LogInHe wished to make a "real difference."
Meta
You probably know John Carmack as the co-founder of id Software, the studio behind such legendary games as Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Quake, which he programmed. However, in 2013 he left id and became the CTO of Meta's Oculus VR, now rebranded as Reality Labs.
He spent almost 10 years there, but his aspirations were apparently different from what people might think.
An X/Twitter user known as CIX shared their thoughts of a world where Carmack was the CTO of Meta instead of the current Andrew Bosworth. "The AR/VR industry would surely be in a much better place," the added.
Carmack noticed the post and replied that he had just wanted to be a "VR Dictator":
"I didn’t want the Meta CTO job, I just wanted to be “VR Dictator” where I knew the problem space intimately and was confident I could make a real difference if I had actual authority. A responsible Meta CTO would not spend all that much of their time on VR – the primary social media business is too important to neglect."
I doubt we will ever see what this world could have been, and maybe it's for the best: Carmack is now working at the Keen Technologies AGI startup, spending his time improving artificial intelligence.
Meanwhile, Reality Labs keeps losing billions of dollars every year, making Bosworth wonder if the whole metaverse business will be "a legendary misadventure."
Join our 80 Level Talent platform and our new Discord server, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, TikTok, and Threads, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.