Metaverse: Is Mark Zuckerberg trying to create a virtual paradise?

He is not the first to say it or talk about it. Mark Zuckerberg wasn't the first, of course. But when a company ranks sixth in the world's largest companies; With a market value of more than 900 billion dollars, it is he who will adopt that, then we must turn a little to the metaverse, and meditate on this idea, which may be very good and very dangerous at the same time!

Very good? Why?

Because the world is constantly evolving and changing, this is a historical year in the universe that is difficult to penetrate, for everything fixed is forgotten and decays, so that the law of adaptation remains moving for the better using various tools of refinement and intonation.

Very dangerous? Why?

Because it is a commercial company, it only cares about profit. Especially Facebook. Her series of scandals in this aspect. Maybe it's hard to trust myself in the real world? How can I surrender my neck to them in the fantasy world?

The dream of achieving absolute equality starts here..

There is no doubt that there are discrepancies in access to the Internet or the services it provides. Perhaps Mark Zuckerberg's Metaverse may constitute an embryonic nucleus that allows for absolute equality and non-compliance with the boundaries of geography and its consequences.

As long as the concept of metaphysics is based at its core on the “creation” of hypothetical characters who can live a semi-complete imaginary life that does not exist in the real world, this gives man the right - even if it is illusory - to enter what everyone enters.

All it takes is 3D glasses, fast internet, free time, or maybe work time!

Also supporting this idea is that there really is a need for universal access, whether you live in the capital of Bangladesh or the desert of Nevada. You will then be able to enter the exact same world!

No matter who you are, what you look like, and what language you speak.

Which in some sense aligns with the human race's desire for global equality of opportunity, especially among decision-makers in the western part of our world.

This is why the idea has met with great popularity and wide adoption.

Interest in equality or escape from legal prosecution?

Sweet talk can be talked about and sung by everyone, but when money, scandals, and legal pursuits are on the table, all those previous allegations are impossible to become dead on paper; Just a forward escape and a distraction from what leaks every now and then.

Especially since Facebook, which recently turned itself into a Meta company, recently suffered from leaks by Frances Haugen, who indicated in her speech that the company prioritizes profits, even at the expense of harming users, or spreading misleading data and information.

Which puts us in front of a dilemma that needs to be thought about, especially since the next metaverse world is built on a profitable company. How can it be trusted then?

But perhaps, this is what companies did in general. Of course, no company will work to satisfy the stomachs of the poor around the world! This is the charter of the business from its inception until now, the harm lies in the fact that the harm is intentional on purpose in order to push users to choose certain patterns of behavior. Then the company can be stigmatized as bad and absolute evil.

The same thing that always comes up, too, is video games and their relationship to crime.

Is everyone playing committing crimes? No of course. However, there are those who have criminal tendencies that may be enhanced by games, and the games, Facebook or companies cannot be blamed here!

Because if we opened that door, we would have to shut down all the companies in the world. Especially those responsible for energy, oil and gas as they pollute the environment!

Perhaps, a little bit OK with a new virtual world, giving a chance for everyone to enter it!

Turn into a machine, and be whatever you want!

The idea of ​​metaverses and entering into the experience of a virtual world dates back to the American philosopher “Robert Nozick”, who spoke in his famous book “Anarchy, State, and Utopia” about imagining the possibility of linking each individual to himself within an “experience capsule” located within a large basin, under the supervision of a number of Scientists, through which you can stimulate your mind and direct it in a certain way.

As disturbing as the idea sounds, it's also promising and beautiful. The negative point that is always raised is that this new world will “modify” the structure of man, but the reality says something completely different.

As Facebook and others state that the entry gate for Metaverse is virtual reality glasses or a watch or something else, there is no modification or change to the human being. These only exist in Hollywood.

To be more precise in describing, virtual reality is an “option” that you can enter. And not everything surrounds you and you are just a slave without any ability to evade!

So it seems that Facebook or META, Nozick and others have picked up the idea, and they want to give access to this dream world.

Perhaps, for example, Facebook puts the possibility of meeting the “dead” loved ones who have gone! Especially since today in this world, they can leave thousands and hundreds of messages, photos, selfies and audio recordings. The possibility of having “sound, image and even personal preferences” becomes verifiable in the world of metaverse!

Especially when the company is Facebook that owns “Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook” then fully trust that metaverse will be very suitable for you.

Maybe he'll know us better than ourselves, too!

Robert Nozick's Three Objections

Nozick sees in his book on the world of imagination that the reaction of the human race to these pelvic capsules is rejection, and he puts three reasons for this rejection.

The first: that a person wants to actually succeed, not to emulate the concept of success!

In the sense that if the concept of metaphysics expands and expands, and a person can enter it and write a novel and succeed in it and become an audience for it, man by nature will not accept that. Because he really wants to succeed in writing a novel, not to imitate his success in writing a novel!

Even Mark Zuckerberg himself does not see the possibility of replacing reality experiences, as much as it would be an escape from it.

The second of those reasons, is that entering that capsule does not mean that you are you, but rather just a human floating in a machine that simulates his various desires.

