Metaverse: is it the way forward?
Humanity doesn’t need the metaverse, and neither does the planet. It is an aberration, one more gap between humanity and itself, and one more tool to allow techno-capitalists to capture and monetize our brain time (Papagiannidis, Bourlakis, Li, 2008). The Metaverse comes as an alternate universe, because our universe has failed to provide the recognition and psychological safetythat people need to thrive. As I write these few lines, I couldn’t be clearer about what I think of the metaverse. And yet, it’s coming for us…
Metaverse: fiction or reality in the making?
Generally speaking, it is interesting to see that fictions, whether in the form of books, mangas, series or feature films, imagine a metaverse where the boundaries between real and virtual are often tenuous. The cyberpunk movement has deeply impregnated the vision of the future, always unequal, always governed by capitalism, and always violent and unjust. In this sense, these fictions are more like safeguards than instructions.
We have tended, for several centuries, to use technology to solve problems of our daily life. But, in the absence of anticipation or hindsight, these technologies create new problems and needs, which we are trying to respond to urgently with more technologies. This vicious circle gradually pushes us to create a society that struggles to preserve its own system, forgetting that it derives its meaning from the protection and value that the collective brings to individuals.
In this system which is panicking, there does not seem to be any more room for those who do not follow the rhythm, and a new form of selection takes place. Political systems show it: most people no longer recognize themselves in the workings of society. And yet, we have never lived so long, we have never been so connected, we have never been so educated. Despite everything, this is not progress.
Metaverse: the forced march of technological progress
I don’t live in a fairy tale or a bubble out of time. The choice of the metaverse was already made for us more than two decades ago at least. The scientific literature has theorized and described the functioning of the metaverse for almost thirty years, and investments have been linked since. The technology train is on, and each innovation lays the foundation for the next ones.
On the other hand, I think that it is still possible to orient the ethical rules with which these metaverses will have to compose. It is for this reason that I am so involved in technological subjects. Any technology, whatever it is, ends up looking like those who invest the most effort and means to exploit it.
As a fervent defender of human potential and the biological and natural processes of our universe, I am committed to working so that the metaverse does not lead to a society where the human becomes the limiting factor of a techno-cultural culture. centered which has renounced the human. Because let’s be clear, the metaverse is coming as a replacement universe, because our universe has failed (Heim, 1994).
Our system has forgotten the conditions and the reasons for its existence, but above all it has failed in its duty, that of providing individuals with the recognition necessary for their development. I don’t believe they’ll find more recognition in the metaverse, and I don’t believe that’s what you would call progress.
Metaverse: What progress are we talking about?
Human progress is generally associated with technical progress (Simondon, 1959; Pestre, 2016). Yet, can we speak of progress when the potential consequences of an advance are worse than the problem it claims to solve? Regarding the metaverse, it is normal and healthy to be pessimistic, faced with what looks like a technological leap forward.
The major phases of the web clearly show the spectacular transformation of our lifestyles, while highlighting the logical nature of these developments. Each of these needs runs deep within us, and once scaled up in society, any innovation that better meets a given need will eventually be embraced, even if it otherwise creates greater harm for our civilization. herself.
Beyond the metaverses, we can mention the general movement of the big technological companies, which aim to connect us ever more to increase our capacities, without taking the time to develop them by the means that biology has offered us.
Long before web 3 and the metaverse, computers and the Internet provided unprecedented levers to meet the great needs of humanity. For half a century, our society has been gradually changing, going faster and faster. Unfortunately, we don’t take the time to involve everyone in this crazy acceleration, and the gap is growing day after day, between those who manage to appropriate the new uses and the others.
The enthusiasm of many for a virtual life shows that we can no longer fulfill ourselves in society as it is today: for this we need new spaces, where we can reinvent our identity and our abilities.
Metaverse: Can we keep up?
