I Don’t Want to Live in ‘Ready Player One’
In science fiction, anything is possible. People can travel through time, fly in cars, and be transported to other worlds at the click of a button.Would you believe me if I told you the latter of these, incidentally, may not be so far fetched? The Metaverse has been a hot ticket in the news right now, garnering attention from Facebook’s recent rebrand to Meta, and the digital equivalent of the ‘Space Race’ seems to have begun between technology conglomerates racing to be the first into the new frontier.
When I first heard about the Metaverse, I felt like I’d been thrown into a Black Mirror episode. Similarly to Neuralink, I feel like there are ethical and moral lines we probably shouldn’t cross, and in recent years it’s felt like tech developers have spent way more time focusing on if they could rather than if they really should. Proprietors of Metaverse technology have been making bold claims about it being the future of the internet, and someday integrating this perfectly with daily life. Whether this is something that could or should be done is yet to be seen, but nevertheless technology marches forward towards its goal of total digital domination.
As the Metaverse is meant to be the successor to the internet, I often find myself weighing the pros and cons of how the Internet has affected society, and extrapolating these effects to a new platform that aims to be even more immersive and addictive than the prior. I will acknowledge that the Internet has truly done a lot to advance society in a lot of different aspects, and in no way do I view it as a negative thing. However, I do believe it’s important to be critical of what unintended (or even intentional) have negatively arisen. As we go forward and design our looming future, we must use the mistake of the past to guide us in a better direction.
My biggest fear of the Metaverse isn’t the concept of the platform itself: much like with the internet, in a theoretical space these are neutral entities that are multifaceted in use. The reason I don’t want to see the rise of the Metaverse is because I believe it’s going to exponentially magnify the issues we currently see happening on internet based platforms. In this article, I aim to explore the concerns I think we should keep at the forefront of our minds as we design our new frontier, and show why the Metaverse may not be all it’s cracked up to be.
For the average citizen, the Metaverse and immersive technologies are far off from being a mainstay in day to day life. The AR technology of Google glass never took off, and most VR headsets are clunky and impractical for day to day use in their current design. I feel like most people I know are either very for or very against the concept of the Metaverse, and generally I think people who don’t follow or invest in the tech industry are skeptical. I can’t say I disagree with them: I watched Ready Player One, and in all honesty I don’t know if that’s the future I want us to be heading towards. Maybe it’s a suspicion planted in me by science fiction, but as the past few years have progressed, I’ve found that separating these dystopia’s from reality has gotten more and more difficult.
Personally, I think needing a world for us to escape into says a lot more about the state of the real world than about the advances we’ve made technologically. As we face environmental, health, and political crises, turning our attention towards the Metaverse or Mars feels a bit misplaced to me. It doesn’t feel right to abandon the world we live in and move on to the next without doing anything to save it. It’s certainly an unhealthy coping mechanism for those who are unhappy with the state of their lives, and the advertisements play right into the need people may have to cope. If you’re curious, check out this Super Bowl ad from Oculus this year:
But then again, I see the other side to that argument as well. As a society I think we have much bigger problems towards which we could putting our best and brightest minds; however for the average consumer, these large scale apocalyptic scenarios can’t be fought at the individual level. Yes, things like climate change, Covid-19, and war in Ukraine are currently hanging over our heads and affecting us all, but the worst part is there’s nothing do be done. I as an individual can’t end these crisis, so I see how for many there is no other option but to escape. It’s a bleak thought, but if the multimillion dollar corporations that caused our environmental crisis aren’t doing anything to stop global warming, then for the individual there may be no other choice.
Now I’ll be completely honest: I got an Oculus Quest 2 for Christmas. In fact, I asked for one. I spend a decent amount of time playing games like Beat Saber and accessing experiences that wouldn’t be possible without VR technology. And it works: I take some time out of my day to escape the stresses of the real world and my day to day life, and in micro-doses I can’t say it’s negatively affected my life in any way. Obviously these are not truly Metaverse technologies at their current state, but it certainly feels like foreshadowing for what could come. Currently, I don’t play for long because the design hurts my eyes and head, but with advancements I can see exactly how people could become addicted, and studies have shown that some already have (Rajan).
I think it’s a bold claim for Big Tech to think they can single handedly design the future, especially because the interests of a megalith corporation certainly will not align with the needs and best interests of the general population. Big Tech will try to capitalize on the new real estate for profit, importing ad targeting and marketing strategies they’ve perfected over the past few decades. And that’s what differentiates the concept of the Metaverse from how it’s going to be implemented: the Metaverse has the potential to be a really useful and rewarding platform, but I think for it to do so it must exist separate from the failings of the internet and out of the purview of big tech.
