What is the Metaverse?

What exactly is the Metaverse? And is it really that new?

This talk will explore our emotional connections to cyberspace, our feelings of presence and immediacy in online environments, and what this means for the intensity of our experiences, good and bad. As technology promises ever more immersive, embodied experiences involving 360 degree vision, touch, and even taste, how might this merging of cyber and physical affect our lives?

A lecture by Professor Victoria Baines

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:

[AlbertSchram]

Wonderful lecture. So many ethical, identity, and humanity issues involved, that I may consider in the future becoming an off-grider.

[petermoriarty]

The simulacrum of an ideal world, while the real world, and our lives in it devolve further and further into dystopia. The architects of the Metaverse, are the same architects of the deterioration of the biosphere.

[marianasanches-freriks]

Amazing, as always! Thank you, professor Victoria Baines.

[ataraxia]

Thought provoking lecture. Anyone seen that film ‘Surrogates’? 👀

[bigisland]

Play with vrml since the 90s. 30 years on - I understand what it is and what its for and how to implement it. Knowledge is for sale.

[pdelong]

I work in tech, and I've been a user of the Internet long enough to remember Usenet (a.k.a., newsgroups), email before spam, and even VRML. So people are usually surprised to learn that I'm not an early adopter. I feel like knowing how these technologies work makes me slower to adopt them than the average person does.

For example, I find it alarming how many establishments are so quick to adopt siloed e-payment options, to the exclusion of more traditional payment methods. I'm already starting to feel limited by the fact that I don't use Venmo (though perhaps that's more a function of the fact that I like to frequent hipster coffee shops). But perhaps more relevant to this lecture: I'm actually somewhat horrified at the prospect of having to be on the Metaverse to collaborate with my co-workers.

And if I feel this way, as a relatively privileged person, then I think it's possibly even more limiting and restrictive to those who don't have as much access. This was touched upon a bit in the Q&A section, but I'd love to see this aspect explored in some more depth in a later lecture in the series.

[tuomasronnberg]

I don't think even Facebook knows what the metaverse is supposed to be.

[mustavogaia]

Metaverse is a heavily financialized version of videogames. There, I saved you 60 minutes. Go hug someone you love.

[jillfryer]

Dont think the VVB is very real, its made her twice the size everywhere from the waist down. Weird. I'd sue the maker for misrepresentation if i were her.

[Exodus.Pi]

Wait till they discover that Hebrew Cosmology is true.