Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg is known for his passion for many things, including Ancient Rome, and on Wednesday he wore a shirt that expressed his ambitions as the company unveiled what it calls the world's best glasses.
At Meta's annual Connect event in Menlo Park, California, Zuckerberg, wearing a custom T-shirt with the Latin phrase “aut Zuck aut nihil” (all Zuck or all nothing), unveiled the first working prototype of Meta's augmented-reality glasses.
The phrase is a play on “aut Caesar aut nihil,” which means “Caesar or nothing,” or more simply, “all or nothing.”
This quote of grand ambition was the personal motto of Italian Renaissance prince Cesare Borgia and, according to some scholars, possibly coined by Julius Caesar himself.
Zuckerberg has long had an interest in the Roman Empire – he spent his honeymoon in Rome and his two children, Augusto and Aurelia, are named after emperors Augustus and Marcus Aurelius.
Earlier this year, on his 40th birthday, Zuckerberg posted a photo on social media wearing a T-shirt that read “Carthago delenda est,” a reference to Rome's arch rival, Carthage.
Zuckerberg's latest fashion statement comes as Meta Platforms aims to overcome past tech industry failures and develop an augmented reality device that will appeal to the masses.
Meta's new Orion AR glasses aren't available to users yet and are primarily for internal testing for now, but they represent Zuckerberg's vision for a product that brings the virtual world into the real world.
“Think of AR glasses as a time machine,” Zuckerberg said Wednesday. “They exist, they're awesome, and they give you a glimpse into a really exciting future.”
