Apple Vision Pro, Text to Video Is Here, web3 Is the Future of Film, Stoicism, & More

Future Essentials - Edition 39

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Hi everyone -

As you will notice, I’ve been tweaking the newsletter. I want it to be more digestible and enjoyable for the non-techie everyday person.

It’s now the Future Essentials newsletter (a Future of the World publication).

Every Friday, I will send you exactly what you need to be smarter and more prepared for the future:

• the tech

• the ideas & books

• the people, and more

All in 10 essential bites.

Hope you enjoy it!

Misha

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How to get the most from this newsletter:

• Scan the whole thing, from top to bottom.

• Select the item/s that interest you the most, and dive in.

If you get value from one of the 10 future essentials, you will already be more than 1% smarter.

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Here’s what you’re getting this week:

• Apple Vision Pro is a metaverse game-changer.

• Runway’s text-to-video generator.

• web3 is the future of film.

• Can Stoicism help you to live better in the future?

• Tim Ferriss convo with Kevin Kelly.

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TECH

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VR/AR/METAVERSE

1. On Monday Apple unveiled its first hardware release in almost a decade.

The $3,499 Vision Pro mixed-reality headset is set for release early next year.

• The headset uses 12 cameras, five sensors, and six microphones to track a user's hand movements. It also uses high-speed cameras and a ring of LEDs that project light patterns onto a user's eyes to understand where they're looking at all times. 

• The device lets you see your surroundings with breakthrough "EyeSight" tech. EyeSight alerts the user to the presence of other people — and when someone approaches a Vision Pro wearer, the headset brings them into the user's field of vision, while at the same time displaying a digital likeness of the user's eyes. 

• The Vision Pro will let you watch movies and TV on a massive virtual screen in environments like space or drop you right into the action like in an underwater tour, and could change the way we watch sports by letting users control the camera. LINK

2. Take a look here:

This will be the most consequential piece of hardware since the iPhone. It is a massive game changer and will catalyze development in Virtual Reality and the Metaverse space.

3. For a deep dive into the technology: Apple Vision – Stratechery by Ben Thompson

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GENERATIVE-AI

4. Generation 2 of Runway has arrived.

Runway Gen-2 is the first publicly available text-to-video model on the market and is able to “realistically and consistently” synthesize new videos with nothing but text.”

Take a look at Gen2 of Runway:

5. Learn more:

It’s not enough to read about new tech. To really understand it, you must use it.

6. Create your own text-to-video on RUNWAY.

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WEB3

7. The Future of Film: Web3 Filmmakers Are Leading ‘Next Wave’ of Cinema.

As artists and creatives look for more options and opportunities to create and work, web3 has the technology to provide solutions.

In May, during the 76th Cannes Film Festival, independent film producers and directors launched the inaugural MetaCannes Festival.

Held online between May 16 and 29, MetaCannes highlighted the possibilities of the nascent Film3 movement. Organized by Web3 crowdfunding platform FF3 and Web3 studio The Squad, it showcased feature films, short films and recordings of panels and exchanges with leading Film3 figures.

Just as the evolution of cinema techniques gave rise to the New Wave of French cinema in the 1960s, Web3 has birthed the Film3 movement, its pioneers argue. LINK

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IDEAS

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8. Can Stoicism help you to live better in the future?

Stoicism is booming. Print sales of Aurelius’ Meditations, Seneca’s Letters from a Stoic, and all-things Epictetus’ are way up. The philosophy has become the subject du jour of newsletters, podcasts, Instagram feeds, self-help blogs, and quote devotionals proliferating the internet.

• The three disciplines of Stoicism teach us how to:

  • step back

  • act with intention

  • improve our relationship with the world.

Learn what it is, why it has become so popular, and why it is valuable as a future way of thinking and living. LINK

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PODCAST

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9. Tim Ferriss talks to Kevin Kelly about his new book Excellent Advice for Living.

Kevin Kelly is one of the most important tech thinkers. Tim Ferriss is a wonderful interviewer.

This is ideal listening for your workout, hike, or long walk.

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POLL

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10. Are you an optimist?

    In times of profound change, it takes optimism to emerge victorious.

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That’s it for this week. If you got this far, you’re already much smarter about the future.

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think of the new format, the topics, anything else that you want to share.

And please share this with someone who would enjoy it?