In an interview with a Dutch news website, Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke about metaverse, augmented reality, and coding. Cook has been in Europe on his first visit after the COVID-19 pandemic and received an honorary Master’s degree in Innovation and International Management, and even visited the film set of the popular Apple TV+ series, Ted Lasso.
Tim Cook on metaverse
During his interview with Bright, Tim Cook spoke about the current state of augmented reality, and its future. He said that people will soon look back at their life without AR, just like they do now without a smartphone and the Internet.
In conversation with Bright, he went into more detail. “AR apps are already in the App Store, but the possibilities will go much, much further. I think AR is a profound technology that will affect everything. Imagine suddenly being able to teach with AR and demonstrate things that way. Or medically, and so on. Like I said, we are really going to look back and think about how we once lived without AR.”
Regarding the metaverse, a current buzzword around other technology companies, that Apple has not ever used, Tim Cook said that it’s important to know whether people understand it. He said he’s not sure the average person can tell what the metaverse is.
Speaking on virtual reality, Cook said that it is something that can be used in a good way to immerse users, but it is only for set periods of time, and not for communication. He pointed out that users cannot live their whole life in such a way that they rely on virtual reality.
Cook also spoke about coding and said it is the only universal language. Compared to native languages for communication, he said that coding is a way to tap into your creativity and it puts critical thinking skills to work. He said that coding should have a permanent place in the curriculum and that everyone should learn it before graduating from high school.
On the topic of climate change, Cook said that this is the biggest collective puzzle and that everyone has a responsibility towards it. He spoke about the importance of recycling, and how 99 percent of the rare earth metals in Apple Watch are recycled.
“The world is now on an unsustainable course. We’ve all seen the effects of climate change, from heat waves in Europe to tidal waves in Pakistan or the hurricane that is now sweeping over Florida.”
Cook had recently announced donations for relief efforts in Pakistan which is hit by devastating floods.
Apple’s contributions toward climate change include moving to an emission-free world, and the company has been working towards it.
“Ultimately, we want to move to an emission-free world. Apple wants to contribute to that, for example by using 100 percent renewable energy. But it is also in other things, packaging for example. Most products are packed in a thin layer of plastic. Everyone did that, it was the norm. But it turned out that we used 600 tons of plastic for that. We challenged ourselves to do that differently, and now we don’t use it in our packaging at all.”
The Apple CEO also spoke about universal charging ports, and that limiting them could result in less innovation.
“The more barriers you put on something, the less innovative it can be. So you have to ask yourself if what you’re asking for is really worth it. I think there are plenty of very smart politicians out there who understand things just fine. And the role of the electorate in a democracy is to choose people they prefer to see as representatives.”
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