Would you join the metaverse?

Facebook last week changed its business name to Meta, signaling a shift in its focus to developing the virtual reality space known as the metaverse.

“Connection is evolving and so are we. The metaverse is the next evolution of social connection. Our company’s vision is to help bring the metaverse to life, so we are changing our name to reflect our commitment to this future,” reads a statement on the company’s website.

So what the heck is the metaverse?

According to an article in Fortune magazine by Jonathan Vanian, the metaverse refers to a digital universe that can be accessed through virtual reality.

“[It] is portrayed in popular media as a fully immersive online realm that looks similar to the real world but is computer generated. People can flip back and forth between the physical and virtual world through VR [virtual reality] headsets,” explains Vanian.

In an hour and seventeen minute-long presentation, Facebook–oops! I mean Meta–CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, outlines his vision for the metaverse as the new social space.

People will be able to go to work, concerts, travel, and other types of social activity, completely virtually.  Even though you’re not physically there, it will feel like it, as you’ll be able to participate in an immersive experience through your VR headsets.

Imagine going to work, but not really.  Your coworkers will see your Avatar at your virtual desk, but it will be your real voice that responds.  It’s all very Black Mirror.

Let’s say you want to attend a Drake concert in New York, but can’t afford the flight, hotel and tickets, you could experience it in the metaverse instead–but best believe, they’ll still charge you for that meta-ticket!

Meta-potential vs. meta-risks

Undoubtedly, the company formerly known as Facebook sees massive business potential in the metaverse.  You want your avatar to look nice at the concert right? So they’ll be selling avatar clothes, of course.  And just like in real life, how close you are to the stage will depend on the price of the ticket you bought.  In a COVID world, the metaverse is a great solution for allowing social activity without physical contact.   

But while virtual reality may be able to replicate the sights and sounds of the real world, it is still unable to deliver the sensory experiences of smell, taste, and the all-important touch.  Wining up on somebody’s son just ain’t the same virtually.  And if I can’t eat or drink at my all-inclusive fete, what’s the point?

Is that you or your avatar?

Additionally, my dystopian fears are real.  If this was to really become a thing, how immersed will we eventually become?  Will there come a point where I’m not sure if I’m interacting with you or your avatar?  Wait, does my avatar even have to look exactly like me? Can I get my waist snatched and a Brazilian butt lift, or will I have to pay for virtual avatar surgery?  

Also, what if I like the metaverse better than the real world? Can I forget to come back?  But my real body will need to eat and use the bathroom, so that might not be possible… unless someone invents something that makes it possible.  Seriously – watch Season 3 Episode 2 of Black Mirror, Playtest, on Netflix.  

Maybe I watch too much tv, but it does seem that life is increasingly imitating art, and the artists who conceived things such as virtual reality also conceived the problems that could accompany it.

On the other hand, as a journalist, my natural curiosity will likely see me being among the first to sign up in order to report back to you.  I do see the benefit of sending my avatar to work if I don’t feel like getting out of bed that day.

What’s clear, however, is that between Zuckerberg’s metaverse, and space travel being pioneered by some of the world’s richest men–Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin, the 2020s and beyond are shaping up to be about much more than the world we live in now, but worlds we could potentially live in, whether virtual or in space.  

The 20th century gave us air travel and the internet, two things that may have been inconceivable to those in the 19th century.  In this context, it is not that crazy to think that space travel and virtual reality will be among the great innovations of the 21st century.

And that’s the bottom line.