Whoa. So here’s this wild saga I stumbled upon with Palmer Luckey—yeah, the dude who kickstarted Oculus. Anyway, he’s back in cahoots with Meta, working on some top-notch AR and VR gadgets for the military. Wild, right?
So, Luckey started Oculus in 2012. Back then, VR was kinda this niche geek thing, but he blew it up big. Facebook (now Meta, keep up!) jumped in, bought Oculus for a gazillion dollars—okay, fine, over $2 billion. But then, uh-oh, drama time! Luckey gets booted, apparently ’cause of his politics. Fast forward, he sets up Anduril, diving into defense tech and making, like, serious bank again.
Anyway, Anduril’s doing its thing, mixing military tech with, well, everything else cool. They’ve even snagged this gig with Microsoft’s floundering IVAS—some AR helmet project for the Army. So picture it, your regular soldier with AR. Kinda sci-fi, no? And now, fun twist, Anduril’s partnered with, you guessed it, Meta! Their mission? Creating next-level AR and VR. How epic is that?
Oh! And get this, Luckey was all “teaming up with Meta is exciting” or whatever. Says he’s into turning soldiers into “technomancers.” Yep, he actually used that word. Wasn’t there some beef between him and Meta’s top dogs, Zuckerberg and Bosworth? Guess that’s history now ’cause they’re all smiles in the announcement. Makes you wonder, right?
So, boots on the ground AR helmets? Warfighters looking like they’re from the future? Luckey and Meta are betting on it. This whole thing might save billions, they say. I dunno. Just a thought, maybe those billions could go somewhere else? Food for thought.
Oh, and they’re using top-tier tech meant for regular folks to boost military gear. Dual-use, as they call it. I dunno why, but I imagine VR helmets clinking against drones like oversized toasters. Not sure why, but it’s stuck in my head.
To wrap it? Watch this space. Or don’t. Up to you. Luckey’s got some plot twists up his sleeve, I bet. Whatever happens, just look out for the movie.
