Metaverse, die already

In the last 5 minutes, while browsing my social media accounts, several times I came across “metaverse”. Bill Gates said something about meetings happening in the metaverse already in the next couple of years. Then this in my Facebook feed:

Then there is Facebook itself — now part of Meta. The biggest player in the metaverse space it seems, the creator of it!

I know, I know I’m not in the league of Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates. I’m not even in any of the orbits of their planet (that are surely part of the metaverse). I’m in the gutter.

Still, am I the only one thinking this is all fucking bull shit?

I’m usually not the one using the “starving children in Africa” argument, or “we need more human connections, not be glued to our devices”. I accept that there are a lot of things happening in the world concurrently — a lot of people are struggling, some are spending their billions to explore the possibility of colonizing Mars; and that our gadgets and devices are an integral part of everyday modern life, entertainment, and work. I don’t consider myself old-school (or old for that matter), or grumpy; I don’t compare generations. I don’t criticize new trends that have fundamentally changed the ways we live. In fact, many are awesome. That I can have, any time I want, a free video call with my mom in Russia is incredible. That the world is moving to work-from-anywhere is great. That humanity can eventually colonize other planets is incredible too (and even necessary actually). I welcome further disruptive innovations in how we work and in the space of entertainment, like movies and games.

And I really really try hard to stay away from criticizing social media. It’s a choice — don’t like it, don’t use it.

Still, there is something highly annoying about the metaverse thing.

Well, actually, we do need more real human connections. Now I’m starting to sound old school. I’m an introvert myself but there are limits to me appreciating the idea of living in some semi-real semi-stimulated world. I don’t need, nor my family to be dependent on our devices even more than we are already. I don’t need to wear a fucking augmented reality headset to pet a simulated tiger growling at me in my kitchen. I’d rather take my kids to a local zoo.