Good Morning Comrades. As mentioned on Monday, today is going to be a more thorough piece on the so-called metaverse, a few insights, actions and plans for our collective future.
This email will also constitute Thursday’s Paid-For Exclusive Content - you comrades will be getting an email on Thursday with an early bird link as well as a special thank you.
Introduction
As I am sure most of you have picked up upon, ever since Zuckerberg gave another one of his alienating presentations, the word “metaverse” as it has been on many peoples tongues, the capitalist propaganda machines have their wheels spinning and well, heaps of the reaction to it is nothing but that, awfully reactionary and thus, irrelevant.
To begin, and for the sake of clarity let’s clearly state what the metaverse is.
“The metaverse is an iteration of the Internet part of shared virtual reality, often as a form of social media” ( "Web Archive of IEEE VW Standard Working Group". 2014-06-08. Archived from the original on 2014-06-08. Retrieved 2016-01-29. )
The metaverse in a broader sense may not only refer to virtual worlds operated by social media companies but the entire spectrum of augmented reality. The term arose in the early 1990s, and has come to be criticised as a method of public relations building using a purely speculative, "over-hyped" concept based on existing technology. While embraced by some tech firms such as Facebook, Microsoft and others, concerns about the impact on modern societies when all person to person interactions are effectively autonomous.
In regular speak, the metaverse is a term used to describe the next evolution of the internet as we know it. This isn’t particularly new, as a matter of fact, several narratives around what the internet can and will evolve into have been part of popular culture since the early 90s.
History
The term was coined in Neal Stephenson's 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash, where humans, as avatars, interact with each other and software agents, in a three-dimensional virtual space that uses the metaphor of the real world. Stephenson used the term to describe a virtual reality-based successor to the Internet. Concepts similar to the metaverse have appeared under a variety of names in the cyberpunk genre of fiction as far back as 1981 in the Vernor Vinge's novella True Names. Stephenson stated in the afterword to Snow Crash that after finishing the novel he learned about Habitat, an early MMORPG which resembled the Metaverse.
The concept cyberspace, which first appeared in the short story 'Burning Chrome' by William Gibson was a central theme in his 1984 groundbreaking novel, Neuromancer. The metaverse is distinct from "the more inclusive concept of cyberspace that reflects the totality of shared online space across all dimensions of representation" Unlike, for instance, in the fictional concept introduced in Neuromancer, which was typified by a Cartesian separation of body and mind, the metaverse allows its users to access its environs while still aware of their world. This is demonstrated in a technology called invisible to visible that Nissan is developing, which overlays a car's windshield with virtual information as well as features that include an ability to summon an in-car 3D avatar.
Analysis
It is, at this stage, incredibly important to note that Zuckerberg and his newly named parent company “Meta” did not invent this, have no claim on the conceptual ideology but over the past years have looked for avenues to guarantee continuous financial growth for the shareholders. This is particularly important to keep at the forefront of your analysis when viewing actions by these entities. Their aim is not invention, progression or the betterment of anything but their sole purpose is profit, and continuous growing profit. Everything else is just marketing, and a lie.
From a communist perspective this is logical and should not, even cannot, be fought against. Not only is it reactionary, defensive and a losing fight but more importantly, asks the wrong questions and thus leads to the wrong tactics involved.
Web 2.0 was the logical capitalist evolution from the essentially non-commercial internet where your data was quantified to sell advertising space. What we have seen here over the last 20 years, in capitalistic terms, is what could be called neo-colonialism of the digital realm. Despite our inherent disdain for all robber barons of today, they aren’t stupid and the big players have been, academically and scientifically been paying extremely smart people for decades to figure out how to guarantee increasing profits on a planet with finite resources. The 90s-till today witnessed a brutally despotic action plan that we call neo-liberalism these days which, essentially focuses on global free trade with ever increasing cost-cutting plans to maintain financial growth. In reality that meant outsourcing labour to the Global South under insanely inhume conditions, producing ever increasing faulty products, limiting freedoms and reducing taxation.
