What Will the “Metaverse” Do to Art and Culture?
As the realm of virtual information complexifies, it is increasingly difficult to collectively experience, let alone agree on concrete descriptions of events. The platforms we use to communicate often lack archival affordances, optimizing instead for the nonstop production of new content. So context collapses and signifiers empty their meaning. Whe... See more
Libby Marrs • How to Read the Internet
So where does the metaverse come from? A common answer—the clear and tidy one—is that it comes from Neal Stephenson’s 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash, which describes a computer-generated virtual world made possible by software and a worldwide fiber-optic network. In the book’s 21st-century Los Angeles, the world is messy, replete with social
... See moreGenevieve Bell • The Metaverse Is a New Word for an Old Idea
But is there not some truth to claim that reality pales in comparison to the digitally mediated worlds on offer? My most straightforward answer is, of course, no. But viewed from a certain angle, perhaps. As an example, consider the case of someone who has only lived where light pollution obscures all but a few of the brightest stars. Under these c
... See moreL. M. Sacasas • Notes From the Metaverse - By L. M. Sacasas - The Convivial Society
They tend to be more comfortable in the role of jeremiad—warning of lost humanity, warmth and wisdom—or playfully pulling apart the strange dynamics of networked relationships, rather than offering even a fuzzy route to a better future. But that is probably exactly what we should want and expect of art.
Geoff Mulgan • Another World Is Possible: How to Reignite Social and Political Imagination
The Metaverse is just that process taken one step further. The more fun or useful stuff you can do in VR — games, business meetings, vacations, hangouts — the less you’ll have to suck up physical resources to do it in meatspace. The more you can transform your subjective world by overlaying it with AR, the less you’ll have to suck up resources tran... See more
Noah Smith • The Metaverse and (near-)infinite economic growth
The worlds we now inhabit are digitized realms incapable by their nature and design of generating a broadly shared experience of reality.