Off-cadence
Politics of 'digital' environments - Metaverse.
An individual bought a yacht - not a real yacht - but a digital yacht called the Metaflower Super Mega Yacht in what amounts to be a game called The Sandbox.
This individual purchased the yacht for approximately $650,000.
That’s only one transaction. Other individuals are rushing tens of millions of dollars into ‘digital land.’ Wow.
The Sandbox bills itself as “a virtual Metaverse where players can play, build, own, and monetize their virtual experiences. We empower artists, creators, and players to build the platform they’ve always envisioned, providing them with the means to unleash their creativity.”
Hmmmmmmmmmm….
And to make matters worse - they just raised $93 Million from SoftBank as its Vision Fund continues to post record losses. Does Masayoshi Son ever make suitable investments? Think Uber, WeWork, or shit, Better.com. Did you see what they did after they received money from SoftBank?
But my point is there is a world out there, described as a metaverse. It sounds like there is some sort of economy shaping up. It’s hard to get coverage on what exactly is happening. But it seems like people are all over the internet saying “defi” or “decentralized” or “fully decentralized” or “decentralized finance” or something similar.
So…
I feel like we are moving towards an era where we will increasingly spend more time inside what is now being called a “hypothetical iteration of the internet” known as the metaverse.
Mark Zuckerberg called the metaverse “an embodied internet” that, unlike today, gives one a “feeling of presence.”
Now, I thought Mark Zuckerberg was responsible for addicting people to scrolling constantly on their phones. It seems it was just months ago, the media was calling for his head over Instagram and its knowledge of the toxicity of the platform for teenage users.
The Wall Street Journal even put an investigative section together called the Facebook Files, which included numerous podcast episodes.
And people are still thinking about letting this man trap them in a headset. I guess the tech dystopia Black Mirror describes isn’t science fiction. Each episode is like a premonition of what’s already here.
Now I have so many questions about these metaverses.
What is their capital structure?
How sustainable are the economies forming inside of them?
How will their products impact consumers?
Why is the metaverse being tied back to the creator economy?
How come everyone knows what the metaverse is when it hasn’t come to fruition yet?
Why is Masayoshi Son still allowed to invest? Do the Saudis not care about losing money either?
Anyways, just a random rant… thought for the late evening or early morning.
I’m going to see if I can get trapped inside of a VR headset playing a video game that’s supposedly a metaverse that I can’t get access to unless I convert USD to Ethereum and then Etheruem to Sand. And apparently, this modern rendition of Second Life will transform the world as I know it. I need to figure out how to get onto that $650,000 yacht, and I wonder if it came with a deed.