The narrator may think he is writing a beautiful novel, but in fact he does nothing. Just a human floating within a small capsule controlled by scientists as with Nozick, and in our time controlled by companies whose goal is profit!

The third and final reason, according to Nozick, is that entering a fictional world is no more important than our man-made world. On the contrary, there are things of lesser value and meaning in these various fantasy plays.

That world will be full of people's broken whims and the successes of the unsuccessful! That is why Nozick believes that our world is more important than that world, and contains experiences that are deeper and closer to human nature.

The desire to be close to your loved ones will not be satisfied just by seeing their pictures and sounds in metaverses! There is a deep-rooted need within each person, to be truly close to their loved ones!

Meta Zuckerberg: It's not our life.

Nozick's earlier questions lead us to look at length at what Facebook has been doing lately. In the words of Mark Zuckerberg himself, the Metaverse experience will not be a real experience and you will not come close to it. It may make us feel like we are somewhere but we are not really there.

As Nozick said, man really wants to be next to those he loves, not imagine being next to them!

Simply because we can daily talk to everyone via social media platforms or the phone, but is this enriching or an alternative to visiting them and being with them for real?

It has to be said, that these "fairy lives" are hardly a true reflection of their owners' personalities. The majority of personalities differ and change when you descend from the world of the Internet to the real world and vice versa.

This contradiction is always evident; Especially since the Internet in general allows you to “choose the character” you want to be.

You can choose a profile picture, name, nickname, and whatever you want.

But are these former ingredients you?

In the real world, did you choose your name, shape and color?

The point here, is that the online world, and not metaverse in general, allows you to fake yourself. Lets you be who you aren't! Or not be who you are!

They care about profit and nothing else

The world is not a charitable market or a socialist commons where everyone has the right to take from it whenever they want! Especially when that world is nothing but the invention of Mark Zuckerberg, the owner of a series of scandals in recent years.

Perhaps a person will be convinced of the idea of ​​an imaginary world in which he can have whoever he wants and whoever he wants, with whomever he wants, at any time!

But that differs when we know that the company behind it is a profitable company, aiming to collect money as a last end, and perhaps ready to finish any project if it no longer brings it a financial return that deserves sacrifice and support!

This is a serious question that we have to face, do we really want to get into a simulation designed by people like this?

Zuckerberg says the goal is to bring happiness and fulfill people's desires. But this sentence is no less naive than the doctor’s statement to a child crying so as not to take the injection, so he tries to entice him by saying: Take the injection and I will give you sweets!

The goal has always been the syringe, not the candy bar!

And Zuckerberg's happiness here is the same candy as the doctor!

Between what is real and what is hypothetical

Nozick argues that truth depends in part on what is "meaningful". The imaginary world may be enlarged to fulfill unfulfilled wishes or repressed desires, but it remains unreal because it does not have an original meaning within it.

And Nozick adds that the desire to hold on to our own world is perhaps not so much an unjustified fear of what is to come, but rather a man's own love of sticking to where he has worked so hard.

Your childhood friends, your school, your university, your loved ones, your relatives, everything that is here in this world, how can they simply be abandoned?

The idea of ​​simulation itself may be close to us, but it is empty and meaningless, and it is nothing more than childish attempts by man to create an environment and a virtual paradise in which everyone is equal.

This is of course, if we believe the ideal story they say, and forget for a while that this talk comes from a profit-oriented company full of scandals and user data leaks down to its feet!

Finally... Where is the danger of Mark Zuckerberg's idea?

It lies in the fact that Facebook or the new Meta company, possesses a terrifying amount of data about users, so do not forget that this company acquires all of Instagram, WhatsApp and the Facebook network to communicate itself, then it can employ all this data in order to create a fictional “metaverse” experience that is difficult Too much to escape from her ropes.

In addition, the human mind has limits to comprehension that it cannot often cross. Perhaps the best evidence for this is the words of Daniel Goleman, author of the famous book Emotional Intelligence:

Too much information goes hand in hand with less attention.

It is true that we live in a world in which no one could have imagined the terrifying abundance of information, but we also live in a world where there is no attention or focus! Every single one of its members is distracted daily by a barrage of notifications, a flood of ringtones, buzzes, etc.

Then we can ask the following question: To what extent can the human mind comprehend and keep pace with these changes?

What is the capacity of the human mind to run behind all these shifts daily?

Nobody hates new inventions, nor those technologies that make people's lives easier. On the contrary, they are always welcome, but one has the right to be suspicious of these new innovations.

Especially when we know that behind it is a profitable company with a series of scandals, which it is trying to avoid by escaping forward by changing its name recently.

Then, we must say that Mark Zuckerberg's idea is dangerous.

Not because it is innovative or new, or even if successful, it would constitute a violent revolution in the course of humanity.

Rather, it is harmful to man himself before it serves him, and because man always misuses his tools, starting with iron, from which he can make a building hammer that helps him in the reconstruction of life. Or make a tank out of it that kills people here and there!

The idea was not to accept or reject new things. The idea was always in misuse!

This is exactly where Mark's dangerous idea lies!

Read similar article: What Role for the Humanities in a Post-Industrial World?