The topic of the Metaverse has fascinated me for some time. When I say “fascinated,” I actually mean “freaked me out.” Does anyone else have the feeling that the virtual shared space where users can interact in a simulated environment, has the potential to raise a number of societal concerns?
I’m mostly concerned about the issues related to privacy and security, as well as the impact on social interactions and relationships. Additionally, there may be concerns about the potential for addiction and negative effects on mental health, as well as the possibility that the metaverse could exacerbate existing inequalities and social divisions.
What are your thoughts on the Metaverse?
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Based on these phrases from you, @urszula, the “Metaverse” already exists:
- users can interact in a simulated environment
- number of societal concerns
- issues related to privacy and security
- impact on social interactions and relationships
- potential for addiction
- negative effects on mental health
- exacerbate … social divisions
It’s called social media!
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Meta’s chief product officer says the metaverse will one day be as ‘important as the smartphone’.
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We’re in for a world of trouble if it does come to that. Let’s hope not.
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The discussion about the future of AI is also giving some practical examples:
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Yesterday, I read a really interesting article in The Atlantic & it it was totally on point- We’re already in the Metaverse.
Although the article is behind a paywall, you can listen to it. Great narration 
The situations described in the article are really mind-blowing. I highly encourage everyone to read it.
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What if you are the kind of person who thinks that a smartphone is one of the least important things in your life?
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@user1 Do you remember the SIMS game? The metaverse kinda reminds me of this & I never took SIMS that seriously.
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@roberto I read this article & it it’s just so surreal. I’m not sure my brain is processing it correctly.
Is Interpol looking to police behavior in virtual reality? Like if your avatar had a car & my avatar stole it, I would get in trouble? Or if your avatar beat up my avatar, for stealing your virtual car, you would be investigated for assault? Am I understanding this correctly?
Is anyone else confused? Doesn’t this sound a little bit like the movie “Minority Report,” where a special police unit is able to arrest people before they commit their crimes
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Yes. I remember The Sims game. I remember, back in the year 2000, catching a train into the city to buy a copy of The Sims from a physical shop that specialised in PC games. Back in those days computer games were still sold in big shrink wrapped boxes that contained the game on CDs and also included a printed manual for the game, and some times, a poster. The box also contained a warranty card, or a registration card, for you to fill out, with a pen, and mail off to the publisher. While I was at the games shop I saw Civilization: Call To Power (Civilization: Call to Power - Wikipedia) and bought a copy of that too.
I remember that year I had a computer with an AMD Althon 500 CPU and I upgraded it to an Intel Pentium III 733MHz. I remember buying a DVD-ROM drive and installing it into that computer. I remember at the time the DVD-ROM drives were still expensive. After installing the drive, I remember going to a DVD shop and buying a copy of The Matrix on DVD. It was the first DVD movie that I bought. The DVD-ROM drive came with a free copy of PowerDVD, so I had to buy a DVD movie to see how good this “new fangled” DVD technology was.
I remember one of the guys that I was working with was really into anime and had quite a decent collection of anime on VHS cassettes that he had bought. I remember one anime movie he had was Patlabor (Patlabor: The Movie - Wikipedia), which was, and still is, one of my favourite movies. Having recently bought a DVD-ROM drive, I told him that I was going to buy a copy of Patlabor when it came out on DVD. When then had a conversation where he tried, at length, to convince me that DVD movies were just going to be a fad and that it was very, very unlikely that anime would ever by released on DVD. The very next year I bought not only a copy of Patlabor, the movie, on DVD, but also Patlabor 2 (Patlabor 2: The Movie - Wikipedia).
Anyway, I got a bit off topic there. Yes I do remember The Sims.
Speaking of the metaverse, at the moment, I’m playing this game which, to my mind, is sort of like what the metaverse could be like if someone had made it in the 1990s:
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I read the article. Yes, I believe that Interpol wants to police behavior in virtual reality. I wonder how high Interpol’s annual budget is such that Interpol believes that it can afford to police virtual reality.
Perhaps Interpol’s virtual-reality policing should be funded by virtual money!
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Totally! But in all seriousness, why don’t people realize how absurd this sounds?
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I’m seeing this as a sophisticated mix of “The Sims”, “FarmVille”, and other freak games with “in-app purchases” options.
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The funny thing is that META is the Hebrew word for DEAD. He he he
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Sounds a lot like that game, Second Life to me!
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I completely understand your concerns about the Metaverse. It’s a fascinating concept, but it does come with its share of challenges. Privacy, security, and the impact on social interactions are definitely valid worries. And you’ve touched on some key issues like addiction, mental health, and inequality.
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