Everyone is super excited about the upcoming VR release from Apple, and it looks pretty fantastic - if you are into that kind of thing. It is interesting though, because a lot of the same people who are excited, also declared the Metaverse "dead" because Meta (Facebook) has spent billions and got no traction on it. What they failed to realize of course is, the Metaverse isn't a single company offering, it is a change in digital living, a cultural shift.
This might make me sound like I am pro-Metaverse, but it is not that simple, because I consider there are massive risks to it. Much like the internet, with all the access to information and the opportunity to learn almost anything to improve ourselves, we largely haven't used it in that way and it has instead amplified our worst traits and has divided us further in so many ways - even as it brings us together. No matter how extreme the thought, like minds can be found on the internet.
Why would the Metaverse be any different?
The Metaverse as it will at least initially stand, is the perfect environment for governments and corporations, because the entire structure is controlled. And the better it gets, the more engineered it becomes, the more compelling and people will likely choose to stay connected, much like they are glued to their phone screens now. This is the perfect medium for revenue generation, with a captured audience that has little else to do, except consume from a virtual environment.
One of the reasons that tech companies have such a high capitalization of their workforce, is because most of them produce very little that is real. This keeps costs down and maximizes income, an once there is the foundation and market in place, the incremental changes can be applied, without building the rest of the product at all. This is different to a car company for instance, where if they make cosmetic changes for the new range, they still have to build the entire car to sell it.
There are so many "areas of opportunity" to increase value, but reduce movement of people, that governments are definitely going to back it. Meeting environmental targets gets easier when people are not travelling as much, there is less need to upgrade or build roads and cars, houses can be smaller and people are staying at home, connected, rather than travelling on holiday. The list of savings is massive, which sounds like a good thing, but what about the costs?
On the internet, know one knows you are a dog.
How many people are going to build a "true to life" avatar of themselves? If Instagram is anything to go by, not many. People can design their digital representation to be something completely different to who they actually are, which sounds great in some senses, but is it healthy? The most commonly depressed people seem to be those who have a digital footprint that puts them in a frame quite different to their physical reality. And once it is possible to get the dopamine hits through digital interaction from the comfort and convenience of never leaving the couch, where does it end up?
Will people move more, or less?
Will they feel better about themselves when they get up from the couch and have to walk to their fridge, put on clothes, look in the mirror? Will they feel good having to squeeze themselves through narrow aisles, or will they miss the freedom of the digital space, the one where they never have to bend to tie their shoelaces, or walk a flight of stairs.
In the digital space we can be "weightless" - we can choose to leave the baggage at the door and design our life, which sounds awesome in so many ways, it sounds utopic. However, it won't be our lives that we are designing, but an experience of a life structured for us, built within the confines of an engineered space with the sole goal of profit maximization. We can see what this has done to interaction on the web2 internet of advertising revenue models - the Metaverse will take it to a new level, an immersive experience that attaches us through all of our senses, to the products being hocked.
We will be able to get everything we want.
We can live in a weightless world, looking how we want, interacting with people who look the way they want. It seems like a world of potential equality, but it will not be, because below the surface, we will still be us, our physical selves, the one who knows the conflict between who we are and the illusion we have created. They call it virtual reality, but it is not that at all - it is virtual fantasy. And many will connect and not want to leave.
Plug-in hybrids.
Humans are animals of convenience and there is nothing more convenient on the surface level, than living life digitally. Never having to worry about how we look, have physical skills, get dressed, or brush our teeth.
Work from home. Live at home. Holiday at home. Buy at home. Die at home.
We as a species are defined by our ability to innovate, but there is one thing that is consistent for all technological advancement to date - no matter how much good they can generate, they have all been weaponized for control. Physical control. Financial control. Mental control. Emotional control. The technologies of today are robust in nature, multifaceted and able to trigger a connection with us at our core. They can prey on our fears and offer us relief from our suffering, even while they lock us deeper into their subscription model.
When we have everything we want, we'll never want to leave - even if we could.
A richer digital environment - a poorer life experience.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
