Dr. John D Carmack on Facebook acquisition

[UchihaSasuke416]

source: http://peterberkman.tumblr.com/post/80827337212/wrong-and-right-reasons-to-be-upset-about-oculus#com...

"John Carmack" wrote:

I share some of your misgivings about companies "existing and operating only to be acquired". I am a true believer in market economies, and the magic of trade being a positive sum game is most obvious with repeated transactions at a consumer level. Company acquisitions, while still (usually) being a trade between willing parties that in theory leaves both better off, have much more of an element of speculation rather than objective assessment of value, and it definitely feels different.

There is a case to be made for being like Valve, and trying to build a new VR ecosystem like Steam from the ground up. This is probably what most of the passionate fans wanted to see. The difference is that, for years, the industry thought Valve was nuts, and they had the field to themselves. Valve deserves all their success for having the vision and perseverance to see it through to the current state.

VR won't be like that. The experience is too obviously powerful, and it makes converts on contact. The fairly rapid involvement of the Titans is inevitable, and the real questions were how deeply to partner, and with who.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting Facebook (or this soon). I have zero personal background with them, and I could think of other companies that would have more obvious synergies. However, I do have reasons to believe that they get the Big Picture as I see it, and will be a powerful force towards making it happen. You don't make a commitment like they just did on a whim.

I wasn't personally involved in any of the negotiations -- I spent an afternoon talking technology with Mark Zuckerberg, and the next week I find out that he bought Oculus.

"John Carmack" wrote:
I did skip the data mining issue, mostly because I just can't get very worked up about it.

I'm not a "privacy is gone, get over it" sort of person, and I fully support people that want remain unobserved, but that means disengaging from many opportunities. The idea that companies are supposed to interact with you and not pay attention has never seemed sane to me.

Being data driven is a GOOD thing for most companies to be. Everyone cheers the novel creative insight and bold leadership that leads to some successes, and tut tuts about companies ending up poorly by blindly following data, but cold analysis of the data is incredibly important, and I tend to think the world will be improved with more and better data analysis.

I have never felt harmed by data mining, and I rather like the recommendations that Amazon gives me on each visit. Educate me. What terrible outcome is expected from this? Be specific.

[Sparky83]

"Carmack" wrote:
Educate me. What terrible outcome is expected from this? Be specific.

I hope he really means it. And I think so. Because it might not be easy to see out of a situation of peace and freedom which problems might occur under different circumstances. There might be worst-case-scenarios that just won't come to our minds because we are unable to imagine them. But the question is, once we know about the possibilities, are we willing to take these risks?
I would also like to know about specific reasons for being restrictive about data mining and stuff like this.

[pixel67]

Interesting read and even more interesting take on the upsides of data mining and resultant analysis. I am not surprised that he wasn't engaged in the acquisition just as he likely wasn't in the other rounds of funding. People seem to want him to lead in this respect and be "all aware" when that really isn't his focus. That is a good thing as we all DO know what he is good at. :idea:

[Frito]

This is SO last week. 😉

[UchihaSasuke416]

"Frito" wrote:
This is SO last week. 😉

Carmack made the comments 2 days ago... had to double check, how the forum got and all after the FB announcement. thought you might've been serious

[Ibrinar]

Title incorrect though it is easy to read the statement that way. "@isallmaroon no, I said I wasn't involved in the negotiations, not that I was unaware of the talks....

[geekmaster]

"UchihaSasuke416" wrote:

"Frito" wrote:
This is SO last week. 😉

Carmack made the comments 2 days ago... had to double check, how the forum got and all after the FB announcement. though you might've been serious

Two days ago WAS last week. Depending on your locale, either yesterday or today began a new week.

DOCTOR John? When did he have time to earn a PhD, while busy writing video games?

Google finds OTHER John Carmacks (and Jon Carmacks) who have a PhD, but OUR John is only claimed to be a "PhD-level genius" (without the papers), AFAIK. Please correct me if I am wrong...

[UchihaSasuke416]

"geekmaster" wrote:

DOCTOR John? When did he have time to earn a PhD, while busy writing video games?

he earned a PhD in our hearts

[2EyeGuy]

I wonder if Palmer knew, or just woke up one morning and found his company had been sold to Facebook.

[RyanHolmes]

I want to look at a company's product. I don't want to look at the company. So I wouldn't expect a company to look at me with their product. That makes no sense to me.