It's Monday, February 11th, 2019, and you're listening to Inquiring Minds.

I'm Andreas Gontas.

Each week, we bring you a new, in-depth exploration of the space where science, politics, and society collide.

We endeavor to find out what's true, what's left to discover, and why it all matters.

You can find us online at inquiring.com, on Twitter at inquiring show, and on Facebook,

which is going to be important in a few minutes. You can also get an ad-free version of the show by

supporting us at patreon.com slash inquiring minds, and you can subscribe to the show on iTunes or any

other podcasting app.

So no, this is not a show directly about Facebook, but it is a show about how Facebook might be influencing the way that technology shapes our future.

So a longtime listeners of the show might remember that I live in the Bay Area and also

that I'm really intrigued by virtual reality.

Both as a neuroscientist and a culture vulture, I'm really curious to see how virtual reality

is going to shape the way we think, the way our brains function ultimately if we spend

enough time in it, and how we interact with each other. Now, many of you

might be familiar with Amara's law, the idea that often we overestimate the effect of a technology

in the short term, but underestimate its effect in the long term. And that certainly is true of Facebook.

I think when it first came out, if you were anything like me, you thought,

well, yeah, sure, that's kind of cool. And, you know, maybe I'll spend a little bit of time

checking it out. But I had no idea that it would affect so many different facets of our lives

as it does today. In fact, even perhaps having a hand in shaping world politics. So when I found

out that Facebook bought Oculus, I must say

I was a little bit concerned, wondering how this acquisition might affect the development of the

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