Leonardo

how we became involved in the metaverse narrative

Seven years ago, in 2023, nobody really knew what the Meta-verse would be like. Some said that the Metaverse was the next step toward an immersive experience of the Internet. The gaming sector was already larger than the movie and music sector, with more than three billion users. Web3 espoused decentralization and interoperability, and a full version of the Metaverse was developed to encompass daily activities such as socializing, commerce, fitness, and learning. Naturally the online existence reduced physically shared experiences, and public space lost some of its functions.

The offline world was almost entirely based on local life, with trash and waste banned forever. A global monetary dislocation occurred, and intellectual property rights died by themselves. Space cooperation proved to be a new model, and a new logic of competition spread throughout various ecosystems. Self-management gained even more importance, and work/life balance became part of general well-being. People did not travel as much, simply because the virtual world had become a complement to real life, with the creation of entire new virtual cities.

Whereas the modern Metaverse concept was first promoted in the United States and Europe, it rapidly received global hype. Centuries ago, Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi had dreamt he was a butterfly … or a butterfly dreamt he was Zhuangzi. Digital development patterns in Asia focused in particular on applications, whereas the Americas and Europe targeted the infrastructure level.

Artists became creative explorers for the future Metaverse, which also challenged some features of humans as multisensorial interbeings. The neurons in our brain, as well as cells throughout the body, were able to integrate additional representations of digital worlds alongside our physical world. Space and time shrank through various beta concepts of teleportation. Over the years, incorporated hybrid functioning became part of human existence.

Mark Zuckerberg was not our style of hero, which rather favors communities of inspired businesspeople and artists—even if he claimed that his Metaverse was about "helping people experience a much stronger sense of presence with the people they care about, the people they work with, and the places they want to be." Right at that point, we said goodbye to the Facebook/Meta monoculture and engaged in a new way of looking at life, business, and Metaverse(s!).

beautiful, boring or challenging metaverse?

Imagine that the Metaverse became something other than an extension of American and Chinese mass market cultures, connecting physical and virtual worlds to create new spaces for overlapping private and business contexts. What if the [End Page 447]

Metaverse contributed something to us as biological humans, sometimes out of contemplation or boredom?

Or suppose the Metaverse accelerated the ongoing...