Cycling in the Metaverse

[carlucci1106]

Working night shift, I come up with some pretty zany stuff, but what do you homies think is possible for training, trying gear, and bike fit in the coming century and beyond?

Watched a long interview with Zuckerberg recently, and he said they are working on haptic sensory gloves to work with their VR/AR platform Occulus, and I'm sure we can at some point expect full body suits.

So this could open up some real possibilities with trying and experiencing products virtually, as well as immersive environments ( a la Zwift, Rouvy, etc) for training.

At some point, maybe you can ride a Duende and a Day is Done back to back, in the Metaverse, and not rely on words on a forum to base your decision on solely.

Or maybe we can instantly "build" virtual bikes with different components before our eyes in 3D on voice command, or try a fit before purchasing finishing kit(?)

Sure, they'll be some luddites who will shout "save the eBulletin forum," and maybe there'll be a little place where we can saunter into; with the walls decorated with memorable threads in blue/grey colorways, but will we be avatars and have virtual meetings in this room? Maybe there is a room in the back where Clean can store all of his bikes for forum members to try out. Is each one an "NFT"

Any AI geeks in here? What virtual reality features would be most useful to you?

[XXtwindad]

I’m a Modern Day Luddite. ETap is great. But I won’t be hanging out in the Metaverse.

[Veloo]

Woah, slow down there.
You need legs before you can ride.

https://mashable.com/article/metaver...tter-reactions

[monkeybanana86]

Originally Posted by Veloo

Woah, slow down there.
You need legs before you can ride.

https://mashable.com/article/metaver...tter-reactions

LOL. Re: legs the article says "Everyone has been waiting for this." I don't know much about Meta but it looks like the Sims and I feel like they are the new Google Glass. Nice idea but poorly executed. I may be wrong but I'm not on FB.

[Wolfman]

At least for me, I'm most excited about the AR side of things.

For example, I don't know how to bleed brakes, but would definitely put on some goggles and saunter over to the Campagnolo metaverse with haptic gloves and have the Italian-accented bots talk me through it a few times... mess and all.

Spectating from different points in a classic would be great, as well... I'm sure that there's going to be a way to get a "live camera ball on a stick" stuck at 6' high on a pole on the Oude Kwaremont so I could plug in to the live feed when they go by...

I have optimism that it's not going to be Wii-looking avatars and fake backgrounds... there's going to be some cool stuff.

[Gwerziou]

This video by Adam Conover explores the Metaverse in a satisfying way, along with skewering Musk, et al:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVj4kZF-Fgk

[carlucci1106]

Originally Posted by monkeybanana86

LOL. Re: legs the article says "Everyone has been waiting for this." I don't know much about Meta but it looks like the Sims and I feel like they are the new Google Glass. Nice idea but poorly executed. I may be wrong but I'm not on FB.

This is really the tone of many naysayers around AI. But I'm afraid we have a bit of amnesia.

Remember the first video games? Atari, PacMan, etc. Now look. Just in our lifetimes we've gone from pixilated, very low bit-rate 2D games to immersive games like the Sandbox one. That's 40 years, without AI.

Remember the first mobile phone you had? The brick one? (the general audience, I too would have been too young to own one, a handful of years older than you, but remember them). How long did it take before the compact flip phone came about, and affordable for most? 15-odd years? Then how long until a phone could do virtually anything a PC could? Another 15-20 years?

My point is that tech does not follow a linear progression, it's exponential.

Zuck may be publicizing too much at fundamental stages of the tech. People want the science fiction in its most developed form, NOW- and like I said, there are only humans working on it. When the AI software is where they want it, humans will step back and let the AI all talk to each other and create, based off of the foundation of all the information in the universe. Your (monkeybanana)'s response of ambitious fear is probably the right one.

[monkeybanana86]

Originally Posted by carlucci1106

This is really the tone of many naysayers around AI. But I'm afraid we have a bit of amnesia.

