You re Already Living in the Metaverse – by Antonio García Martínez – Common Sense with Bari Weiss
The term metaverse, like the term meritocracy, was coined in a scifi dystopia novel written as cautionary tale. Then techies took metaverse, and technocrats took meritocracy, and enthusiastically adopted what was meant to inspire horror.
Originally appearing by name in Neal Stephenson s classic Snow Crash, the metaverse concept has been rehashed in other hits like Ready Player One or the film series The Matrix. In the Stephenson version, much as in Mark Zuckerberg s uncanny Metaverse launch video, so-called gargoyles are otherwise normal humans who languish their entire lives inside a virtualized reality with headsets bolted to their faces.
If you re wondering why someone like Zuckerberg with such immense resources (including an estate on paradisiacal Ku uai) wants to blot out reality with a VR headset, then you need to understand the techie mindset. As more than one Valley character has un-ironically expressed to me in private: anything worth doing can be done better via screen.