Hello my fellow futurists!

I didn't know the Oscars had happened until all media exploded about it. There's nothing I want to add except that I'm happy that Dune won 6 Oscars. It's a great film adaptation of a great book. Go watch the movie if you haven't, or read the book!

1 life update 👆

I attended MIT's Reality Hackathon in person in Cambridge this last week. The folks on my team and many others in attendance all described the event as perhaps the best of their professional careers. I feel the same. It was truly amazing.

For me it was my first hackathon. I realized that my hacking skills are getting decent, but more importantly, I realized I had now truly transitioned from a talker to a doer.

Back in early October of last year I made up my mind to learn how to build immersive experiences, not to just pontificate about the Metaverse. You can read that post here.

Since then I've steadily been working on my dev skills. To be able to contribute to my team in the developer role is a realization of the transition.

It feels pretty damn good.

💡 LifelinesAR for better therapy

My MIT Hackathon team and I created a prototype for a therapy tool called LifelinesAR.

We built out an app that runs on Microsoft's HoloLens that allows a therapist and client to work through the clients most impactful moments in their life, the highs and the lows. In the 2.5 days of hacking we got a decent prototype and first pass at number of the features working, you can see some of it here:

​// click here if the video didn't load​

There are so many more examples of where XR can be applied than we've thought of.

​Devpost​

3 crazy things ✌+👆

💊 a birth control pill for men

A future where everyone is in complete control of when they want to have a child is probably a better future.

I love my children, but I planned for them.

​Gizmodo​

​👩‍🚀 riding a laser to Mars

NASA put out a challenge to engineers to come up with a solution for taking a payload of cargo or passengers to Mars in 45 days or less. One team is proposing to use laser propelled ships.

​Freethink​

🔆 a sun god

Take a look in the top left of the sun, go ahead click on the image and go to the full, high rez version. You can see a humanoid form in the there. I know it's just our brain drawing patterns, but it is kinda neat

2 Metaverse things ✌

👨‍⚕️ the Metaverse is saving lives?

For all it's ridiculousness, there are very real therapeutic use cases for XR, much like the app we built at the hackathon. Here's a great read on virtual therapy.

​roadtovr.com​

🐂 maybe Zuck likes tapas

I've long thought that XR and the Metaverse is an opportunity for Europe to take a major step forward. I even wrote about it in my guide to the Metaverse a year and a half ago.

I didn't quite expect it to be Facebook making Spain central to their Metaverse ambitions though. I used to live in Spain for 6 years. All the more reason to go back!

​Facebook​

What have you been meaning to do?

It's been an amazing journey to go from talker to creator, one I'm still on, but I'm so happy I am. What have you been meaning to do?

Let me know. Just hit reply, I read and respond to everyone!
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Have an awesome week and see you next time!

Daniel
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The concept of progress acts as a protective mechanism to shield us from the terrors of the future.
​Frank Herbert, 'Dune'

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