One day, we will vacation in virtual reality and take snapshots with virtual selfie sticks. Or so Facebook would have you believe.
As part of its F8 Developers Conference, the company on Wednesday showcased a "Social VR" experience illustrating how people might get together after the technological singularity renders our weak flesh obsolete in virtual reality.
The video, which you can watch above, shows two friends hanging out in a virtual recreation of London. They're represented by ghostly white 3D-rendered hands and faces rather than full bodies. One of them pulls out a virtual selfie stick to take a picture of the scene.
Then, they take a couple of pictures. The two lifeless apparitions virtual people interact with one another to choose a shot they like, and they upload it to their Facebook News Feeds via a blue box.
The overall idea is that Facebook hopes to one day connect the world through virtual spaces. It owns Oculus, perhaps the world's best-known virtual reality company, and its intent is to use the technology to break down barriers separating people from one another. (You know, things like space and time and oceans.) In the not-too-distant future, you and a friend could don virtual reality glasses, create avatars of yourselves and meet up in digital environments to play games or just hang out and chat.
Lo-fi versions of this basically exist already. For example, Gear VR headsets let you watch videos alongside other people and have basic conversations while doing so.
Think about it: Soon, you could get all of your socializing done from your computer chair with a headset strapped to your face. No more embarrassment over shirt stains or halitosis: Your virtual avatar can basically be perfect.
Sounds good, right?