The Metaverse: Part 2

A 21st Century Noah’s Ark

AI generated image with Picsart

So where does the Metaverse fit into this conversation? Is the Metaverse the 21st century’s biblical flood, attempting to wipe out a failed world and start anew? Or is it our Ark? While the Brain’s plan did not work out as he planned (imagine if Noah and the animals had opted to remain on the Ark permanently), it provides a conceptual framework for what the metaverse might become. The “Brains,” be they Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, or the countless capitalists vying for our virtual eyeballs and real money, are building new worlds and realities for us earthlings to escape to. People already buy art and real estate in the metaverse, Justin Beiber and Ozzy Osbourne have held concerts there, and people live out punk-avatar fantasies. In a more humanitarian vein, children can walk with aged parents, educational experiences are endless, and virtual reality will add an entirely new dimension to experience and understanding. 

The rapidity with which the digital age is ushering in tools, software, and experiences is changing fundamentally how people interact with the world. Advances in augmented reality, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality are hurtling toward us at a breakneck speed. It’s coming so quickly that so many of us who have heard of the term “metaverse” do not know what it is. So far, there is scant governance structure around it and the Metaverse is coming to most people from an additive (rather than integrated and necessary) perspective. The metaverse’s design and development sits in the hands of a few with limited diversity, and equity is a serious question. A dose of skepticism around the promises of the metaverse seem prudent. But in the age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, it comes as no surprise that the digital world of the metaverse is nigh upon us, and ripe for opportunities and exploits.