Startup Magic Leap Hires Sci-Fi Writer Neal Stephenson As Chief Futurist 48
First time accepted submitter giulioprisco writes Magic Leap, a secretive Florida augmented reality startup that raised $542 million in October, hired renowned science fiction writer Neal Stephenson as its "Chief Futurist." Stephenson offers hints at the company's technology and philosophy: "Magic Leap is bringing physics, biology, code, and design together to build a system that is going to blow doors open for people who create things." According to the Magic Leap website, their Dynamic Digitized Lightfield Signal technology permits generating images indistinguishable from real objects.
Re:A pity (Score:5, Insightful)
He's smart enough to accept money for a minor bit of marketing.
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Neal, if only you were always that concise.
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And the moron-fraction makes its expected appearance....
I believe it! (Score:4, Insightful)
According to the Magic Leap website, their Dynamic Digitized Lightfield Signal technology permits generating images indistinguishable from real objects.
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It's probably BS, but what isn't?
Re:I believe it! (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, actually to be honest that doesn't sound like you uncovered a secret meaning, that sounds like the top shelf, most obvious understanding of exactly what they literally said, which turns out to mean just what it sounds like.
If you've ever seen big-budget films with CGI, and low-budget films with CGI, then you can understand that current technology does not include a system that automatically includes generated images that look real. Or as you put it, that look like "simulated JPEGs." Using current tech, the systems just don't do that. You have generate the objects, and then fiddle with every frame and if you spend millions of dollars per scene, you can finally make it close to seamless. They're talking about doing it without extra post-CGI processing and prettying. In that world, the low-budget films would have perfect generated objects because it would be a basic tool capability and not a human-intensive artistic process.
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Generating the images is technically very easy the real problem in animation is generating the motion, the interaction between animated objects. The logical push in that direction is the creation of virtual robots, digital actors that would act out the animation script (not just people, but all movable artefacts). Once the motion and interaction is established and achieves the desired story telling goal, it is just a repeated process of adding more and more visual finishes on the existing interactions.
Re:I believe it! (Score:4, Funny)
I was actually going for the +1 Funny. How the heck did I get modded Insightful? :-(
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Ah, there we go.
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According to the Magic Leap website, their Dynamic Digitized Lightfield Signal technology permits generating images indistinguishable from real objects.
I read it more like "this new gizmo permits generating anything! As long as you have some other way of generating it, then this thing won't get in the way at all!"
The word "enables" sounds more like technology that actually does something, and even that's a stretch. The word "permits" sounds like it's just a link in an otherwise useless chain.
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Yep, you could use it to generate pron scenarios involving lifelike fake-boobs, -lips, -butts, -affection.
Jobs Lives (Score:3, Insightful)
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We have no idea what they showed people. Maybe they showed prototypes, maybe they only showed business plans. It is a known unknown that is given away in the summary by the word "secretive."
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They have showed the product, just not publicly.
Way hey! The good old days are back! (Score:1)
Product schmoduct. They'll make it up on volume, or something like that.
Does all "Leap" = hype? (Score:3)
Leap Motion was heavily overhyped and after $40M of investments they produced basically nothing useful. I'm very skeptical of companies that only talk about how great product they *will* have, and this hire goes squarely in that direction. Apple at least keep quit until they have something that works.
Another Leap in this category is Sinclair's QL -- though I'd take it any day over these other Leaps in their current form.
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There was Quantum Leap.
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There was Quantum Leap.
So... yes?
The Augmetaverse (Score:2)
I imagine (Score:2)
I imagine they'll keep him in a cage like an Oompa Loompa. They'll throw some leaves in his cage and poke him with a stick right before the tour group comes thru.
Ashton Kutcher wasn't available (Score:3)
I'm thinking Stephenson was second choice because Lenovo already hired Ashton Kutcher to be a product engineer.
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App
Neal Stephenson (Score:3)
Hah, he is just hoping they will finish Clang! for him in order to save him from angry investors....
Back at t'skooil (Score:1)
If I'd told the careers adviser that I wanted to be a futurist I'd have got a clip round the ear and been sent to the headmaster. And when the other kids found out, they'd have given me a sound shoeing for being a right ponce.
Still, nice work if you can get it.
Yesterday's Dilbert was exactly about this (Score:1)
On http://dilbert.com/2014-12-17/ Scot Adams tells us on his funny way what he thinks about jobs that rely on guessing the future.
Extra Paycheck (Score:2)
I guess he needed an extra paycheck after writing that pile of awfull, Reamde.
I made it 2/3rds deep before I realized I was wasting my life
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Does being a good reader mean you like a crappy book or do you just have poor taste? Has your mother confirmed your good reader status?
And for the record, I think it's just super you are such a good reader. Good for you!
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And for the record, I think it's just super you are such a good reader. Good for you!
It's too bad that you're so defensive about your lack of reading ability that you had to cry about it here.
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Just to make sure I'm following what you're getting at
Disliking a crappy book = poor reading ability?
Liking a crappy book = good reading ability?
Calling a book crappy and making fun of you for making claims that sound like they're coming from a first grader = being defensive of own reading ability?
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I enjoyed enough of Reamde that I didn't feel like it was a waste reading it. I did feel like it was essentially 3 different novels with 3 very different feels trying to coexist, and I liked two of them a lot more than the third, but overall, I thought it was a fun read. (That said, you chose a good time to stop reading, as the last third contained a higher ratio of the stuff I didn't think was as interesting.)
Futurist...dumbest/easiest "job" in the world (Score:2)
I hate when people are described as "futurists" and then presented as some sort of authority or given a salary with the title.
Nothing but a long con.
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So do I. Because I didn't think of it first....
Yeppers. WIsh I could get in on it....
Prediction: company changes direction (Score:2)
Oh, great (Score:2)