Thread: Metaverse vs. Reality

With all the hype about the metaverse, one wonders if it will provide anything of true value to humanity. Seems largely to be another means of corporations separating people from their money (and privacy), and perpetrating fake news, etc.

Quoting from the reference below (1) :

"Information privacy is an area of concern for metaverses because related companies will likely collect users' personal information through interactions and biometric data from wearable virtual reality devices. Meta Platforms (previously Facebook) is planning on employing targeted advertising within their metaverse, raising further worries related to the spread of misinformation and loss of personal privacy."

"Metaverses may magnify the social impacts of online echo chambers and digitally alienating spaces or abuse common social media engagement strategies to manipulate users with biased content."

end quotes

One hopes that the masses do not descend into a metaverse-dependent existence. We are already dealing badly with the reality of climate change and its harsh realities, and other on-going calamities.

There are likely some advantages to a metaverse for scientific discovery (2). It seems possible there are numerous applications for it in many fields. Practical discoveries that help with the world's problems seems the optimal use for this technology.


1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaverse


"See How Virtual Reality Is Helping Scientists Collaborate On Drug Design And Discovery"

2. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennife...h=3542129b46de

Originally Posted by Double Helix

With all the hype about the metaverse, one wonders if it will provide anything of true value to humanity. Seems largely to be another means of corporations separating people from their money (and privacy), and perpetrating fake news, etc.

Quoting from the reference below (1) :

"Information privacy is an area of concern for metaverses because related companies will likely collect users' personal information through interactions and biometric data from wearable virtual reality devices. Meta Platforms (previously Facebook) is planning on employing targeted advertising within their metaverse, raising further worries related to the spread of misinformation and loss of personal privacy."

"Metaverses may magnify the social impacts of online echo chambers and digitally alienating spaces or abuse common social media engagement strategies to manipulate users with biased content."

end quotes

One hopes that the masses do not descend into a metaverse-dependent existence. We are already dealing badly with the reality of climate change and its harsh realities, and other on-going calamities.

There are likely some advantages to a metaverse for scientific discovery (2). It seems possible there are numerous applications for it in many fields. Practical discoveries that help with the world's problems seems the optimal use for this technology.


1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaverse


"See How Virtual Reality Is Helping Scientists Collaborate On Drug Design And Discovery"

2. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennife...h=3542129b46de

DH ...you worried a generation or two will lose touch with reality? or worried that those who don't lose touch gain a considerable advantage, as to what I don't know?

Originally Posted by zinjanthropos

DH ...you worried a generation or two will lose touch with reality?

Too many have already lost touch with reality, but only to a certain degree. Some of them are already letting self-driving cars do everything, with obvious results. Some have been caught sleeping in them while the car is driving along.

What happens with people when they spend a lot of time in any metaverse, and then come out and interact with the rest of us, in real time?

Video games already are warping minds, what will happen after metaverse minds take center stage? One should worry when the nature of reality in some peoples minds are warped by experiences to "otherworldly exposures" in these developing technologies.

These techs offer the power of forming major cults, with very strong adherents, with often worrisome attributes. Social media did a lot of that too. Metaverse tech seems vastly more influential in nature. We should all be wary of its potential for malevolence.

Originally Posted by Double Helix

Originally Posted by zinjanthropos

DH ...you worried a generation or two will lose touch with reality?

Too many have already lost touch with reality, but only to a certain degree. Some of them are already letting self-driving cars do everything, with obvious results. Some have been caught sleeping in them while the car is driving along.

What happens with people when they spend a lot of time in any metaverse, and then come out and interact with the rest of us, in real time?

Video games already are warping minds, what will happen after metaverse minds take center stage? One should worry when the nature of reality in some peoples minds are warped by experiences to "otherworldly exposures" in these developing technologies.

These techs offer the power of forming major cults, with very strong adherents, with often worrisome attributes. Social media did a lot of that too. Metaverse tech seems vastly more influential in nature. We should all be wary of its potential for malevolence.

