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John Carmack's arguments against building a custom XR OS at Meta

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521 points OlympicMarmoto | 7 comments | 29 Aug 25 16:45 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source | bottom
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Aurornis ◴[29 Aug 25 21:23 UTC] No.45069549[source]▶
> They also got me reported to HR by the manager of the XROS effort for supposedly making his team members feel bad

I've only seen John Carmack's public interactions, but they've all been professional and kind.

It's depressing to imagine HR getting involved because someone's feelings had been hurt by an objective discussion from a person like John Carmack.

I'm having flashbacks to the times in my career when coworkers tried to weaponize HR to push their agenda. Every effort was eventually dismissed by HR, but there is a chilling effect on everyone when you realize that someone at the company is trying to put your job at stake because they didn't like something you said. The next time around, the people targeted are much more hesitant to speak up.

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dagmx ◴[29 Aug 25 22:42 UTC] No.45070238[source]▶
John can be quite blunt and harsh in person, from everyone I know who’s interacted with him.

If he doesn’t believe in something, he can sometimes be over critical and it’s hard to push back in that kind of power imbalance.

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1. stephc_int13 ◴[29 Aug 25 22:47 UTC] No.45070270[source]▶
Carmack is a legend and I admire his work, but he seems to believe his own legend these days (like a few others big-ego gamedevs) and that can lead to arbitrary preferences being sold as gospel.
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2. spydum ◴[29 Aug 25 23:45 UTC] No.45070636[source]▶
I'm sure that's true but I've worked with a lot of engineers that are of this caliber and as long as you can form a coherent logical explanation they will bend they're way more open than you expect. But you got to put in the work to make that argument. They won't take it on faith
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3. stephc_int13 ◴[30 Aug 25 00:43 UTC] No.45070948[source]▶
It is an entirely different thing, gifted, highly experienced and confident in his assertions is quite frequent, but the cult-like following and status of personalities like Carmack or Blow can seriously alter their own self perception and importance.
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4. Aeolun ◴[30 Aug 25 01:48 UTC] No.45071238{3}[source]▶
Of course it can. It’s hard not to assume you are right if everyone keeps telling you so. I can’t really fault them for that. The challenge is to continue being right more often than not.
5. baq ◴[30 Aug 25 09:07 UTC] No.45073145{3}[source]▶
First, look at what they’re shipping, then decide the likelihood of them being right.

Maybe you know something they don’t; it’s actually very likely. But maybe what you think matters actually doesn’t at all and ultimately they’re right.

In either case, they were shipping, so best to listen and be prepared if you disagree.

6. anikom15 ◴[30 Aug 25 15:35 UTC] No.45075517[source]▶
What was your experience working with him?
7. rvba ◴[30 Aug 25 16:48 UTC] No.45076048[source]▶
If you want to build 3d glasses probably you should fpcus on 3d glassess and software for it.

Not some new OS so you can start making the glasses 2 years later.

Just like when you want to bake a cake, you dont start by designing an oven, or creating an universe from scratch