Neal Stephenson invented the term “metaverse” for his 1992 cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, envisioning this 3-D virtual space that is a successor to the internet. I’d nearly forgotten the word until this week, when Facebook (trying to get a grip on a pretty bad news cycle for them) made a big announcement about their metaverse investment plans.
- Building the Metaverse Responsibly [About Facebook] “The ‘metaverse’ is a set of virtual spaces where you can create and explore with other people who aren’t in the same physical space as you. You’ll be able to hang out with friends, work, play, learn, shop, create and more. It’s not necessarily about spending more time online — it’s about making the time you do spend online more meaningful.”
- Facebook is spending $50 million to ‘responsibly’ build the metaverse [The Verge] “Right now, Facebook’s biggest metaverse program is a platform called Horizon, which exists as a beta Oculus app that lets people have VR meetings.”
- How Facebook’s ‘metaverse’ became a political strategy in Washington [Washington Post] “In Facebook’s Washington, D.C., office, the metaverse is already a full-on political push: The company is meeting with think tanks to discuss the creation of standards and protocols for the coming virtual world, enabling Facebook, some say, to turn the conversation away from such urgent but distasteful matters as the massive antitrust lawsuit filed last year by the Federal Trade Commission.”
- Mark Zuckerberg’s ‘Metaverse’ Is a Dystopian Nightmare [Jacobin] “The Facebook founder intends to usher in a new era of the internet where there’s no distinction between the virtual and the real — and no logging off.”
From the Ohio Web Library:
- Herman, John, and Kellen Browning. “Metaverse Is Having a Virtual Moment.” Toronto Star (Canada), 15 July 2021.
- Sparkes, Matthew. “What Is a Metaverse.” New Scientist, vol. 251, no. 3348, Aug. 2021, p. 18.
- Van Houten, Alison, et al. “Building a Metaverse.” TIME Magazine, vol. 197, no. 17/18, May 2021, p. 83.