If someone spends a lot of time in mom’s basement playing games where they virtually kill hundreds, if not thousands of folks, do you think when out and about at the mall or someplace where people congregate, that they imagine the game scenario being played out on the real stage? As a participant? Potential victim? Sort of like virtually racing cars all day then pass a Maserati while walking to the corner store and thinking about what it’s like to be its driver.

Originally Posted by zinjanthropos

If someone spends a lot of time in mom’s basement playing games where they virtually kill hundreds, if not thousands of folks, do you think when out and about at the mall or someplace where people congregate, that they imagine the game scenario being played out on the real stage? As a participant? Potential victim? Sort of like virtually racing cars all day then pass a Maserati while walking to the corner store and thinking about what it’s like to be its driver.

Not at all sure about this. Have read many conflicting accounts of how some games might desensitize people, and lead to violence. On the surface, that seems to make sense. If any have ever seen how violent some of these games are, it might give them reason to consider a real impact.

One might suspect that certain individuals may be more susceptible to such desensitizing, and therefore represent a greater threat to acting out their video games in reality.

I think both desensitized or over sensitized. One may actually act out the fantasy whereas another might develop phobias.

I used to watch Bugs Bunny, Roadrunner/Coyote, Elmer Fudd/Daffy Duck cartoons that contained much violence and characters that either pieced themselves back together or appeared in next scene like nothing happened. Some cartoons are currently banned from viewing for violence, racism, and other content deemed unsuitable in today’s world. Was there as much murder & mayhem back then?

Here’s a few banned cartoons. Not sure about site integrity however, because the click bait at the end of article shows sex in the kitchen and another pic with a guy grabbing a woman’s crotch.

https://www.scoopwhoop.com/entertain...t-were-banned/

Originally Posted by zinjanthropos

I think both desensitized or over sensitized. One may actually act out the fantasy whereas another might develop phobias.

I used to watch Bugs Bunny, Roadrunner/Coyote, Elmer Fudd/Daffy Duck cartoons that contained much violence and characters that either pieced themselves back together or appeared in next scene like nothing happened. Some cartoons are currently banned from viewing for violence, racism, and other content deemed unsuitable in today’s world. Was there as much murder & mayhem back then?

Here’s a few banned cartoons. Not sure about site integrity however, because the click bait at the end of article shows sex in the kitchen and another pic with a guy grabbing a woman’s crotch.

https://www.scoopwhoop.com/entertain...t-were-banned/

It seems that most of these are more recent cartoons. It is not surprising that some of them have been banned in various places for various reasons. But it is hard to believe that many of the old Saturday cartoons we grew up with had really bad content for kids, or anyone else.

One can imagine today, if there was a coyote support group, that they would be trashing on Warner Brothers for making Wile E. Coyote look so stupid. Or Elmer Fudd, with his shotgun, going after that wascally wabbit for causing him some grief. But you never know. PETA would have a field day with that stuff today.

BTW, that same rabbit, Bugs, has been vilified by some Japanese for a cartoon that came out during WWII, claiming it used racial stereotyping. The cartoon has Bugs handing out hand grenades disguised as ice cream cones to Japanese soldiers, saying something like "No rush, there is plenty for everyone!" There were other comments (which won't be repeated here) that were clearly racial in nature.*

But one must remember that the Japanese of WWII were very much like the Germans - they felt they were a superior race, so one must think of when such cartoons were made, and if they were justified during a great war against the Japanese - at that time a merciless and brutal people. One might ask those same Japanese who protest Bugs what they thought about the Bataan Death March, or the forced labor and murder of so many Allied POWs.

And let's not forget some of the greatest comedy of all - The Three Stooges. They used a lot of violence, especially meted out by Moe, which might be considered PG-13 these days! In the end, unlike the hyper-violent video games. most of these cartoons had a lot of humor involved, taking the edge off otherwise questionable content.

Nyuk, Nyuk!!


"Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips"

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugs_Bunny_Nips_the_Nips