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The Metaverse is an alternative digital world or universe, which brings together the physical reality with the digital reality. Technologies like virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) enable interaction with virtual spaces and the human world. Humans can create their own ‘avatars’ and can teleport to various virtual spaces, while communicating with others in the virtual spaces. It has countless possibilities relating to video games with massive multiplayers, or working spaces, and social media (Mystakidis, 2022). For many the Metaverse is an exciting digital innovation to connect the digital and the physical world, however, there has been lots of critics as well. This is partly because it is hard to imagine how the Metaverse will eventually look like for the standard citizen. In the way the Metaverse is promoted now, a lot of people react negatively and think that it takes social media too far and disconnects humanity. There are a lot of challenges with the technology such as data privacy and health concerns (Momtaz, 2022). This form of digitalization can lead to addiction and total self-isolation in the physical world because the person is only living in the Metaverse.

The idea of running to a virtual world washing away all your problems is of course attractive, however is it healthy? A lot of experiences in the physical world are just a lot better than in the digital world. For example, the feeling of sunlight on your face (Momtaz, 2022). The metaverse is of course a complement to the physical world and not a replacement, and it apparent that there are lots of potential advantages. Yet we have soon to see the real fruits of this promised future. So, the questions and uncertainty for lots still remains. Will the metaverse really be the future? And will it be adopted by the public? Only time will tell.

Mystakidis, S. (2022). Metaverse. Encyclopedia, 2(1), 486-497.

Momtaz, P. P. (2022). Some very simple economics of web3 and the metaverse. Available at SSRN.

No ratings yet. The corona crisis has created more mistrust in government, science and the press. Distrust that is fueled by all kinds of conspiracy theories and misinformation. Many people believe that social media and the associated algorithms of social media giants like Google and Facebook amplify this misinformation. The gunfire fired at a Washington pizza parlor by a Hillary Clinton hater in late 2016 shows how fake news and even the most bizarre conspiracy theories are associating with a wide audience (Fisher, Cox & Hermann, 2016). Of course, it’s not Google or Facebook’s fault that people believe in these theories. But the algorithms they use are focused on personal preferences so that they can give a better personal internet experience to the customer. This can be beneficial if you are searching for a pair of shoes, and you get a lot of nice shoes suggested. However, on the other hand, negative factors can create an even more negative spiral. This is because the algorithm is built to feed you the same kind of information. Thus, if a customer searches for conspiracy theories, it will be suggested by the algorithms the next time. This makes someone see it more and more and believe in it more and more. This also applies, for example, to people with eating disorders or suicidal tendencies. These people go to the internet looking for confirmation about their thoughts. The algorithms can then present even more nasty images, which only feed the disease.

These problems cannot be solved by fines or by splitting Facebook, but new ways to regulate the internet giants must be developed. There must be full disclosure about the algorithms that determine what users see. And while internet platforms like Facebook aren’t liable for the content of what users post, they should be for the effects of those algorithms. So for the future, it is important keep on improving these algorithms, and make sure that it can filter out these negative effects.

Fisher, M., Cox, J. W., & Hermann, P. (2016). Pizzagate: From rumor, to hashtag, to gunfire in DC. Washington Post, 6, 8410-8415.

The Metaverse, the digital future or not?

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