Organizations are about to be profoundly upset by the transformations to come, in connection with web 3 and the metaverse. These disruptions will potentially have as much impact as the Internet. The HR function will once again find itself in the position of accompanying the change, except that this time, everything will go much faster, and the consequences will be much more decisive. Indeed, it is no longer just a question of dematerializing or digitizing, but rather of virtualizing and accelerating any form of process.
While everything will go faster, there is one thing whose speed does not increase on a simple decision: the human. HR will have to be vigilant to psychosocial risks, as well as accelerated disengagement, and increased obsolescence of skills. The famous war of talents will be stronger and stronger, because it will be more and more difficult to find profiles capable of adapting to all these constraints.
Taking a step back, this means that many people will not or will no longer be attractive to recruiters, who may deem them unsuitable, or worse, unsuitable. Organizations will have a critical role in developing raw talent, and enabling others to catch up.
In this sense, I preach for companies capable of opening universities to the general public, and not only to their employees, in order to play a more engaged social role. Because in this new economy, it will be fundamental to be able to grasp the increased capacities for the circulation of information, the connection of individuals, the optimization of processes, and standardization. For this to work, it will be essential to allow everyone to obtain real recognition, which is, let’s remember, a strong promise of web 3.
Metaverse: headlong rush of disembodied humanity?
Humans will therefore flee into the metaverse for the same reasons that they become alcoholics, get into debt while gambling, take drugs, or indulge in these more subtle and socially acceptable forms of addiction such as sports or work, when overdone.
The cause is the same: an inner emptiness that drives us to seek external compensations (Marc, 2005). Conversely, these new technologies will yield marvelous fruits when we invest them in a fullness of being. Certainly, the current system promotes alienation, because it is favorable to consumption and obedience.
But it is up to us to create emancipatory frameworks, precisely by using the opportunities opened up by these technologies, which are now massively accessible. The freedom we have to create our lives is so abysmal that we spend our time investing the toys we imagine with the power to decide for us. It is high time to assume ourselves as the source of the reality we live.
I am convinced that by getting involved in web 3.0 issues now, it is still possible to use the metaverse and decentralized logics for real human progress. Because we must not forget that these metaverses will resemble those who put the most energy into them.
Conclusion: for lack of better…
True progress will be that which will reduce the inequalities in our society, at the same time as it will allow us to better meet our five major needs (information, connection, elimination of parasitic tasks, standardization, recognition), and which will be able to address the major social, economic and above all environmental issues.
At this point, it’s too early to put the metaverse on trial, or to roll out the red carpet for him. Humanity is capable of the best and the worst. The great periods of transformation gave rise to alienating models like assembly line work, but also to great hopes like the Renaissance.
Will the metaverse revolutionize society by freeing us from the limits of our physical existence and increasing our capacity for action? Or, on the contrary, lock ourselves into a hallucinatory existence at a time when the Earth is on the way to becoming a suffocating dump?
Humanity has this ability to put itself in impossible and almost fatal situations, but also this other ability to get out of almost any situation. We are the first species on Earth aware of the conditions of its own extinction, and also the first species on Earth with the ability to avoid its own extinction.
This ambivalence of human beings can drive the most optimistic mad, and despair, but it also helps to ensure that the flame of hope remains still and always. Nothing is lost, because everything is possible!
Sources
Heim, M. (1994). The Metaphysics of Virtual Reality, Oxford University Press, pp. 38–41.
Marc, E. (2005). Psychologie de l’identité : Soi et le groupe. Dunod.
Papagiannidis, S., Bourlakis, M., Li, F. (2008). Making real money in virtual worlds: MMORPGs and emerging business opportunities, challenges and ethical implications. Metaverses, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, vol. 75(5), pp. 610–622.
Pestre, D. (2016). Le gouvernement des technosciences: Gouverner le progrès et ses dégâts depuis 1945. Éditions La découverte.
Simondon, G. (1959). Les limites du progrès humain. Revue de métaphysique et de morale, vol. 64(3), pp. 370–376.
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