Facebook CEO Says Telepathy Is Coming After Virtual Reality
Dave Gershgorn
at 12:05 PM Jul 1 2015
Facebook CEO Says Telepathy Is Coming After Virtual Reality
What am I thinking?!
Mark Zuckerberg/ Facebook

During his townhall Q&A session on his Facebook page today, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared his idea of what a technologically integrated future looks like: and it's a lot like an episode of Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror.

Zuck wrote:

One day, I believe we'll be able to send full rich thoughts to each other directly using technology. You'll just be able to think of something and your friends will immediately be able to experience it too if you'd like. This would be the ultimate communication technology.

The comment, which has since been deleted, talks about virtual and augmented reality as the future of digital media, stating that video will become even more important than photos. With Zuckerberg at the helm, Facebook, which has a history of acquiring large swaths of media real estate like Oculus and Instagram, is well-poised to make the blossoming field of virtual reality a piece of commonplace technology. Between this statement and Google's contact lens, the future of human interaction with reality is getting a little more clear.

Full text here:

There are a few important trends in human communication that we hope to improve.

First, people are gaining the power to share in richer and richer ways. We used to just share in text, and now we post mainly with photos. In the future video will be even more important than photos. After that, immersive experiences like VR will become the norm. And after that, we'll have the power to share our full sensory and emotional experience with people whenever we'd like.

Second, people are gaining the power to communicate more frequently. We used to have to be with someone in person. Then we had these bulky computers at our desks or that we could carry around. Now we have these incredible devices in our pockets all the time, but we only use them periodically throughout the day. In the future, we'll have AR and other devices that we can wear almost all the time to improve our experience and communication.

One day, I believe we'll be able to send full rich thoughts to each other directly using technology. You'll just be able to think of something and your friends will immediately be able to experience it too if you'd like. This would be the ultimate communication technology.

Our lives improve as our communication tools get better in many ways. We can build richer relationships with the people we love and care about. We know about what's going on in the world and can make better decisions in our jobs and lives. We are also more informed and can make better decisions collectively as a society. This increase in the power people have to share is one of the major forces driving the world today.

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