I watched the WWDC thing, ("State of the Union"? "Keynote"? I don't know. The one with Tim Cook and all the videos and the "one more thing.")

Apple has been something of a lightning rod ever since it became an "overnight success." It draws scrutiny and sharp opinions no matter what it does. And there's just something perverse about human nature that causes people to want to hope for successful people or entities to fail, regardless of what they're doing.

I'm not the Apple fanboy I once was, but I do believe that some corporations are more humane, more ethical, than others. That doesn't mean they're perfect, never inhumane, or never unethical; just that if I had to choose between Google, say, or Apple, I'd pick Apple every time.

I think there are unintended, undesirable consequences of our hyper-connected, always online selves. I think the automobile is the worst invention of all time. I think the smart phone has a very good chance of taking its place. I think Apple has at least some self-awareness in that regard. Not enough, perhaps, but it's a corporation with shareholders in a capitalist culture. Short of just voluntarily going out of business, I don't know what people expect.

As regards Apple Vision Pro, I don't think anyone would be smart betting against Apple. I'm impressed by the device. Like everyone else, I'm not sure what I would use it for, but I want one. Same as I did when I bought an Apple ][+ in 1982 or '81, I can never remember.

$3500? Big deal. My iMac, which I bought in 2019 and spec'ed to last me seven years, cost $3700. Yeah, I'm "well-heeled." My iMac will receive it's last OS update with Sonoma, so I'm not sure it's going to technically "last" seven years. I'm sure it'll work for many more years after that, and hopefully Apple will offer security updates for at least a few years. But the price wasn't shocking to me. I hadn't been following the rumor mill, and as Mitzi and I watched the presentation, our guesstimates tended northward. I was guessing $7999 before the big reveal at $3500, so I was impressed.

AR/VR devices are happening. It's not as though the marketplace is going to just collectively decide, "Nah, don't think so." At least, not yet and not for several more years.

If it is going to decide, shouldn't the best possible products make it to market to inform that decision? And what if Samsung or Google built a device almost as good as Apple's, or better? Only, they knew they had something they wanted very badly in that eye-tracking data? At least Apple is putting stake in the ground and letting the market know that this type of information may be valuable, but it should be private.

I'm happy to see Apple enter this space, and move the debate forward. I don't think anyone knows, yet, what this thing may turn out to be. Personally, I'd like to be able to experience far away places without having to fly there.

I saw someone post something about it being a "jackpot" device. A toy for the well-heeled to have a better experience in a degraded world. Well, the world is degrading just fine on its own. And the well-heeled will always have a better experience.

I say kudos to Apple for bringing this thing to market. I'll almost certainly buy one. Will it be a wise purchase? Probably not. The wisest thing I could probably do would be to save all my money and leave it to my kids so they'll have a better chance to survive in a degraded world. And I may choose to do that at some point.

But I'm not there yet.