Headsets and Glasses Are a Stepping Stone at Best

AR/VR products like Apple Vision Pro and Meta’s smart glasses are stepping stones at best toward a fully dynamic medium. One example of that direction is Bret Victor’s Dynamicland, where computation belongs in the room or environment, in shared physical space, and in the materials people are already using. The real next interface may also be something that has not been invented yet.

The problem with today’s glasses and headsets is not primarily technology. Displays will get better, batteries will improve, fields of view will widen, and the social awkwardness may soften.

The deeper problem is ideology. Modern attempts at smart glasses are versions of the mobile user interface that never leaves your peripheral vision, because attention platforms cannot invent novel user interfaces.