VR actually went through this from 2014-2024 or so. the original Oculus DK had such chonky pixels, very rudimentary tracking, game integration sucked, no hand controls. it rapidly got better to the point where playing Riven is like straight up being teleported into the world..
..except for like, being able to run around or touch things. so it's stayed niche.
I'm switching to DeepSeek-R1, personally. locally hosted, so I won't be affected when the US bans it. plus I can remove the CCP's political sensitivity filters.
it feels weird for me to be rooting for PRC to pull ahead of the US on AI, but the idea of Trump and Musk getting their hands on a potential superintelligence down the line is terrifying.
I actually read the entirety of HPMoR to my elderly mother. I tried to sell her on Friendship is Optimal but I think rationalist pony fanfic is a bit too ambitious a leap.
oof, never thought I'd see the baseline for "normal" set to after covid.
I'd thrown in some community service on top, or 24 hours in jail if that's not feasible. Fines just go to the kid's parents - who also deserve to be punished tbf, based on how badly they've raised their kid to behave.
regrettably, Meta is the state of the art for VR. the Meta Quest 3 is stunningly crisp for the price point. it's almost retina-scale with the pixels, the head/spatial tracking is extremely accurate and doesn't require any base station or wired attachment, and you can fluidly stream VR games from your PC wirelessly at 1080p and like 120fps with nearly no latency or reality sickness.
I played Myst and Riven while I was sick with COVID last year, and it was one of the top five visual experiences of my lifetime (along with seeing the Grand Canyon and taking psychedelics.)
Meta has also recently finally cracked the holy grail of non-chonky AR glasses with full FoV, though the gallium nitride waveguide process is quite expensive and yields are too poor for them to sell it. but they look like slightly nerdy glasses that let you see holograms superimposed on your vision, even outdoors in the light.
unfortunately, VR is still anti-social and there's not much content there, and the company leading the way is awful. but even just for Riven alone it was worth it to me.