The Metaverse is coming. Or, another attempt at Bread and Circuses for the Masses.

I think this shows the biggest flaw in the Metaverse. No actual human interaction. Having a real puppy replaced by a dog avatar? No thanks.
 
An excerpt from today's The Street:

Overhyped​

Critics, however, have warned that the metaverse is getting wildly overhyped, and companies are applying the tag to any old project that involves gaming, virtual reality or NFTs.

NFTs, or nonfungible tokens, are one-of-a-kind digital objects purchased with cryptocurrencies.

In December, Nike also stepped into the non-fungible token world with plans to produce digital shoes that you can see but not touch or wear.
 
With apologies to Dante: "Abandon all sanity - all who enter."

This is another attempt to make money by selling nothing. A design here, a design there. But, as one analyst has written, once people shake off the fog of the Next Big - Virtual/Nothing - Thing then it will all collapse.
 
A historical precedent. It wasn't quite the society-wide catastrophe it's been popularly presented as and affected mostly those who played in the market. The lesson seems to be, don't touch and you won't get burned.

en.wikipedia.org

Tulip mania - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

And another.

www.historic-uk.com

The South Sea Bubble of 1720

The 18th century version of the Dot Com Boom - and Bust!
www.historic-uk.com www.historic-uk.com
 
I think of it more as like going to a Carnival in the 1930s:

"Ladies and gentlemen, step right up! Here, in this tent, is the Amazing, the Incredible, you Won't Believe Your Eyes!" Something...

Today, for the price of admission, you can go inside a virtual tent to experience... uh... like a videogame... but different... or... ads for places and products all over the place. That's it: Another outlet for ads. And images of things that exist only as images but selling for AMAZING prices.

No thanks...
 
Rhinocrates said:
edwest2 said:
In December, Nike also stepped into the non-fungible token world with plans to produce digital shoes that you can see but not touch or wear.
Click to expand...

If we're living in a simulation, is that simulation a satire?

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deDlab6vFgg
Click to expand...

THE MESSIAH ! SHOW US THE MESSIAH ! WE WANT TO SEE THE MESSIAH !

He is not the messiah. Only a very naughty boy !

Best.movie.ever. Even funnier than Airplane ! And it even has a grown man, naked. ROTFL.

Seriously, first time I saw that scene, couldn't help thinking

"This is how it happened, all the schisms... ? 1054 with the orthodoxes, and then the Protestants with Luther and Calvin, and then the Anglicans with Henri VIII..."

"The gourd !

"No, the shoe !"

"A duck !

"Envoyez la vache !

"Niiiiiii... NI !" (sorry, wrong movie !)
 
Gentlemen,

This is the > Future < we're talking about ! Or just another attempt to distract the masses... and make money.

Not seen on Monty Python:

Scene opens on a sign that reads: Ministry of Nothing

A man tries to enter but the door is locked.

"Hello! Is anyone there?"

Voice: Welcome to the Ministry of Nothing.

"Well, can I come in?"

V: No. We're not really here.

"Wot?"

V: We're not really here. We exist only in the Metaverse.

"See here my good man, I have some questions."

V: Please deposit 5 Pounds for answers.

"Who am I talking to?"

V: No one. Now send over that 5 Pounds or you get no more answers.

"How do I give you 5 Pounds anyway?"

V: Use your virtual wallet.

Man walks away and mutters: "Rubbish, just like I thought."
 
I read where someone's avatar was attack by a group of male avatars in the Metaverse.
Sounds like a real improvement.
 
I'm not sure if this belongs under the 'Metaverse' but we must acknowledge one of Mark Zuckerberg's major contributions to our civilization - Facebook's rigorous fact-checking and its 'outing' of fake news.

Of course, there are always spoil-sports. Just as a for-instance, witness this moaning-on by some no-account 'news blog' calling itself the British Medical Journal ;)

-- https://www.bmj.com/content/376/bmj.o95
 
Apophenia said:
I'm not sure if this belongs under the 'Metaverse' but we must acknowledge one of Mark Zuckerberg's major contributions to our civilization - Facebook's rigorous fact-checking and its 'outing' of fake news.

Of course, there are always spoil-sports. Just as a for-instance, witness this moaning-on by some no-account 'news blog' calling itself the British Medical Journal ;)

-- https://www.bmj.com/content/376/bmj.o95
Click to expand...

