--- title: "Zuckerberg Shows Off VR Headsets Designed to Be “Indistinguishable From Reality”" description: "These might be major moves towards providing future users with a virtual reality system that human visual processes interpret as \"real.\"" date: "2022-06-21" modified: "2022-06-21" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/zuckerberg-vr-headset-indistinguishable-reality" categories: - "Future Society" - "Virtual Reality" tags: - "mark zuckerberg" - "metaverse" - "the digest" - "virtual reality" --- # Zuckerberg Shows Off VR Headsets Designed to Be “Indistinguishable From Reality” ![These might be major moves towards providing future users with a virtual reality system that human visual processes interpret as "real."]() *\Image: Meta\* ## Holocake Butterscotch, Starburst, Holocake 2, and Mirror Lake aren't military codewords, up-and-coming Soundcloud rappers, or [Petfinder pups](). Instead, they're the names of four [newly-unveiled, purportedly advanced virtual reality headset prototypes]() by Meta Reality Labs — devices, Meta claims, that represent movement toward a virtual experience that's "indistinguishable from reality." Revealed by [Meta-formerly-Facebook]() founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who was joined by Reality Labs chief scientist Michael Abrash at a virtual round table last week, this is an alleged milestone for a project — [already billions of dollars in the making]() — that plays a central role in the company's longterm aspirations for a [fully-immersive Metaverse](). "I think we’re in the middle right now of a big step forward towards realism,” said Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg in [one of a several videos]() accompanying the round table event. "I don’t think it’s going to be that long until we can create scenes with basically perfect fidelity." ## Four Horsemen As Zuckerberg [explained in a separate video](), each interestingly-named prototype was created with the goal of mastering a different visual challenge they believe is keeping existing VR from being interpreted as "real" by human visual systems: the ability to focus on any depth, getting rid of lens distortion, achieving a resolution as high as the human retina, and sufficient dynamic range to simulate everything from total darkness to a very bright environment. These four concepts, [the metamen say](), must be perfected and combined to bring their lofty vision to life. Plus, the headsets have to be comfortable, which presents [its own immense challenge](). "To get there, we need to build an unprecedented type of VR display system," Zuckerberg [added in last week's briefing](). "A lightweight display that is so advanced it can deliver what our eyes need to function naturally so they perceive we are looking at the real world in VR." ## Big Dreams While none of these four prototypes pass what Meta Reality Labs calls a "visual Turing Test" quite yet, they may well bring the company a bit closer to the goal of seamlessly integrating extended reality (ER) systems into daily life — a future that Meta [seems to be banking on](), seeing as how it currently owns about [80 percent of the virtual reality industry's market share](). While these devices might be breakthroughs for the CEO and [meat-smoking enthusiast's]() ever-confusing [Metaverse dream](), there's still *a lot* that the Silicon Valley mainstay [needs to figure out]() before these products — and, well, the Metaverse in general — are going to pick up any significant market share. **More on the Metaverse:** [*In Extremely Confusing Twist, Facebook Says It Isn't Building a Metaverse After All*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()