We are now coming to an end of this era. Whilst many accelerationists in Critical Marxist Theory welcomed this development, as they so falsely hoped it would mean a quick and destructive end to Capitalism, the Modernists or Scientific Utopianists among us always sought to build alternatives in an non-reactionary custom. The reality of the coming metaverse proves this to have been a correct understanding of Capitalism. As it stands, the metaverse essentially opens up an seemingly INFINITE realm of consumption, and thus securing seemingly never depreciating resources for financial growth. This is the primary reason for companies such as Facebook / Meta to throw so much money, talent and energy behind this. Zuckerberg’s presentation made his thinly veiled lie about his intentions extremely clear here - he, and his cohorts in Silicon Valley are not the benevolent futurists they try to sell themselves to be, but embarrassingly nothing but small greedy men, sworn to make more money for their creditors aka shareholders. This is the only motivation here. Yet again, it is incredibly important to understand that Facebook Inc. / Meta is not the inventor of the metaverse but initiating a global narrative trying to sell the idea that they alone are building the metaverse. The opposite is true.
Additional Analysis
Yet again, the question of what the actual metaverse is still clearly needs to be told in order to fully understand what is to be done about it all. Plainly speaking the augmentation of the Virtual World with the Physical World is what is happening. There are so many interesting theories and visions of what can and will happen in the future, again, none of these are new and have absolutely nothing to do with anything the bastards at Silicon Valley say and these are some of the realities I see playing out.
On the one hand, the virtual reality portrayed most recently in movies such as Ready Player One I find incredibly realistic. A virtual world in which anything is possible but still restricted to the imagination of Real World brains. I do think that the creation of this virtual world will at some point be taken over by A.I. and what that will produce lies way beyond the realms of my imagination and any science fiction I have yet encountered, yet, I do see that becoming a more than feasible reality.
Another current theory around the metaverse is a little more abstract yet more than plausible and it deals with the concept of the “singularity” that is common in discussion around A.I - and one that is much more deeply connected to Capitalism than the above. On that note, the above “Fully Immersive Virtual Reality” is the dumb man’s idea of the metaverse as seen by Zuckerberg’s pathetic presentation of the future.
The concept of the singularity in relationship to the metaverse understands the evolution as such: The metaverse is the moment in time where our digital life is worth more to us than our physical life. As a matter of fact this is precisely what has been happening for the past 20 years and the pandemic has only accelerated this new reality. Every part of out life is going digital, work, friends, games to identity. Additionally, now with crypto, your assets not only are becoming digital they are more importantly becoming entirely removed from the diminishing resources of the physical world: a capitalists wet dream! Imagine a place without the constrictions of a finite planet - fuck space colonisation, an idea that requires huge amounts of physical resources, but a virtual one, without such restrictions. Seemingly. Again, in terms of the singularity, it is not a question of IF but when when the first bio-mechanical sets of eyes will be available on the market through which you will be able to interact with the virtual world at all times without ever leaving the real world. The metaverse starts, according to this theory, when the digital world becomes more important than the physical world.
Again, I am not coming up with anything new here, a great number of sci-fi authors have imagined these worlds way before my time, Tad Williams’ “Otherland” probably being one of the most in-depth examinations and now the important, dystopian warnings thereof.
Resources
Of course, the obvious reaction to this all is a question of resources. Even if the powers that be, manage, with all their wealth, to build enough data centers, infrastructure and secure enough energy to maintain the metaverse, this energy is still bound to this planet and thus, finite. Yes, to a certain degree and no to a certain degree. Again, the capitalist looks at the world from a quarterly profit margin sheet and does not look at the world from a multi-generational sustainable standpoint. That isn’t their job, that’s ours. When, not if, the metaverse happens and it belongs to the likes of Facebook / Meta then us humans will be the resource. We have been banging on about the fact that, currently, we are the value for FB etc when their services are apparently “free” - and this is true. Our data is now worth more than gold. However, going forward 20-50 years when the virtual world becomes more important for the capitalists, then the physical world with all of our labour and existence will also be confined to that space. One only has to remember the scene in the Matrix 1 where humanity is reduced to a battery like state, bred to provide the same energy needed to maintain the metaverse, or the Matrix in that sense.
