“What worries me is that Metawares is paid in advance by companies” – Release

According to anthropologist Fanny Paris, the arrival of the ultra-limited world transforming the virtual reality is a real possibility.

With a virtual reality headset in your head, controllers in your hands, and you go to join friends at the bar. Without leaving the house. Perhaps within a few years, this gesture has become commonplace in metawares: a virtual world where we can work, go out, find relatives … The project looks crazy, but it is being explored in the offices of the world’s largest digital companies. Recently, Mark Zuckerberg announced the formation of a team of 10,000 employees to tackle the construction of such a universe. Made on Facebook.

Fanny Paris, anthropologist, takes it seriously. Associate researcher at the University of Lausanne, he observes An acceleration “Digitization of Lifestyles” Govt-19 Crisis and imprisonment. In other words, the “real” existence – with will or force – is moving more and more rapidly towards digital.

Imagine new infections arising. Can metawares change reality and become our everyday life?

It seems possible. In anthropology, we work with very serious situations, not to say that the future will be white or black, but depending on the evolution of the situation, we will go one way more than the other.

Currently, we have two main scenarios. The first technical collapse. Second, the individual, forced to stay at home, has to push further on his use of technology. During the first incarceration, digital technology allowed social interactions, the continuation of life in society. If continuous prisons are placed in the years to come, a part of our daily lives that would provide a continuous opportunity for our lives in virtual society will become impossible in physical life.

It is pertinent to think that other types of crisis, social or environmental, can lead to the democratization of the virtual world. On the other hand, it can create other problems. If there is a social crisis in physical life, how can we ensure peaceful interactions in the metawares – or not? Similarly, in the event of a major climate problem, will the management of servers connected to the operation of digital pollution or metawares always adapt to the new situation?

Living your life in incarnation skin, without moving away from home … In your relationship with yourself and others, it should bring some changes, right?

A lot, too. It does not change the way they communicate, but it does lead to individuals asking upward questions of a social interaction. Depending on the level of intimacy with the person, they are going to decide: Should I meet them in physical life or in metawares? New ways of having friends and relatives will appear.

For the individual, metawares will generate self-extension in virtual. The whole question would be to find harmony between our different identities. Some, for example, may find themselves trapped between a reality that does not apply to them and a virtual world that they like.

According to Mark Zuckerberg, Metawares will make a real impression on its users “Balance” Another, more than social networks. Is not this ambition exaggerated?

I really disagree. In studies, we find that having a virtual assistant or a TV remnant is enough to create what is called a “parallel balance”. The individual does not feel like being alone and accepts the fact that he is in prison or away from his relatives. The VR headset does not bring further “parallel presence”. On the other hand, with the deeper reality, we will have a greater impact on people’s lives, with the different universes, the way they adhere to different lifestyles.

Exactly, does this virtual world risk being overly theatrical?

One question I would like to ask is: What are we going to do with these metavers? Will this be a form of transhumanism that enhances our capabilities? Will this lead to a reflection of a new way of life, perhaps more in line with environmental regulations? Or will it be a copy of reality?

What worries me is that it is offered in advance by brands or companies. In fact, the problem with metawares is that it plunges us into a visual universe that prevents us from taking the distance. For companies, it can be easier to adhere to the models of society and political models, depending on what they create. Not a business partnership? Interestingly, history repeats itself after the creation of the Internet. Previously, it was thought to be a place of freedom in which we could create new ways to communicate. Now it has become a breeding ground for physical and business life. We did not find anything.