Mark Zuckerberg may be right about the future of the Metaverse, but his company went a completely wrong way to define the path of his vision of the future.
What is a Metaverse?
There is no clear definition of what a Metaverse is. It instead puts what is tending and combine all in one.
It has become a buzzword after all.
One popular interpretation of the Metaverse is from Neal Stephenson in his 1992 novel "Snow Crash" with three elements to create a virtual-reality world: a VR interface, digital ownership, and avatars.
- VR interface: it gives your visual reality feeling
- Digital ownership: it gives your a sense to own virtual goods
- Avatar: it gives your identity that live in the virtual world
It gives people a sense to live, work, play, shop, or socialize.
This is not a new idea. Second Life, an online role-playing game, offers a textbook example of how Metaverse would play out in the early 2000s.
Then Metaverse makes your life becomes gaming.
Many questions will arise.
- Why do you want to have to live a virtual life if you got a physical one?
- If the virtual world is unlimited resources, why do we want to limit the resources artificially?
- Does the virtual work better than the physical one?
- Can you really live a second life without depending on the first life?
Web3 to Blockchain
After social media ruins the internet, we are heading into the post-social media internet phase. With the advancement of virtual technology from Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR) to Virtual Reality (VR), we will have another world that somewhat immersive people into the virtual world.
Social media has separated people into strict categories, will Metaverse push people further into their own shells?
Will it be possible to show people what they only want to see and eventually control reality?
Web3 and blockchain may offer the next generation of the internet, but does such technology resolve what social media brought us at the first place?
Lack of philosophical discussion about the Metaverse
The virtual world used to separate from the physical world, but the boundary became blurring.
When Rene Descartes stated, "Cogito, ergo sum to," it built a foundation of knowledge.
Do we have a fundamental idea about the Metaverse? What can Metaverse do to help society without ruining our current living one? Do we really need a Metaverse?
In Conclusion
Unless we can continue seeking the answer to What a Metaverse is, we cannot force others to follow our own vision and let them walk into our desires.
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