What does the end of the world taste like?
Have you heard of CES? It’s a week long conference in Nevada known for introducing the year’s most anticipated products and concepts to the world of technology. I haven’t been, but from everything I’ve heard, it’s an incredible event and a can’t miss if you’re at the cutting edge of innovation. You might hear about EVs or AI or lab-grown food. It’s a playground for futurists. I was personally excited to learn what to expect in the coming year in blockchain technology and the metaverse. However, I was upset to discover in a CoinTelegraph article that instead of focusing on the problems blockchain can solve in the real world, metaverse innovation at CES was focused on a dystopian simulation of life in a virtual world. Specifically, the addition of touch and smell to the experiences you can have within it.
The sensory tech was highlighted across a series of metaverse-focused companies who were displaying their upgraded VR technology, similar to the Oculus videos Meta released in early 2022. The fact that you can now artificially experience two additional senses based on the virtual environment you’re in sounds very cool. However, the idea that the metaverse is being looked at as a 1:1 recreation of physical experiences in the digital world is not a future I’d like to move towards. And to call it the ‘next big thing’ only reaffirms that enhancing the human experience, in a true sense of the term, is still a far cry from being a guiding principle for the products being built in web3.
The metaverse is so much more than a virtual environment where you can smell whatever or touch whatever you’d like. The power of the blockchain is that the things we own digitally can now transfer value across platforms and moments because they’re connected to every part of our digital lives and every part of our physical lives. Two worlds that are not meant to be clones of each other but to be one, intertwined, interoperable experience that enhances the overarching human experience in an invisible and profound way. Instead, we have this...
“An executive at FireFlare Games, Aurora Townsend, also shared that their firm will be launching a VR dating app that also incorporates immersive sensations like touch, once the technology becomes readily available within the market.”
You may need to read that twice to believe your eyes. This is not progress.
The idea that there is a future where people go to the metaverse to experience things like touch and taste makes me want to burn it all to the ground. The fact that that future is what the leaders of the industry are most excited for makes me want to sell everything. The metaverse will start becoming a reality when it starts solving real problems with the technology and enhancing real lives. Will our lives become more and more influenced by digital experience and identity? Of course. But it will never be replaced by them. I’m shocked that the humans (I assume) behind this technology can’t understand that.
The metaverse was best described to me in a Bernard Marr explanation; as the interface through which consumers will experience Web3. It’s not a virtual world or simulation, but rather an omnipresent reality where our physical and digital experiences are mixed, via augmented reality, digital ownership, token-gating, geo-fencing, and sometimes even VR, among other things.
I outline in more detail how this future might start to come to life in my article about how Apple is going to make being a cyborg awesome. I’d encourage you to read it if you’re not into the idea of a metaverse where we plug in before we start living. I work hard not to dismiss the type of progress that scares me. But I’m sure I’m not wrong about this. Why? Because I would rather smell dead fish and touch velcro for the rest of my life than participate in a simulation of humanity. And I’d bet most people would agree.