Feb 9, 2022
Futurists of the World takes on the Metaverse
What are some things to consider for the future of this virtual world?
Do you think we are travelling too fast into the future? With the rise of virtual reality, blockchain, cryptocurrency, and Internet of Things, there has been a lot of discussion surround Web3 and the Metaverse. What is it, and what are the things we should consider about our future when it comes to this digital world?
There has been a lot of debates and talks from technology experts, and other kind of entrepreneurs, but what do some Futurists have to say about this whole scene?
Here are just a few people that participated in our Twitter Spaces a while back, and what they had to say about this topic:
“I feel like it’s also going to be interesting to see how that can offer an opportunity in regards to accessibility for some individuals and how once again, I know we’ve talked about it a while ago about that separation of that 24 hours clock that people have of like, okay, like 8 hours of work. I feel like it’s slowly, slowly starting to disappear of where it’s like, oh, I wake up in the middle of the night, let me just log into work real quick for an hour since I’m awake. I think that’s also going to be interesting to see how the Metaverse affects our concept of time and if that might change our time systems of like, okay, instead of a 24 hours time it becomes actually like twelve or instead of a seven day week, it ends up becoming like ten days. So I think that’s also another interesting avenue that the Metaverse can lead us to.” — Emmanuel Naranjo (Trend Researcher)
“I’ve been using Oculus Go for the past two years probably and I’m all alone there. There’s no one yet. None of my friends here in Uruguay. I have a couple of friends in the States who hang around there but not as much. So I’m excited to see how that is going to deploy. Right? Like how people are going to become adopters... I haven’t seen you, Victor, or Emmanuel or me or Alexandra wearing those glasses yet and broadcasting now. So it’s like there’s this learning curve or adaptation or whole, you know, embrace the future kind of stuff that people are kind of reluctant yet. So I don’t know how they are going to jump into the Metaverse that fast. But that being said, the thing is that we have already been seeing so many years, Black Mirror or other stuff, and that we kind of know where are we going. The thing is how we want to create it. Not speaking.” — Agustin Borrazas (Humanist)
“I think in terms of the futures aspect of it, I think that the most important conversation around all of this is to be thinking more about the more fundamental aspects, like the theory of mind and the ecology of media that kind of brought us to this point.” — Christopher (a curious audience listener)
“We’re already in the Metaverse when we’re doing this [Twitter Space], for example, when we’re doing our Zoom and teams and all that. That is the Metaverse. So I think this is the catalyst. A lot of times we look for some event, some tipping point that kicks off a new period. Right? A new point in history. And we know that the pandemic is going to set off something new. It already has started, but we don’t know what exactly it’s going to be. I mean, it could go the opposite way. It could be people are rejecting the digital world. I mean, this may be something that you see reflected in the statistics about all the people who want to go back to the office. Right?
A lot of companies said, well, we’re going to just stay online and there’s a bunch of people saying, no, we want to be in the office, we want to come back. There’s mixed signals. So I think we’re in a sort of Gray area that for us people who like to imagine different alternative futures. It’s a really fun time because we can look at the various extremes like the meta verse future. Or maybe we go back to everything in person. Not to mention that we’ve had a bunch of kind of crashes on our social networks lately. So this is the future that no one really wants to talk about. But how sustainable are these digital systems? I mean, can they really last and be consistent? Personally, I couldn’t even make my team’s call work this morning, so I don’t know how many make the meta verse work, my WiFi.” — Alexandra Whittington (Futurologist)
“I know a lot of platforms are saying that the content creators have the full power or the full support for creating their own content. And it’s interesting how well, it is interesting to see what people are doing or what they’re going to be allowing people to do to express or to create or to host, like Twitter spaces. I think it would be difficult for them to figure out how to root out, like the back stuff or the negative thoughts and thoughts and ideas. I’m not sure how that’s going to work out, but I hope it doesn’t affect, I guess, the good content creators or the creators that are exploring these spaces with good intentions.” — Victor Sarat (Foresight Advocate)
What are your thoughts about the Metaverse and the Future?
It’s interesting to see how everything will play out. Just like the rise of Snapchat and Clubhouse, and how their features were copied on other platforms. Or how certain tech companies refused to adapt to the signals of change, and eventually went extinct. Will virtual reality be more accessible, or will it die off?
You can watch a live stream session where we gathered some other people to talk about the science fiction side, and a few positive usage of the Metaverse.
Collectively we see a lot of potential in this digital space, but one must be responsible with it just the same as the real world. If people find some positive benefits for it, then it’ll have a positive impact in other sectors, but if there is a shift towards a negative usage of it (privacy and trust issues), then we might not see it succeed.
Hey, you made it!
We hope some thoughts, and questions rose up while reading about the Metaverse. There were more things that was shared and said by these amazing people, but we like to keep these articles short.
We thank you for taking the time to read this article, and if you like this quick recap of our conversations, please consider donating! Another option is to join us during our live Twitter Spaces so you can network with the futures/foresight field experts and professionals, and share your own thoughts and questions with us. You can also be featured on here!
Make sure to follow our social media accounts (@5cenarios) to be informed of any or all of our future events. You can also check out our Patreon to learn more of what we do, and the other kinds of content we create!
Until next time!
Credit: Agustín Borrazás, Alexandra Whittington, Victor Sarat, Emmanuelle Naranjo, Christopher
This is a short recap of an audio-only conversation that was held in Twitter Spaces on November 5th, 2021.