The widely admired concept of building a real world Metaverse outside science fiction actually outlines a decentralized world that would be run by no overarching body or organization, allowing every user to have equal input and capabilities within the Metaverse. Imagining a free world without imposed ad targeting and pure enjoyment from being with others is something I can definitely get behind, but under the guise of capitalism we live in this dream slips further and further away. If a company in big tech ends up developing the Metaverse, it will be antithesis to the Metaverse’s central goal and mission. A centralized overlord who can modify, influence, and advertise as they please is Orwellian, and brings to mind many concerns towards the ethical implications.
When the internet first came into existence, there were no social media monoliths like Facebook or search engines like Google monopolizing digital space. Its capabilities had yet to be harnessed, holding the occasional chatroom or travel blog. The decentralized nature of the internet in comparison to its lifespan did not last for long before order started to form, quickly centralizing and creating order in the digital space. Knowing what we know now, and the role of tech companies in the Metaverse’s creation, the period of decentralization will be reduced if not skipped altogether for the sake of exploiting the platform for profit.
This subsequently amplifies the issues we’ve seen arise with the internet and social media, which is really what makes me ask: should we even be doing this at all? Social media has been shown to have a plethora of negative side effects, including attention deficiencies, body image issues, and depression, especially for younger children and teenagers. Internet addiction, and to a lesser extent VR addiction, have been studied and found to resemble other addictions such as the symptoms of substances, creating withdrawal symptoms and negative health effects (Rajan). An increased sedentary lifestyle, as well as eye fatigue, headaches, and screen reliance sounds like humanity is destined to live the people in Wall-e, who rely on tech while the earth rots below them.
Although a full Metaverse as we imagine it today seems far off, the integration of technology into day to day life has already begun: Technologies like Uber translate us seamlessly between virtual interfaces and real world environments, tracking locations to interlay an accurate map over reality. Even the phones we carry with us everywhere serve as our gateway into virtual spaces, blurring the hard lines between being immersed and not, being always connected and plugged in.
To be honest, I feel like there are very few times when we’re truly disconnected from the web. This, on its own, is immersion, and if you want to be technical about it I feel like a version of the Metaverse has already snuck up on us. We all live in a digitally connected world, and the line between being connected and not being connected has completely disappeared. I have no idea where technology will lead us, but I have to admit I’m wary of the future. I hope the next generation of children can grow up without the negative side effects technology has been imposing on us, but I can’t say I’m hopeful this will be true.
Luciano Fiordi researched this in his paper ‘Ethics after the Information Revolution.’ For Fiordi, the way the lines between fiction and reality were becoming increasingly blurred was precursor to a future where there is no difference, and perfect simulation has been achieved. This also gives rise to a new societal class distinction, which he refers to as the information rich and information poor. I found this particularly interesting as I debated the accessibility and equity surrounding the Metaverse. Written in the year 2010, he predicted much of the way technology has advanced, and I’d be interested to see what he thinks of it now.
If its goals are true, the Metaverse aims to make itself a necessity for day to day life, but current VR technologies cost hundreds of dollars and aren’t designed for those with limiting disabilities. I’ve seen a similar debate over transferring personal identification documents to the digital space in the form of NFTs, and it feels to me that the people who come up with these ideas are grossly disconnected from current day class divides. Not everyone has a cell phone or computer, so how will everyone join the Metaverse? Will there be public use systems like there are computers at libraries? There are countries that don’t even have that amenity. It feels like a new way to widen the gap between rich and poor, and it leaves a sour taste in my mouth.
In the end, I’m afraid of the way people have dived head first into supporting the Metaverse, and I’m wary of the potential implications and unintended side effects this may bring to society later on. Much like with the internet (which STILL hasn’t been around long enough for researchers to gauge all the effects of yet), things that initially seem harmless may eventually prove catastrophic. I write this article not to deter anyone from joining or enjoying the Metaverse: I only ask that as you consider using or use it, you take a step back to think critically about the implications of technology, what drove you to use it, and how it may be unavailable to or affecting others.
Course Reading:
In Floridi, Luciano. (2010). The Cambridge Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. Chapter 1, Ethics after the Information Revolution.
Supplemental Sources:
Rajan, Amala; Nassiri, Nasser; Akre, Vishwesh; Ravikumar, Rejitha; Nabeel, Amal; Buti, Maryam; Salah, Fatima (2018–11–01). “Virtual Reality Gaming Addiction”. 2018 Fifth HCT Information Technology Trends (ITT). pp. 358–363. doi:10.1109/CTIT.2018.8649547. ISBN 978–1–5386–7147–4. S2CID 67876446. Archived from the original on 2021–12–07. Retrieved 2021–11–03.
