As mentioned in the second post in this series on AR, VR and the metaverse, cyberpunk predicted a world where technology would so immerse us that we would be seduced and swayed by it without hardly thinking.
“The disease of images”
We looked at, of all things, Saved by the Bell. The show and its type, for teens and kids, are about teens … who seem to be perfectly beautiful and live perfectly beautiful lives. (Yes, even Screech.)
I’ve noticed that teens recognize the show is pretend–but still make assumptions that it portrays reality: You’re supposed to be concerned with image, you’re supposed to have a boyfriend or girlfriend, you’re supposed to make adult decisions and have freedom to do so.
It’s a silly example of the danger behind God’s commandment: No graven images. Don’t let images convince you what’s real.
Now a serious example of the idol principle: An AR pioneer in the Air Force expressed terrifying concerns about the metaverse. If fully immersed into a metaverse, we will be at the mercy of the media shown to us by those who control the platforms.
And we may not have a choice, he says. Does the Internet feel optional in your job? How about smart phones?
I hope it’s not lost on you that the article’s main graphic features a tightly clad female figure. You know, to get your attention.
It is more of what Wim Wenders–a filmmaker who deals in images–calls “the disease of images.”
“I don’t like Mondays”
We have already seen the effects of platforms using algorithms to railroad us toward what content it thinks we should see. Its goal is to keep us watching and engaged. Think what it could do if it could immerse all our senses–and that we’d have to immerse in order to do our jobs or interact in our daily lives.
As the author puts it, social media already puts us into information streams that reinforces your personal views. It is a short step from there to believing everyone thinks like you.
The author’s vision is truly terrifying. Imagine that you, your family and your colleagues depend on individual echo chambers of information for interaction and work. Echo chambers that you can’t verify give you accurate views of the world, but echo chambers that are so visually persuasive you can’t resist them shaping your opinions and passions.
Will we even have the ability to think logically?
To courteously debate truths big and small, and proper courses of action?
Will we be able to read emotions, those of others and ourselves?
To deal with negative emotions, from as little as being inconvenienced to as great as feeling abandoned—perhaps abandoned for an always-on metaverse experience?
I’m reminded of U2’s compatriots the Boomtown Rats, who wrote a song about one of the original teen serial killers who shot up an elementary school in 1979.
“I don’t like Mondays,” she said when they asked her why. “This livens up the day.”
I pray to God you haven’t had a shooting at your workplace. But I can tell you that my clients report more anger and threats from rogue employees and unhappy customers.
We are no longer equipped. In between the last of these posts and this one, singer songwriter Billie Eilish made headlines by saying she had watched pornography since 11 and that it “really destroyed” her brain.
And we lose more tools every day. How can we expect to build anything?
What to do
I’ve painted a picture of the dark side of the metaverse. But there are antidotes.
Leave your echo chamber. Do it now. Find multiple news sources. Limit your social media time. Put some reminder in your daily routine to ensure you are keeping your blinders up about what you are absorbing.
Ask more questions. We recorded a podcast about this. If you can train yourself to get into the habit of asking questions, relationships will improve and understanding will deepen.
Study logic. You might not have time for a college course. But there are books. This downloadable handout can get you started. Abe Lincoln would suggest geometry, too.
Study emotions. We have discussed emotional intelligence many times on this blog. It is not the be-all and end-all, but understanding and naming them is a key (and ancient) practice that will fight stress keep them from tripping up your interactions with others.
Host a book club. No, really. I mean it. Maybe with coworkers. “Leaders are readers.” Read a work of fiction or poetry older than, say, 100 years. If you’d like to discuss civility, consider the romance “Pride and Prejudice.” Or if you’d like to think through how the media shapes our perceptions of reality, try “Madame Bovary.” Both will deal with how human beings interact and relate with each other. It’s not about business. That’s part of the point.
Of course you could also spend more time in the real world. …
The metaverse is a Pandora’s box of wonder and power.
We are opening the box. What we each take out of it will determine much of the coming decades.