The Metaverse

From Garden of Forking Paths to Walled Garden

Mark Zuckerberg wants Meta (formerly Facebook) to deliver a corporate-controlled, online, future-world “embodied internet.”

Notes

  1. 20220105 – Kate Wagner, of McMansion Hell, delivers a scathing critique of early metaverse interaction concepts: “what then, is the purpose of trying to sell us virtual reality? Perhaps, like NFTs, it’s a cynical cash grab, attracting big money from investors who think that the next big thing in tech is automatically, unquestioningly credible.” I have also hated that Meta “The Tiger & The Buffalo” advertising assult against Henri Rousseau.
  2. 20220105 – The Information claims that Meta has halted their VR and AR OS project as they wait to see what Apple has in store via their rumored AR glasses
  3. 20211028 – Facebook changed its name to, Meta and unveiled a vision for the Metaverse at their Connect 2021 conference
  4. 1941 – Jorge Luis Borges writes, The Garden of Forking Paths (El jardín de senderos que se bifurca), inspiring hypertext

Additional Metaverse Terms and Definitions

Augmented Reality (AR)
The experience created by overlaying virtual elements on a (usually 2D) depiction of the real world. Same as mixed reality. I first had my mind blown by this technology while a student at Drexel University in a Future of Digital Media class.
Virtual Reality (VR)