of AI generated media and the Apple Vision Pro might cause a vibe shift.

It could be that, ultimately, AI generated media, or AIGM, will really take off because of the advent of the Apple Vision Pro. Or, if nothing else, one of its successors. It definitely seems as though we’re on the cusp of a media sea change.

The question at this point is how, exactly, that sea change expresses itself and how long it takes for it to happen. Everything definitely seems to be rushing towards a sudden lurch into the future, some sort of future shock, but…I dunno. There remains too much that I just don’t know.

Apple Vision Pro As Vibe Shift

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Hmm. The picture below makes me think that it’s at least possible that the Apple Vision Pro might be popular enough — and fashionable enough — that it will, unto itself, mark a “vibe shift.”

The Apple Vision Pro

It is at least possible that after a few more iterations that people will actually walk around in the real world wearing a Vision Pro without feeling really self-conscious.

Only time will tell.

Will The Advent Of Apple Vision Pro Prompt A Vibe Shift?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Is it possible that, by definition, the advent of the Apple Vision Pro headset could lurch us into a new era? While I have my doubts — the thing is still too big and bulky — just its existence does point to a possible New Era.

Apple Vision Pro

It could be that once Vision Pros are out in the wild, that that will spark a shift in the vibe and people will start to dress and act differently than they have the last 20 years.

Just think how different people in the 1950s dressed as opposed to the 1970s. Now compare that to how…same…things have been since around 2001. It’s all very curious. Other than technological changes, not a lot has changed in America except Reds and Blues hate each other to the point that we may be on the cusp of a civil war / revolution.

But, who knows. Some of why I think this MIGHT be a vibe shift is there is a fashion element to the headsets. But, as I mentioned, they’re still too big and bulky. They need to be a lot less conspicuous on your face for them to really take off, at least in my opinion.

The real issue is what happens when AI generated media gets thrown into the mix. Now THAT is going to be lit.