A Brutally Honest Conversation on the Metaverse

[Celerity]

https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/fashion-metaverse-analysis/



You can’t turn anywhere without hearing about ‘the Metaverse’ these days. Why it has planted itself so firmly in our reality at this moment in time comes down to a perfect storm: Firstly, the global lockdown meant everyone started living digitally. And additionally, technological advancements and the mainstreaming of hardware and peer to peer platforms like Roblox and The Sandbox are driving new ways to connect, create and, ultimately, earn. It didn’t take long for the industry to press GO: Roblox launched music, Nike acquired Rtfkt, adidas and Prada partnered on an NFT, and Balenciaga launched merch on Fortnite. By the time you read this, 1000+ other projects will have minted themselves into existence. In this unfiltered discussion, curated and hosted by Leila Fataar, we explore the ultimate question: How can we stay human in the face of this virtual world?



https://www.instagram.com/reel/CYTW7PNF34B/





LEILA FATAAR: The Metaverse is happening… fast. It feels like the metaverse is ‘new’, but Galit, tell me, have we been here before?

GALIT ARIEL: It's not new. During my college days in London, I almost failed my degree because I was in Second Life, and that was the '90s, right? We're seeing similar discussions and similar, I want to say, challenges, to what was happening then. The idea of Web 3.0 or the metaverse isn’t new at all.

FATAAR: Let’s discuss the differences between Web 2.0 and Web 3.0…

WILSON ORYEMA: Web 2.0 is, basically, a few centralized systems controlling the source of information and the removal of agency from the individual, so that most people's opportunities and experiences are limited by the big platforms. Web 3.0 is decentralization of the internet, or the mobile internet, that we've come to know before, so that individuals have their start point and that they can interact on any level with any individual or organization that they choose to.

snip

long article. much more at the link

[3Hotdogs]

1. I read the article.

What did it say?

[Celerity]

2. if you read it, then you know nt

[Bristlecone]

3. I can sincerely say not a day goes by that I hear anything about the metaverse

And I work in tech.

I guess today and this article are the exception, or perhaps the start of my hearing about it more often.

[PATRICK]

4. So eye and brain

disruption, nausea and disassociation are no longer problems- aside from the social interaction concerns. VR and VR glasses have been fiascos because the narrative is unsuccessfully shifted to trendiness where even there the thing fails miserably. Yet it still gets pushed through hype and gripe metaverse of abused tech and mega-investments.

[usonian]

5. Brutally honest?

The referenced article is not brutally honest.There's no "The Metaverse is bullshit" counterbalance.
More like the typical "I am a techie and if it can happen, it will, and we'll figure out the rest later".

This, perhaps sums up the discussion:

FATAAR: Is this democratization of creativity a good or bad thing?

WALPITA: It's both.

The buzzphrase concentration is very high. Seriously, is this written by AI? I have to ask.

In fact, it's textual, and not streaming, so it can be "gone over", if one had the patience to do so.

A Hacker News thread discusses this aspect, and then gets more to the Metaverse points.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29045930

Do a web search for "the metaverse is bullshit" to get contrasting opinions. Since it's only conceptual at this point, all opinions are equally valid or invalid.

My current opinion is that the Metaverse itself is a dream building on Neil Stephenson's Snow Crash, largely propelled by a guy who is not socially responsible ("The Face Book" was designed to "rate" young women.)

It is an abstraction layer upon "ordinary reality" which we obviously have enormous, often fatal troubles dealing with because so much of it IS an abstraction. Need I mention people believing AND ACTING OUT the fantasy of a "Male dominated white Christian America" or a return of the shattered "Glorious Soviet Union"?

More abstraction? We need to get rid of sociopathic abstractions that poison life already.

As for distributed control versus central control, the original internet was decentralized. It was so vast, even at the outset, that centralization snuk in, in the firm of search engines. Not having a money model, they turned to heavy advertising, and goodbye to anyone's chance of being heard as an individual.

I see the same for a metaverse. Money will win out over individual voices, because, "it's a business". Trillions of speculative money don't go into some way to empower individuals (except to empower them to waste time and money, while people die in wars)

Yes, there are benefits for people who face physical limitations, but many people, like myself, just want to enjoy this "real" world. This techno-fantasy addresses near zero real world problems before taking time and attention away from them. It basically aims to "monetize every aspect of your life".

Forbes puts it succinctly:
The Metaverse: A New Frontier For Business, Investment
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesfinancecouncil/2022/03/08/the-metaverse-a-new-frontier-for-business-investment/?sh=462962292be9

(summarized)

How Might You Benefit From The Metaverse?

1. Offer a product or service: Like in the real world, consumers control the demand, and within the metaverse, that demand ranges from manufacturing and real estate to clothing and entertainment. People are willing to pay for virtual possessions and experiences.

2. Advertise: The metaverse offers a whole new landscape of advertising opportunities. You can purchase virtual real estate and charge to display third-party ads or use the space to promote your own real-world business. You can tap into virtual reality billboards or use product placements in virtual reality (VR) games.

3. Invest in it: Perhaps the most straightforward way to benefit from the metaverse (without needing to understand all the idiosyncrasies of voxels and blockchain) is to invest in companies and stocks that are already capitalizing on this new technology.

Translation:
Sell shit, especially nonexistent virtual shit.
Advertise. Impose your message on people's everyday lives, whether they want it or not (more surveillance capitalism?)
Invest in something YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT.

Oh so smart.

Do you want to live like this?



Ultimately, its anything and everything its "inventors" churn out, and subject to their vision or hallucinations.
Questions nobody asked:
Does it make life better?
Did anyone ask for it?
Does it exist for the usual reason "because it can, it should"?
Does it really empower individuals, and
Do they stand a chance against people who want a return on their billions?