Deus Ex Metaverse

Virtual reality presents a dangerous means of escapism

The “metaverse” is so novel and unfamiliar that my computer doesn’t even recognize it as a word. That technological slip-up is infinitesimally small compared to the pinnacle of billionaire suckage that is The Metaverse.

The metaverse is a cyberpunk, science fiction notion buzzing about the tech world recently. Facebook has changed its name to Meta in a radical shift to embrace a virtual universe that blankets the digital and physical domains.

Venture capitalist and oft-quoted metaverse point man Matthew Ball has laid out seven core attributes that the metaverse is likely to have: it is persistent, synchronous, completely concurrent yet individual, has a fully functioning economy, spans the digital and physical worlds, offers interoperability, and is populated by content and experiences by a wide range of contributors.

I’m taking this all to mean that it is a branded version of virtual reality. It’s something like The Matrix, or maybe The Sims? Part of what makes it so perplexing is that it is so nebulous. The realm of the metaverse is by no means clear-cut or easy to understand. However, it seems to be rolling out whether I like it or not.

It’s frightening that technology so unclear has a clear potential to derail crucial aspects of society. What will become of a people entrapped in a digital space? It has the possibility of being infinitely better than life on Earth is, especially in its current state. We could own more digital land than money could buy in real life, find love across the entire globe, have power like never before or dissolve social status and other societal boundaries.

So we plug in and tune out. Virtual reality will be our escape from reality — but humanity’s troubles will continue to rage. Global temperatures will continue to rise, the political sphere will be equally unstable, economic gaps will grow, and social issues will proceed — even while we’re not paying attention.

It’s unsettling to be removed from society. Isolation is a tried-and-true torture tactic, and human connection is one of the sole purposes of being alive. While escapism is delicious every once in a while, prolonged reclusive and antisocial behavior is, to put it simply, bad for you. Loneliness not only contributes to poor mental health but also poor physical health, and it can lead to long-term health issues. It is foolish to invest in a venture that seems to only end badly, in so many regards.

Whether the populace decides to engage, then, is a question within the idea of the metaverse. It is clear that tech celebrities will embrace the new technology (they already own it). They are creating the world in their image; people are already buying up metaversian land like Manifest Destiny. It’s a dystopian vision, certainly — one of rank, unwashed masses staring into cheap plastic headsets while factories pump out noxious pollution all around us.

Of course, this means that the foremost billionaires are finding new ways to escape the world that they are putting into a steep nosedive. A digital world in which there is no need to know the reality of any situation is a deus ex machina to “resolve” glaring global issues. Before such technology, billionaire escapism was a bit more difficult — perhaps Jeffrey Epstein’s island could provide some mental solace, but there is no escaping the flesh-and-bone prison of the human body. There are better ways to jump ship now.

While the Bezos Earth Fund or Elon Musk’s pseudo-pledge to fight world hunger are nice gestures, the societal and environmental footprint that billionaires like Bezos and Musk leave stomp out any goodwill associated with the facade. To accept the metaverse is to accept the dire world we live in and exist in a fantasy world instead. The scarcity and suffering on Planet Earth is of no consequence to those who choose not to see it.