Remember the first video games? Atari, PacMan, etc. Now look. Just in our lifetimes we've gone from pixilated, very low bit-rate 2D games to immersive games like the Sandbox one. That's 40 years, without AI.

Remember the first mobile phone you had? The brick one? (the general audience, I too would have been too young to own one, a handful of years older than you, but remember them). How long did it take before the compact flip phone came about, and affordable for most? 15-odd years? Then how long until a phone could do virtually anything a PC could? Another 15-20 years?

My point is that tech does not follow a linear progression, it's exponential.

Zuck may be publicizing too much at fundamental stages of the tech. People want the science fiction in its most developed form, NOW- and like I said, there are only humans working on it. When the AI software is where they want it, humans will step back and let the AI all talk to each other and create, based off of the foundation of all the information in the universe. Your (monkeybanana)'s response of ambitious fear is probably the right one.

My post above that one agrees with you in terms of technology. But I am a Mac person and right now Meta is Windows.

Edit: Meta up $100 billion in value
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/02/b...e=articleShare

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by carlucci1106

At some point, maybe you can ride a Duende and a Day is Done back to back, in the Metaverse, and not rely on words on a forum to base your decision on solely.

I would be extremely surprised if, in my lifetime (born 1985), technology advanced to the point where it could accurately simulate and distinguish the feeling of riding on two similar bicycles.

[carlucci1106]

Originally Posted by prototoast

I would be extremely surprised if, in my lifetime (born 1985), technology advanced to the point where it could accurately simulate and distinguish the feeling of riding on two similar bicycles.

Don't watch much science fiction, eh?

Well, from what I read the other day about how close we are to what is known as the "singularity," nothing is off the table. When machines get to the point of creating code without permission, because they are smarter than the collective human knowledge-sphere, then the capabilites will increase exponentially greater and faster.

That's the theory at least- or we'll be obliterated before they can integrate Finite Element Analysis of bicycle frames into the software for 'virtual outdoor riding.'

I picture as you ride the iconic 1988 Giro, the haptic suit will decrease the temperature inside as your elevation increases, increase the "wind" and culminate in snow pelting your body on the Gavia.

[cmg]

if you ride the "virtural" bike off a virtural cliff will the software kill the actual rider? how about "virturally' riding into the on coming school bus?

[Turkle]

I have to say, these days I think that a lot of people who should know better have allowed themselves to be seduced by some pretty implausible promises being made by our "tech" overlords.

From self-driving cars to the utter scam that was (is?) cryptocurrency, to the "metaverse," there are just plain limits on what can be plausibly achieved, and no real use cases for what can.

The computer and communications revolution has largely achieved what it set out to do, and anything further is going to be incremental improvement at the margins rather than the next grand paradigm shift or whatever.

(I'm just as bearish on ChatGPT as well.)

I guess that this is a super long-winded way of saying that I don't plan on riding a bike in the metaverse anytime soon!

[slowpoke]

If you haven't already, you should check out a SandBoxVR experience. That's about as good as we're going to get right now.

I don't think we're close to biking in VR until the heaviness of the headset + heat issues can be solved. We want this to be wireless, too. So Wifi 7 or whatever needs to be adopted.

[carlucci1106]

Originally Posted by slowpoke

If you haven't already, you should check out a SandBoxVR experience. That's about as good as we're going to get right now.

I don't think we're close to biking in VR until the heaviness of the headset + heat issues can be solved. We want this to be wireless, too. So Wifi 7 or whatever needs to be adopted.

Did you try one of these? https://sandboxvr.com/experience/ambersky
Can you go into more detail about the experience, if so-- and expound on the heat issues experienced in the haptic suit? Thanks!

[redir]

Technically speaking Zwift is considered the metaverse and it has been an incredible help for me as far as riding inside, formerly the most boring thing one could ever do, to actually liking it somewhat.

So I'd be willing to try it.