When all capitalistic “value” is moved into the metaverse, into transactions not bound by the physical colonisation, extraction and destruction of our habitable planet then there are no limits as to how rich the capitalists become. Yes, utterly dystopian but truthfully, if I can imagine this over a question of a few coffees and a couple days of research then you better believe that the entire might of Silicon Valley has been paying smarter people than myself to work this one out long before we have started speaking about this.
The Communist Perspective
The invention of the metaverse, as well as any advancement should ( and is ) be championed by Communists. The entire ideology is based on modernity, conceptualizing, building and most importantly working towards an egalitarian world for everyone. Granted, the reaction to Communism and Marxist Theory has always been to relegate it to an reactionary prose but the opposite is true. Again, let the words by Antonio Gramsci sink in:
“The challenge of modernity is to live without illusions and without becoming disillusioned.”
Modernity, valuing exploration, be it scientific or metaphysical is at the core of the Marxist and Communist mind set. When Capitalism, in its second stage during the Industrial Revolution truly showed its inhumane reality, the First and Second Internationale came forth with a new reality and since then, legions of brilliant thinkers have continuously laboured to develop the theory of a fair, sustainable and modern world based on a very simple principle, one that is in direct opposition to capitalism and thus, to the future they are trying to force us into.
Owning the Means of Production.
This is the core of it all comrades. Yes, the entirety of Marxist thought is a vast universe of critical, materialistic and metaphysical analysis of our reality and future, but at the core and its beautiful simplicity is the simple notion of ownership. Labour is entitled to all it creates, again, an idea predating Marxism via John Locke.
The analysis of the technological sophistication of the means of production and how they are owned is a central component in the Marxist theoretical framework of historical materialism and in Marx’s critique of political economy, and later in Marxian economics.
In Marx's work and subsequent developments in Marxist theory, the process of socioeconomic evolution is based on the premise of technological improvements in the means of production. As the level of technology improves with respect to productive capabilities, existing forms of social relations become superfluous and unnecessary, creating contradictions between the level of technology in the means of production on the one hand and the organization of society and its economy on the other.
Ownership of the means of production and control over the surplus product generated by their operation is the fundamental factor in delineating different modes of production. Capitalism is defined as private ownership and control over the means of production, where the surplus product becomes a source of unearned income for its owners. Under this system, profit-seeking individuals or organizations undertake a majority of economic activities. However, capitalism does not indicate all material means of production are privately owned as partial economies are publicly owned.
By contrast, communism is defined as social ownership of the means of production so that the surplus product accrues to society at large.
Cutting a long introduction to the core principles of Marxist theory short and what it means in regards to this subject: ownership.
Technological evolution is almost an elementary force and reigning it in is as futile as trying to stop an avalanche with your bare hands. I believe it to be intrinsic to human nature to pursue its curiosity and progression is a natural side effect thereof. The ultimate difference in how evolution affects us all, however, is ownership.
Currently, as we understand the metaverse is a privately owned idea, built by capitalists whose only motivation is the continuing growth of profit. Thus, the metaverse as it is currently being sold is a private enterprise that requires profits, and thus transactions that as history proves significantly will be based on an exploitative, unfair and unsustainable business model. The fact is, it doesn’t have to be that way. If ownership, as it is understood under Communism, no longer exists and transactions as such only exist to provide for everyone according to their needs and according to their abilities, further cemented by a truly all encompassing model of sustainability then the metaverse, as well as all other advancements in humanity would be a hugely beneficial and welcome part in our evolution.
In the end, it all boils down to the actuality of ownership, then the metaphysical idea of ownership and its deconstruction and then our own limitations, should be we have them without the destructive force of capitalism crushing us.
Conclusion
The metaverse, under capitalism, has the potential to end human civilization as we know it. That I oppose. Logically. The metaverse, as representation of the human evolution, under Communism is a welcoming game changer. In the end, not any invention or change is under attack here, as that would be destructively reactionary, but the principle of ownership, representation and the betterment of the planet is what is at stake here and Communism is at this stage in our evolution the most logically, scientifically sound answer to the status quo.
As always, yours,
without compromise,
V.