This term was coined in a sci-fi book by Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash in 1992. The setting of this book takes place in a dystopic future where the real world has been trashed. No one wants to live there. Rather everyone lives in the metaverse: a digital augmented reality somewhat like The Matrix that people opt-in to on purpose to escape the harshness of reality.
Defining the Metaverse fully is no easy task, and is open to interpretation. Needless to say the themes of virtual/augmented reality connected to the Internet are quite prevalent. However, whatever any of us thinks about the Metaverse in theory, the actual implementation and ramifications of such an interconnected web of technologies can never be fully predicted in advance. Chaos Theory demands it! In addition, this is a virtual world that will be constantly evolving, so the definition will also evolve over the decades to come.
Everyone is making a fuss about Facebook cornering the market on this mystical Metaverse idea. Facebook is pumping billions into it, we gotta make sure they don't get a monopoly! In my mind, this is a nonsensical fear rooted in delusion.
Think back to the Internet in the 1990's. Back then all the corporations were obsessed with owning the Internet. They wanted to create THE INTERNET; The walled garden that they would unilaterally control and everyone would have to pay them to use. These permissioned networks were called Intranets and Extranets, depending on how locked down they were. Venture Capitalists poured billions of dollars into this concept of owning the Internet, and they all failed miserably. Tough luck, imperialists! Better luck next time.
It was not so long ago that all the corporations were saying, "Blockchain not Bitcoin," while trying to create their own walled gardens that they would unilaterally control. Sound familiar? Billions were spent, and billions were wasted.
So why when Facebook says that they are going to dump $10B into the Metaverse does everyone freak out like it's a bad thing? IT'S A GREAT THING!
Just like corporations pumping billions into enterprise blockchain, so too will they pump billions into the Metaverse. And what will those trained employees do when they realize they can quit their jobs and earn ten times as much being their own boss as freelance developers of the ACTUAL METAVERSE? LOL!
It is absolutely ridiculous to think that a stupid corporation like Facebook could somehow corner the market on something like this. It's quite obvious that crypto will be the foundation of the Metaverse and the entire Internet itself. Crypto is all about community and leveling the playing field and transparency and open source collaboration and... Does that sound like FACEBOOK to you?! Like lol c'mon stop making me laugh.
The metaverse is bigger than Facebook. Facebook is a small drop of water in the vast ocean of Metaverse. Facebook could be washed away into oblivion at anytime and everyone would just forget it ever existed, or more likely make jokes about its existence before it was totally forgotten.
Stop worrying about trifles that don't exist.
No single entity can tame this beast.
That's the entire point of decentralization.
That's the entire point of flat architecture.
#build
