Thought of the Week: Can the Metaverse Hack Communication?

3 min readFeb 23, 2023

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Sherry Turkle, the celebrated psychologist and sociologist who has been deeply embedded in the technology world since the 1980s, called her 2011 book Alone Together. Written comparatively early in the social media age, its title nonetheless sums up one of the central paradoxes of connective technologies: That tools which appear to connect us actually leave us feeling isolated. Some of this is about tech’s ability to diminish the importance of physical geography. As the WFH revolution has proven, we can work effectively within organizations even when we’re not physically in the same place. But some of it is about the way that technology, particularly social media, distorts human interactions; giving us a simulacrum of connectivity, but without the actual, well, connection.

TikTok, for example, is social media, yet the videos we enjoy and, potentially, create for others to enjoy are viewed asynchronously, rather than in real time. Twitter, meanwhile, lets us communicate with millions of others around the world, but in a stunted manner that often promotes division more than understanding. And as for Instagram feeds? Well, there’s very little that appears real about many of them.

In David J. Chalmers’ excellent book Reality+, the philosopher author turns his attention to “virtual worlds and the problems of philosophy.” Or, to put it another way, the developing philosophy of the Metaverse. One section of the book focuses on the inhibiting effects of current technology. “Like many people,” the author writes, “during the recent pandemic I’ve spent a great deal of time talking to friends, family, and colleagues using Zoom and other videoconferencing software.” Sounds okay, right? Well, it is — but it’s not without its limitations. “Eye contact is difficult,” Chalmers writes. “Group interactions are choppy rather than cohesive. There is no sense that we are inhabiting a common space… [Zoom is] interactive but not immersive… There is no common virtual world.”

The Metaverse, by comparison, is a virtual world — or, at least, that’s one of the ways it’s popularly described. The use of Metaverse avatars could therefore help solve a lot of the communication limitations currently imposed on us by pre-Metaverse era technologies. After all, with the Metaverse the focus is on real-time interactions and full body avatars, complete with innovations like facial expression recognition. It’s all about occupying the same virtual space and communicating in large groups. As WFH and other such revolutions continue, it could therefore help solve many of the challenges faced in this area.

While it’s easy to think that lack of eye contact on Zoom is a relatively minor problem, that’s missing the point. If the Metaverse can help reimagine social networking for the better, it could help solve many of the communication challenges faced — including the frequently cited toxicity of online conversations. Ever heard people observe that online trolls wouldn’t behave the way they do if they were speaking with individuals face to face? The Metaverse could help us find out the answer to that question very soon.

About AAG

AAG is a web3 infrastructure company focused on providing software that helps simplify interactions with blockchain applications and the Metaverse for both mainstream users and traditional companies. AAG provides a secure and easy-to-use MetaOne® wallet, as well as infrastructure software, such as a cross-chain search engine and Saakuru blockchain for enterprise companies. With the belief that education is the key to unlock the potential of web3, AAG is also exploring the concept of Learn-and-Earn with the mission of enabling economic opportunities worldwide via the Metaverse economy. AAG aims to bring 1 billion people into the Metaverse economy by 2030.