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It's famously easy to dunk on the Metaverse, and Ryan George does a great job of it in this video;

youtube.com/watch?v=_ru2Ddp9f_…

But he also makes an insightful point, worth repeating. Many technologies that are now part of everyday work and play began as digital toys, ruthlessly mocked by people who were adults when they came out.

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#WebVideo #RyanGeorge #Metaverse

This entry was edited (9 months ago)
in reply to Strypey

Eg Tamagochi trained an entire generation to monitor the health of a digital avatar. First in Japan, then country by country, the rest of the world.

By the time those kids became adults, most people were being expected to carry phones everywhere and constantly monitor them. Plus social media platforms had given them digital avatars they had to monitor the health of, or risk social death. A few years later, iThings put those social avatars in their pocket, making the monitoring constant.

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This entry was edited (9 months ago)
in reply to Strypey

So I think ZuckerBorg *is* playing the long game. The toys he's releasing to show off his company's experimental AR and VR tech are meant to be pointless diversions. They're meant to build buzz, and encourage kids to track the incremental improvements in the tech they're given to play with.

In another decade, a whole new generation will be getting jobs and buying stuff. If ZuckerBorg's gambit pays off, many will already have Metaverse accounts controlled by the FarceBook founder.

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in reply to Strypey

That gives Meta a decade to figure out what the Metaverse could actually be useful for, and build a set of proprietary products and services around it. For whom those young adults will be a captive market.

So, how can the software freedom movements intervene to head off creepy robot boy at the pass? How can we make sure any useful applications of AR/VR are available in nonproprietary devices and networks?

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This entry was edited (9 months ago)
in reply to Strypey

That gives Meta a decade to figure out what the Metaverse could actually be useful for, and build a set of proprietary products and services around it. For whom those young adultery will be a captive market.

So, how can the software freedom movements intervene to head creepy robot boy off at the pass? How can we make sure any useful applications of AR/VR are available in nonproprietary devices and networks?

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