Do you know why I actually *want* VR to fail?
Because we humans can't deal with it proper. Look at how smartphones and social media consume people today and how it is changing the world for us all. We are not becoming any more social because of it, on the contrary. Trolling is a 'thing' nowadays, it used to be a niche. Even our GOVERNMENTS, our leadership, that is supposed to provide vision and guidance, is consumed by it, or abusing it to further their own goals. And they do not align with what's best for us, not in the slightest.
VR is an alternate reality and it is one that completely consumes your attention. Look at how gaming has already changed: couch gaming with friends in splitscreen has pretty much died in favor of online gaming. Is online gaming objectively more fun? I don't think so, even if you play with those very same friends you played with right next to you. But it is easier. You just login, and boom, people to play with. It similar to shopping online. We're just lazy.
VR is another step in the wrong direction in that regard. Its more immersion at the cost of still experiencing a real life social aspect. When you step into that world, nothing else exists for you. And people can't handle that. Today's VR has too many shortcomings to really immerse but when it does, that's when it becomes all the more dangerous. We are adding a layer of abstraction to all of our interactions and we use it as a mask to hide behind. A customizable identity to 'live'. Its safe, and it allows people to cross boundaries they would never cross in real life. Because in real life, you'd get stomped in the face for most of it. This abstraction also removes the need for people to 'get over themselves', to take a difficult step towards socializing or adapting to society and reality. It allows them to live their sheltered lives, and it only promotes further manipulation by the powers that be. People get caught in very small, narrow worlds. Its the polar opposite of what we 'think' the internet does for us in terms of opening doors. It does, but only when used in moderation.
Internet has been around for decades now and people still haven't really learned how to deal with it. Only recently have we started discussing what to do with 'data'. And what we see is what we experience every day: there are other factors in play besides our mental and physical wellbeing that overrule the ideals we strive towards. Factors like money. Power. Influence. And social media, our data are tools used to impose things upon us. In the meantime, people live the illusion of choice and control when in fact they are being pushed in a direction they really don't want to go.
VR is simply the next step in that movement and until we can turn the general balance of power around, its a bad direction to go into. That does not mean its only a bad thing, it still is really cool tech. But that is the way of many new technologies: there are great potential advantages, but there are also major caveats that we are keen to ignore and prefer not to talk about, a taboo of sorts. Until that taboo is gone, we can't handle VR. Look how long it took for the penny to drop with regards to social media (and most people STILL don't get it...).
