I read today that Meta (Facebook) is tanking on Wall Street because the Metaverse (Mark Zuckerberg\u2019s vision of a virtual reality existence for his customers on the internet) is meaningless nonsense that nobody would waste his time on.\u00a0 So untold billions of dollars of corporate value has evaporated as supposedly one of the most valuable corporations in the world had thousands of highly paid computer scientists playing around with Oculus 3D headsets and video games.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know about anyone else but I have to wonder whether these geniuses maybe aren\u2019t really all that bright.\u00a0 I\u2019ve always suspected that the federal government has used its seemingly inexhaustible supply of fake money to make Amazon, Google and Facebook horribly rich monopolies in exchange for the data that they mine from us.\u00a0 Amazon was allowed to drive their brick-and-mortar competition out of business and Google strangled newspapers, television and every other advertising outlet.\u00a0 And Facebook was allowed to get a piece of that action, as was, to a much smaller extent, Twitter.\u00a0 But I think in the back of his mind Zuckerberg has always thought that eventually the jig would be up.\u00a0 Google takes care of all the ads.\u00a0 What is Facebook for?<\/p>\n
So, he tried to answer that question by imagining a new world that was so flashy and fun that everyone would be glad to waste all their time just being CGI versions of themselves and flying around.\u00a0 The only thing is it turns out it\u2019s really just boring and ridiculous.\u00a0 Who wants to sit around all day with a 3D headset on doing basically nothing?<\/p>\n
Maybe the good news about all this is people are starting to wake up to the limits of living on-line.\u00a0 What is accomplished by staring through a headset for hours at a time.\u00a0 Is anything being produced?\u00a0 Is anyone benefited?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s probably time for on-line companies to concentrate on a subscription model for services that people actually want.\u00a0 Amazon at least sells stuff and ships it to you very quickly.\u00a0 What does Facebook do besides spy on you?\u00a0 Really, not very much.\u00a0 At least when they weren\u2019t suspending and banning conservatives, they had some rationale for saying they were a social networking medium.\u00a0 Now they\u2019re some kind of nanny state surveillance bureau to stop normal people from communicating with each other.<\/p>\n
So, I\u2019m interested to see what Elon Musk starts doing with his new domain after tomorrow.\u00a0 Right now, Twitter is even more pathetic than Facebook.\u00a0 But at least it knows it.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t make enough ad money to show a profit and mostly it doesn\u2019t seem like there\u2019s anyone actually there watching.\u00a0 Although it\u2019s hard to tell because anyone I\u2019d be interested in is shadow-banned by definition.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m hoping Musk starts out by unbanning everyone and eliminating the algorithmic bias against normal people.\u00a0 Just starting with that might cause some interesting things to happen.\u00a0 It might not make any people on our side suddenly stars but it might turn off the spotlight that currently shines on the Left.\u00a0 I\u2019d enjoy that.<\/p>\n
But long term we might find out whether someone smart could make money running a town square for real and without a big government subsidy to pay the bills.\u00a0 Somehow, I\u2019m still hopeful that the idea of on-line communities can have some value.\u00a0 Maybe all that\u2019s needed is an honest broker allowing likeminded folks to form communities that can benefit each other.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Or maybe that\u2019s a mirage and only government money keeps these things like YouTube afloat.\u00a0 But it\u2019s time to find out.<\/p>\n
One thing I know for sure is that the Metaverse as Mark Zuckerberg imagines it, as some kind of free floating Holo-deck on the cheap isn\u2019t an actual thing that millions of people will pay to inhabit.\u00a0 And the idea that people will pay money to purchase virtual land in this absurd dreamscape is beyond ludicrous.\u00a0 To me this exposes the juvenile sensibilities of the people running these companies.\u00a0 The industry is deeply in need of adult supervision.\u00a0 Maybe Musk will show himself to be in that category.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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