“The Nightmare” | Chapter 1 of the Outpost Story

Tech giants seek control over an immersive next generation of the internet. A Web 3.0 revolution is forming to build an alternative.

In October 2021, Facebook (now “Meta”) unveiled a $10 billion USD investment into building an immersive metaverse hub. They believe the next evolution of the internet will be virtual, and it will be even more connected than ever.

Sadly for users, it won’t just be more connected than ever, but also more tracked than ever. This means more personal data to manipulate behaviors…to make more profit from advertisers than ever before.

It’s a Big Tech dream, but a nightmare for the rest of us.

Facebook is not alone. Earlier this year, Microsoft announced the $69B (USD) acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

“This acquisition will accelerate the growth in Microsoft’s gaming business across mobile, PC, console, and cloud and will provide building blocks for the metaverse.”
- Microsoft on January 18

The war for this next generation of the internet is heating up.

But what about the people who work, play, and create in the metaverse? What about indie developers and creatives who bring these platforms to life?

Will this shift be healthy?

Although past performance is no guarantee of the future, history tends to repeat itself. Before considering the future, we should look at how society is currently performing with major social infrastructure in the hands of giant corporations.

If you haven’t seen The Social Dilemma yet, it’s worth a watch.

Sadly, this film and the damning testimonies from various technology insiders have not inspired mass social change. Societies around the world are still fracturing. Misinformation abounds. Propaganda drives fear, uncertainty, and doubt.

Profit-driven algorithms are still the curators of our culture & the drivers of so much behavior.

The Nosedive story (season 3 of Black Mirror on Netflix) imagined our future if we don’t change course. It’s not encouraging.

The world is broken. Meanwhile, Big Tech corporations continue to march forward in building their vision for the metaverse.

Hope is not lost. Growing Web 3.0 communities are building a better future by incorporating community platform governance (imagine voting on Facebook’s news feed algorithm changes), privacy, data sovereignty, decentralized power, and open-sourcing programming that can be reviewed, improved, and discussed.

A hopeful revolution is forming. Out of this nightmare, many dreams of something better are emerging.

Next? Pioneers are gathering…

“Nightmares are not dreams. A good dream does not leave the dreamer in darkness, confusion and terror. Start having dreams, not nightmares!”

― Michael Bassey Johnson

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