In their haste to “move fast and break things,” Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and his ilk have broken plenty of things: public discourse, family ties, the mental health of thousands of teenagers. But it wasn’t enough. Now, the technologies of his ambitious new “Metaverse” threaten to break our very humanity.
Late last month, Facebook released a video announcing that it would be changing its name to “Meta” and shifting its focus to a new project called the “Metaverse.” The Metaverse contains elements of both VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality). The former describes a purely digital world through which users navigate while remaining physically stationary. Think Ready Player One, or even Fortnite. Augmented reality, on the other hand, consists of virtual elements layered on top of physical reality. Put on your AR glasses, and you might see a glowing path leading toward your destination or watch the statue of General George Gordon Meade on Pennsylvania Avenue come to life and recite biographical information in the first person.
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