The History of the Future
by Blake J. Harris · first published 2019
50% recommend50% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Narrative account of Oculus's founding and its acquisition by Facebook, built on first-hand interviews with the people involved. Readers say it reads like a movie script; suits anyone curious about VR's startup history.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
In The History of the Future, Harris once again deep-dives into a tech drama for the ages to expertly tell the larger-than-life true story of Oculus, the virtual reality company founded in 2012 that--less than two years later--would catch the attention of Mark Zuckerberg and wind up being bought by Facebook for over $2 billion dollars. This incredible underdog story begins with inventor Palmer Luckey, then just a nineteen-year-old dreamer, living alone in a camper trailer in Long Beach, California. At the time, virtual reality--long-hailed as the ultimate technology--was so costly and experime
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…solution being built in a garage right now. If Lucky Palmer could do it in the 2010's, someone else can be doing it again now. I'd certainly vote for that company to be stand alone. Have you read The History of the Future (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062455966) yet?
on “Google is reportedly shutting down its in-house VR film studio” ↗The History of the Future by Blake J. Harris. It's about the foundation and subsequent acquisition of Oculus by Facebook. He has done a lot of first-hand interviews with the involved parties. It reads like a movie script, and…
on “Ask HN: Recommend one book I need to read this summer?” ↗if you find this interesting, you might be interested in the book it came from, "the history of the future" by blake harris
on “Zuckerberg's leaked email on VR strategy (2015)” ↗…by Ingrid Burrington - A fascinating look at the communications infrastructure in NYC, written as a field guide. Inspired me to make a website in the same style for Philadelphia. * Kitten Clone: The History of the Future at Bell Labs by Douglas Coupland - This is my first non-fiction Coupland book and it was nice to see his punchy writing translate to the topic. The chapter where he goes to the old facility in New Jersey…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?” ↗…There are other books he played a prominent role in that I enjoined. Dungeons and Dreamers was a side by side story and contrast between Carmack and Id's path vs Richard Garriot and Origin Systems. The History of the Future features a much older John Carmack at the top of the industry, joining Palmer Lucky and a team of young entrepreneurs to build Oculus and VR. The entrepreneurial and technical ride is at least as wild…
on “John Carmack: Career Advice” ↗…for others. 4. Definitely a problem. If you can, you should think about doing manual Paypal payments for at least some non-US users. There wouldn't be that many to start with anyway. I have a book ("A History of the Future in 100 Objects") that's being published later this year; I'm planning to serialise it as a Newsstand publication as well and have been working with a rival of yours ;) But I'm keen to see what you guys…
on “Show HN: Create, publish and make money on your own iOS publication” ↗Amazing synthesis of facts... so much I didn't know. I have a copy of The history of the future and was planning to read it. If all it's going to be is PR for Luckey, I will donate it to a used books shop. Would you have an opinion on VR being the next computing platform? Despite the troubled past,…
on “My first year at Magic Leap and the opportunity ahead” ↗Read the story about Oculus (I think it’s called “The History of the Future”). I seem to recall older headsets cause sickness for many people because the refresh rate isn’t quick enough on the displays. Newer Oculus headsets address this apparently. I used to get virtual narcosis…
on “Ask HN: VR Sickness” ↗Based on the accounts in The History of the Future: Oculus, Facebook, and the Revolution That Swept Virtual Reality[1], I don’t get the feeling Facebook had to “pose solely as another kind of company”. By the point Oculus was in conversations to sell…
on “Facebook will start putting ads in Oculus Quest apps” ↗…https://frankchimero.com/blog/2015/the-webs-grain/ https://alistapart.com/article/responsive-web-design/ "Teach me the history of the Internet": https://www.mic.com/impact/how-geocities-webrings-made-the-9... https://computerhistory.org/blog/history-of-the-future-octob... "I'm trying to read more about games and game theory": https://franklantz.substack.com/p/playing-balatro https://joecarlsmith.com/2022/03/16/on-expected-utility-part... "I've been getting into…
on “Launch HN: Browser Buddy (YC W24) – A recommendation system for Internet writing” ↗