Featured in this episode of Chaos Lever
There’s a frankly overambitious article on TechCrunch detailing their experience at MWC 2023, and specifically all the hype over the Metaverse, which appears to be the MWC’s raison d’etre.
Honestly, more thought went into this article than the whole of the Metaverse hype-train brain-trust, but it’s also a bear of a read so allow me to distill it down for you.
Point one, no one knows what the Metaverse is, but they’re really EXCITED.
Point two, the ISPs in the EU see the increased bandwidth needs of the Metaverse as a new excuse to add more fees and start charging app providers.
Point three, the MWC is not really interested in debating the ethical and societal implications of the Metaverse.
Point four, people really need to stop referencing Snow Crash if they haven’t even read it. I know Neal Stephenson can be a bit long-winded, but this ain’t the Baroque Cycle.
Regardless, it would appear that the Metaverse- in whatever form it takes- will be arriving in about five years, and I personally look forward to saying the same thing five years from now.