
One year at Y Combinator Research - sp332
http://elevr.com/1-year-at-ycr/
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vit05
"So we embraced the fundamental truth that sitting at a desk or standing in
one position is not what human bodies were made for."

That's pretty cool, but I'd love to see more serious research to support this
claim. There was a tendency for people to work standing up[0]. I, for example,
when I need to do things fast I prefer to do the work standing up, but I end
up getting very anxious, so I can not work that way for too long.

During meetings that use the Sprint process[1], not all people like to be
seated, but this should be because everyone should participate in the whole
process.

[0][http://edition.cnn.com/2016/06/08/health/standing-desk-
produ...](http://edition.cnn.com/2016/06/08/health/standing-desk-
productivity/) [1][http://www.gv.com/sprint/](http://www.gv.com/sprint/)

~~~
RobertoG
I think that the answer to the fundamental truth about what humans were made
for is 'walking'.

Maybe, the office environment of the future is about hunting and recollecting
business goals.

~~~
njarboe
Or more precisely: having a physiology best suited to walk/run mode was an
evolutionary advantage for most humans. Maybe we can tinker with our genome to
produce a sit-mode optimized human in the future, if desired. For me
personally, I would rather be able to hike all day, thank you.

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choonway
5:26 "and we found that with any work we do in VR, we always end up on the
floor at some point..."

Looked as if they were high on drugs on something... but then when bluetooth
handsfree headsets first came out, I thought they were crazy people talking to
themselves.

~~~
hyperpallium
And look where bluetooth handsfree headsets are now.

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blhack
The site seems slow, so here is the video:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7yLL5fJxT4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7yLL5fJxT4)

Really cool, exciting stuff that they seem to be doing! Also awesome that YC
is funding this sort of stuff.

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siscia
I know that it is somehow irrational but am I the only one actually scared by
VR? It seems so good that I am afraid will decouple people from the real
world.

As human specie are we sure that we will be able to manage it?

Are we sure that the negative effect will be couter balanced by the good one?
What if we get hooked to VR?

What will be the meaning of "real"?

~~~
craftandhustle
Along a similar path, there was a dystopian theory (story?) I came across that
made a somewhat insightful reference to this in connection with the Fermi
Paradox - what if advanced civilizations all "go digital" (or in to the "XR"
space)? I could imagine future peoples not being bothered to physically
explore if their new reality all existed in a virtual/holographic state. A
self-imposed pod, The Matrix-style, for everyone. Man, I love sci-fi.

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hueving
In the video it sounds like they are against using the scientific method
because they don't have a hypothesis. So my question is what goes into their
publications and work featured in Nature?

~~~
jarmitage
You could have just clicked the link yourself
[http://www.nature.com/news/mathematicians-create-warped-
worl...](http://www.nature.com/news/mathematicians-create-warped-worlds-in-
virtual-reality-1.21689)

~~~
hueving
Ah, so it's not like a published paper in Nature. It's news about research
covered by nature.

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sigi45
oO looks like second life.

How do you get payed for doing this a year long?

"research"

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SirLJ
The best for me would be to not stare at a screen(s) all day, with VR it will
be even worse, like literally having a screen on your head all the time :-)

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hobofan
Wow, looks like a lot of interesting stuff for one year!

I especially liked the Venn Kitchen. Can't wait to try that out once I get me
some VR gear.

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zitterbewegung
Cool work. Do you have any ideas about letting multitask with VR?

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j2kun
This is cool. I wonder how one might get involved.

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iynere
finally some vr ppl who aren't bros

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ThomPete
Hmm i have to think about this some more but my initial thinking is that they
are approaching VR research the wrong way.

~~~
sp332
I'm really curious why you would make the first comment here so negative if
you don't really know what they're doing and don't have anything to add.

~~~
ThomPete
I wasn't trying to be negative. I am not talking about the technical side but
about the philosophical. And there I do know what they are doing as they
explained this themselves.

What stood out for me was this.

 _" We don’t think VR’s power is in simulating reality."_

This literally flies in the phase of said reality, case in point flight
simulation. Furthermore so many upcoming uses for remote controlling robots in
space, large machinery in toxic places, the ability to help children with
autism. I could go on. There are an extremely large amount of real value and
real power in simulating reality exactly because it allow us to test
hypotheses, train and remote control, furthermore any robot worth it's salt
need to be able to simulate reality. In other words. The very basic premise
IMO is flawed if they don't think the power is in that.

Anyway I certainly didn't want to claim they don't know how to do their
research, just think that their premise is rather flawed if they really
believe there is no power in simulating reality.

~~~
sp332
Simulation is useful in itself, but what does that have to do with VR?

~~~
ThomPete
vr simulating reality i.e flight simulator. you dont need googles to do VR