Fact Checkers are essentially a desperate attempt to control political narratives because legacy media organizations have lost their credibility. However, they will suffer from the same disease in that politically motivated organizations are always going to present events in a biased manner, which will always bring about a sense of distrust in some form or fashion.

Big Tech's crusade for establishing fact-checking authority is making itself fall victim to this same disease. They wouldn't even need fact checking if these institutions weren't politically motivated.

How do you cut down on the political bias?
Encourage asking hard & constructive questions, and don't revolve around "take our word for it, trust us". Seems we've been moving in a direction that asks us to no longer press for the "Who, Why, What, Where, When, How?" out of sake for political convenience.
 
That Zuckerberg metaverse avatar is creepy as frack. Reminds of the Wii avatars (boy were they ugly !)
that looked worse than a Second Life avatar from 2003.
Click to expand...
Spot on ! They nailed it. My eeeeeyeeees !!!
 
This is what Zuckerburg "sees" when he talks about the Metaverse, a billion people spending hundreds of dollars. He does the math and voila! He's richer than ever. He's holding a billion people hostage. They are hypnotized, emptying their wallets at a furious rate. Why? They are trapped in the Metaverse and they must pay, uh spend money. Money, money, money and more money.

The driving principle behind the Metaverse and Facebook is: There's no such thing as too much money.

The "Metaverse Experience" is an afterthought. After all, if Mr. Zuckerburg does not have the talent or skill, he can always hire those who he * thinks * can do it. But so far, not good...

www.cnbc.com

Mark Zuckerberg envisions a billion people in the metaverse spending hundreds of dollars each

Zuckerberg is happy with the progress of Meta Platforms' Quest 2 headset. Now he has a big goal for 2030 that involves a user base spending meaningfully.
www.cnbc.com www.cnbc.com
 
“I want to be clear on this point. We are working on a product that has not found product market fit. If you are on Horizon, I need you to fully embrace ambiguity and change.”

Translations:

"product market fit" No one would want this.

"fully embrace ambiguity and change" Well, that was ambiguous. I doubt they need more of that sort of talk from management. And instead of the word "change," how about defining a few things going forward?

From another site:

"Metaverse spending has doubled from last year to reach more than $120 billion in 2022 and McKinsey estimates global investment could hit around $5 trillion by 2030. About $2 to $2.6 trillion of that total investment will come from e-commerce and advertising will account for $144 billion to $206 billion.

"Consumers are expected to spend 6 hours each day in the metaverse by 2030, the report states."

At this rate, there will be no compelling product in 8 years. Less money was spent on the Manhattan Project.
 
"immersive training"? Immersive training is operating in actual conditions or in structures that resemble actual conditions. Along with sight, there's smell. A bit of smoke or strange smell may alert the team that someone is inside the structure or something is burning or a chemical agent is present. The Metaverse can't teach people in a group to manage weapon barrels in a confined space. To not hit their comrades when a moving threat darts in front of them. The Metaverse usage is just another attempt to monetize it. It's not practical or realisrtic. The sound and flashes from weapons in an enclosed space and you, and the rest of the team, need to make split-second decisions about whether or not to fire is critical. The moving figure could be a vagrant or an armed bad guy. Forensics needs to happen with actual and realistic props. If you're going to work in the real world then you should train in a real-world environment.
 
finance.yahoo.com

Meta Plummets 25% as Zuckerberg’s Plea for ‘Patience’ Falls Flat

(Bloomberg) -- Meta Platforms Inc. plunged as much as 25% Thursday morning after Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg asked investors for patience with the social-media giant’s swelling investments in unproven bets at an already-challenging time for digital-advertising companies.Most Read...
finance.yahoo.com finance.yahoo.com
 
Do you think this would be a bad time to ask Mr. Zuckerberg for a million dollars? I mean I do want to improve my standard of living and a million dollars would go a long way in achieving that goal.
 
Meta isn’t the worst thing Zuck spent his money on:
www.wsj.com

Zuckerberg Gives $120 Million to Bay Area Schools

Four years after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg donated $100 million to Newark's schools, he and his wife, Priscilla Chan, are donating $120 million to the San Francisco Bay Area's public-school system.
www.wsj.com www.wsj.com

Meanwhile my home state—mean old Alabama has this to report:

www.al.com

Alabama schools lead nation in gains for Black, Hispanic students during pandemic, researchers say

Among Black students’ reading scores, seven of the county's top 10 performing school districts were in Alabama.
www.al.com www.al.com

I wonder what the difference was…
 
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