As the world gears for the creation of an alternative world, labelling it as ‘the future of the internet’, is there really no cause for concern? Should we be worried about what the Metaverse will bring to the world, and how it will be used by millions of people who might have unlimited access to it?
Facebook Inc. recently changed their name officially to Meta Platforms Inc.
The latest landmark revolution in science and technology is most likely to the creation of the Metaverse. For those of who you don’t know what tech giants are planning to launch, the Metaverse is an alternative, digitally powered world on the internet, where users can ‘live’ and interact with others through their ‘avatars’. The Metaverse can be accessed using multitude of devices like your PC, PlayStation and your mobile phones. What makes the Metaverse so different from other already existing virtual worlds (like Fortnite, World of Warcraft etc.) is the limitless scope that is likely to exist in the Metaverse. The Metaverse will also have its own digital economy, where users can create, buy and sell goods. Users will have access to purchase clothes, cars, houses, shoes, and accessories – basically everything you can buy and sell in the real world, will be available in the Metaverse as well.
Anyway, this article isn’t about explaining what the Metaverse actually is, but more about how the Metaverse might affect our day to day lives, and if it really is something that we should be only excited for.
In the episode “Fifteen Million Merits” of the British show “Black Mirror”, Charlie Brooker and Konnie Huq create a very similar world, where real people have avatars who live in a virtual world and can access goods and services by earning enough “merit points”. Though the extent to which this virtual world is similar to the Metaverse is fairly low, it gives us a fair amount of warnings as to what the Metaverse could become.
We’re all aware of how the society has practically started to live their lives inside the internet. Everybody has an Instagram account, most of the younger generation is on Discord, playing video games like Fortnite, relationships derive their meaning out of how much Netflix a couple can consume or how many likes they can get on a photo on Facebook. Point being : we’re already living our lives inside screens, barely giving time to real life interaction with people and engaging in activities that actually requises one to physically go out, and breath fresh air.
Now imagine: what if we could even bring going to the park or a beach inside our screens. Imagine if we could all chill at Madison Square Garden with our friends, while sitting comfortably inside our bed, eating a packet of Doritos, only by tapping a few buttons on the screen of your mobile phone. Sounds good? Honestly, not to me.
Once the Metaverse is set into full-fledged action, I see no reason for our generation to do anything outside of this world. The concept which seems like a game to us right now, could very well become our life 20 years into the future. And this change and revolution, is neither healthy nor beneficial for us as social beings. A very big part of what makes us human, is our ability to connect with other people and understand their emotions. Love and friendship is something which we build from meeting people, looking them in their eye, stammering in the beginning because of nervousness, and then finally being comfortable around them, feeling loved and cared for and understanding that this is where we belong. I’m really sceptical about how we’ll form bonds like this in the Metaverse. Even if we are able to meet and connect with people, with minimal physical interaction and anticipation of going out somewhere, I don’t know if this is going to be real or plastic. As more and more time passes by, and the Metaverse becomes the new normal, our future generations will be born in a world where they don’t even know the value and importance of forming the bonds like we do in the present world right now. Their lives will be pigeon-holed inside their screens, backed up by an illusion that what you’re seeing on your screen, is the world.
The worst part about all of this is that our grandkids and great-grandkids won’t even know what the world was like before it was reduced to merely avatars on a piece of glass and LED.
The madness doesn’t stop here. Have you ever asked yourself, what tech giants like Microsoft, Fortnite, Roblox, Meta etc. are getting out of creating the Metaverse? Sure, they might come out in press conferences and give interviews where they claim that they are doing this to revolutionise technology and use big phrases like ‘this is the future’…but what is the one thing that remains constant across all big companies contributing in creating the Metaverse? If you know anything about how capitalism works in the modern day, you’d have guessed the answer by now: Money. That’s right. The return on investment which these tech giants are going to get once the entire world is hooked on to the Metaverse is going to enormous. According to a Bloomberg report, the Metaverse could possibly be a $800 billion market. Non-fungible tokens or NFTs are already increasing at a staggeringly high rate and are expected to play a massive role in the Metaverse. After all, where would digital money yield the best results? Yep, in a digital world. Apart from this, tons of mainstream companies are copyrighting their products in real, in the Metaverse as well. Nike’s “tick mark”, Gucci’s “bee sign”, and McDonald’s famous M (really, I don’t get it, why would you spent money on digital burgers for your digital self?)
The worst part is that a large chunk of the world is actually going to conveniently fall into the trap of the Metaverse, which will only lead to this companies making more and more money, while simultaneously harming our environment (NFT mining is extremely dangerous). All of this, for what? Ease of access? Come on, going out and having an actual meeting in the Four Seasons hotel really isn’t that big of a deal if you weigh it with all the harms that the Metaverse is possibly going to bring.
However, nobody can really predict the outcome or the extent to which the Metaverse is going to adversely and negatively affect humans. What I wrote in this article is highly based on precedence and the way that humans have previously reacted to revolutionary technology being launched. In a nutshell, the Metaverse might not be all that hunky-dory and it definitely poses some serious questions, which we as a society need to retrospect on, and then answer. If it does any good, I’m going to say this on record. I hope I get proven wrong.
