The Metaverse: A Guide to the Future of Capitalism

A video about The Metaverse, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook and the future of capitalism.

*Chapters*

00:00 Mark Zuckerberg
04:08 1. YouTuber Burnout
10:27 2. Platform Capitalism
15:07 Surfshark Spot
16:41 3. The Bare Extractive Minimum
22:15 4. Monopoly Men
29:16 5. Into the Metaverse

*Some Copy about the Video for the YouTube Algorithm*

In this month’s video, we’re looking at “the metaverse”. This October, Facebook (since renamed Meta), released a video presentation titled “The Metaverse and How We’ll Build It Together” to serve as the keynote for the social media company’s annual Oculus Connect conference. The presentation saw Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announce the company’s ambitions to build “the metaverse”, a proposed evolution of the internet in which Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality technologies enable us to interact in more immersive ways.

To be able to engage in debates surrounding “the metaverse”, however, it’s first important to have a decent grasp of how big tech has already reshaped the economic structure around which our society is built: capitalism. We therefore go on a trip through the history of what Nick Srnicek calls “platform capitalism” to consider how technology companies such as Facebook (or, Meta), Amazon, Twitter, Apple, Microsoft and even the Roblox Corporation have fundamentally changed the world in which we live—and what this might reveal about the intentions behind this proposed shift to “the metaverse”.

This video is, in some regards, a spiritual successor to my video about Tesla CEO Elon Musk (The Fake Futurism of Elon Musk), as well as my more recent video about the science YouTube channel Veritasium and their partnership with Waymo (the successor to the Google Self-Driving Car Project). It picks up similar themes of techno futurism and the partial futures offered to us by our new tech overlords, and asks who those futures will really serve.

If you've enjoyed this video and would like to see more including my What The Theory? series in which I provide some snappy introductions to key theories in the humanities as well as video essays and more then do consider subscribing.

Thanks for watching!

#metaverse #Facebook #TomNicholas

[Tom_Nicholas]

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[matheus]

Zuckeberg is right when saying that screens and phones can't fully capture the range of expression and depth of human interaction. Which is why it's important for us to use our technology with moderation.

What Zuckerberg is proposing is not a solution to our addictions, it's to make them worse

[oliverberzs]

how nonchalantly you call Mark Zuckerberg a "failed Turing test attempt" is magnificent :D

[VoltieBird]

This is just the natural extension of our corporate society's obsession with infinite growth. Profits cannot grow indefinitely; humans have limited time and limited resources, meaning there's only so much you can extract from a person. We've already seen systems of commerce and value extraction morph and evolve into things wholly unlike their intended shape, and this pattern will only continue.

[blackfeatherstill]

Considering how much damage his company (now rebranded as meta), according to their own suppressed in house studies has done to the psychology of their users, particularly young people, kids basically. It really is accurate to say we are looking at a distopian future where these soulless manipulators of humans for profit are gaining the tech to get even deeper inside people's heads, behaviours, and perspectives.

[cabbagezonk]

I've found the concept of "digital enclosure" to be especially helpful in understanding the progression of big tech. Similar to how the commons has been enclosed into private property, the 'commons' of the internet has been enclosed under the ownership of platforms

[ShinyNix]

I'm a big VR enthusiast, but I HATE where I see Zuckerberg taking things. I thought this video was extremely well thought out & executed. It gave interesting points I hadn't heard of from others on the topic. Great work, looking forward to future videos.

[thompsonnoel]

I think it's also worth noting that many of the platforms mentioned at the beginning like Airbnb and Uber, often referred to as "sharing economy companies" were preceded by platforms that were initially non-profit like couchsurfing and the initial versions of blablacar which were actually about sharing spaces and rides you would have done anyway.

[anneginzburg]

There might also be something to be said about how much the purpose of the art will be respected on Meta and how it will be censored. The soundtrack to a Meta ad, "this future will be made by all of us" prominently features a song by British band Bastille in the background instrumental. The song, "Distorted Light Beam" is very clearly anti-VR and anti big tech in the lyrics, and comes from a concept album about a corporation called "Future Inc" using VR to take over the world and brainwash the populace. So it's clear that Meta is willing to censor and "reinterpret" the art that is featured on the platform.

[TheEgalisator]

When the desire to use a platform becomes nearly as universal as the need for roads, schools and hospitals, it's time for governments to make non-profit, ad-free versions of them. Preventing dystopia is worth paying a tiny amount higher taxes. And most of these platforms would just roll over and die very easily if they had competition that simply doesn't take a cut.

[Afterthoughts]

I am SO GLAD you brought up the lack of control users feel they have in their digital lives. That's such an important aspect of mental health that doesn't get discussed often enough.

[notaninquisitor]

why are people surprised that the easiest and most efficient way to make profit (take money without giving anything in return) is to be the gatekeeper to a resource. The money is made by shaking down people as they try to get access. Capitalism isn't about efficiency or innovation. It is about taking resources and actively preventing others from using them. If you wonder why employers are so draconian it is because they are gatekeeping access to your labor.

[jplabre]

I've been on metaverses since 2007, Second Life has been around since 2003. This is the same thing, but launched by billionaires. Nothing of what they're proposing is new, I saw U2 live on a metaverse back in 2008. The thing is people want to see their horrible bands in person, not through an eye burning screen and graphics that are inferior to the capabilities of the human eye. Also, no one wants to log on to a platform to work or to attend a class. Those who do, do so because they're forced to.

[ominous-omnipresent-they]

"Apple is an interesting example of a company that does so much that we might not initially think of it as a platform company at all; it makes a whole range of products and erects glowing glass cathedrals to itself on top of sites of historical interest."

Noice.

[griffithfk]

A corollary: Back in 2013 (yes, 8 years ago) Netflix released a statement which said "We compete very broadly for a share of members' time and spending, against linear networks, DVDs, other internet networks, video games, web browsing, magazine reading, video piracy, and much more." Translation: Netflix is not in the business of giving you access to entertaining content for a fee. They want to monopolize your leisure time to such an extent that you'd rather renew your $14 (or whatever) monthly Netflix subscription instead of spending that money on literally _any_ other leisure activity. The ideal scenario, from their perspective, is one in which everyone on earth spends all of their free time paying Netflix for... well... it doesn't actually matter, as long as they get their money.

[mat_hg]

I had the same considerations some years ago about Facebook being a garbage platform that we are forced to use just because "people is already there". Very much agree with the concept of "natural monopoly" that should logically be a public service. I imagine this will be common sense in the future.

[willygrags]

I honestly love vr so much and that’s what makes this so scary. I don’t want to see something I like twisted and misused by people who have enough money to make any psycho pipe dream a reality

[anakita]

zuck is the kind of guy that sees your private information, asks "is anyone gonna eat that?", and not wait for a answer.

[cashnelson]

The notion of calling something the metaverse unironically is... hilarious. It's not unlike if they called it Skynet, just way fewer people are gonna catch the reference.

[delilas]

I love to spend hours in vr in games like Half life or Pavlov. But the Idea of having to put that thing on for 8 hours a day to work is a literal nightmare.