Don't Touch My Avatar, Please

I would betray my age if I told you that I don’t understand the hype surrounding Bitcoin, Metaverse, Block Chain and those other darlings of the new cyberworld out there.

Recently, the Business Insider web site reported that a woman reported being groped by a  stranger while working as a beta tester on a new meta platform. The platform creator defended itself by saying the woman hadn’t enabled safety features. I guess nobody thought to mention that it was a ‘virtual world’ and the groping was from one digital bit or byte to another. Unless the woman felt it vicariously; it must have just touched her fingertips. Great imagination on her part, though.

All of this came to mind when I was purging my ‘blog idea’ folder and came across an article in Futurist Magazine published in March-April of 2014. The article was entitled: ‘The Information Revolution’s Broken Promises.’

Its main premise was that many of the predictions, promises and visions for this new ‘cyber’ world either didn’t happen or didn’t pan out as promised. Only after the revolutionary euphoria began to fade along with our own critical judgments did a more sober perspective start to emerge of this new information revolution. Now fast forward some several years and I’m wondering what if anything has changed.

Before this latest convulsion of the Information Revolution, Alvin Toffler was warning us about radical changes taking place in many aspects of our society. The vocabulary has changed. The old players have either left, changed their persona or been replaced by their juniors, but the hype remains the same.

For example, is metaverse just another one of the Information’s Revolution’s broken promises or are there real treasures (fortunes) to be found in today’s digital landscape? Author Neal Stephenson is credited with coining the term "metaverse" in his 1992 science fiction novel "Snow Crash," in which he envisioned lifelike avatars who met in realistic 3D buildings and other virtual reality environments.

Since then, various developments have made mileposts on the way toward a real metaverse, an online virtual world which incorporates augmented reality, virtual reality, 3D holographic avatars, video and other means of communication. As the metaverse expands, it will offer a hyper-real alternative world for you to coexist in. If you’re of a mind to.

Inklings of the metaverse already exist in online game universes such as Fortnite, Minecraft and Roblox. And the companies behind those games have ambitions to be part of the evolution of the metaverse.

Bitcoins have been described as a new kind of currency for the digital age. Now there are a slew of similar trading icons in the digital playing field. Other icons have appeared on scene and I must admit I don’t understand most of them. Block Chain, NFT Collections, NFT sales of virtual land and Meta real estate are just some of these new trading currencies. They have impacted online banking services and transactions, the sports betting industry, and currency exchange just to name a few.

Aside from these esoteric and often times exotic enounces of internet 3, there have been major advancements made in many areas of our lives and economy. Wind farms, solar panels and now storage panels are all harnessing the natural energy forces all around us. Solar is capturing more of the sun’s power to electrify our homes and businesses. New batteries are storing that power for future use….taking many households and businesses totally ‘off the grid.’

Tesla and Rivian are gaining ground against the old gas-guzzling chariots of our parents. Even the German ‘people’s car’ is no match for today’s electric vehicles.

My old area of interest, mass communications, is another example of the steady advancements made in the way people connect with one another or share information. From Guttenburg’s bible to the printing press to the telegraph to radio and onward.

In the beginning, the pony express carried our messages long distances. Then the telegraph hobbled that effort. Radio beget Television which beget Cable which beget Netflix and Amazon who together championed streaming services. Along the way, reel-to-reel tape morphed into Beta and VHS video tapes which, in turn, morphed into the Walkman, the iPod, iPad, iPhone, tablet and other personal devices.

Of course, along with those advancements come the camp followers and hucksters. Now (after a quick review Business Insider) we’re back to being inundated with articles like: ‘Seventh grader saves his allowance and invests in rental housing (or Bitcoins or NFTs or the metaverse) to generate more income than his parents. If he can do it, so can you.’ (Sign up here).

Instagram has been accused of having an adverse effect on teenage mental health. Tik-Tok isn’t far behind. In reaction, the Chinese government decided to limit teen-age use of online activities to three hours a day. Down through the generations and with each new decade, we’re told it’s a new world out there.

2008 was the culmination of years of fiddling around on Wall Street. We were told back then that it was different this time. They said real estate never went down. They weren’t making any more land. Equity in your home was meant to be spent and not wasted just sitting in your portfolio. All the experts agreed that ‘this time was different.’

Or not.

I understand the hype behind ‘it’s a whole new world out there.’ But I do believe many of the basics still count for something. The trouble with touting the basics is that they aren’t new or sexy or earth-shaking. The basics are not prone to over-caffeinated hype and exaggeration. Thus, they’re not very sellable.

In Norman Lear’s book : ‘Even This I Get to Experience’ he talks about a conversation he had with a Harvard professor who lamented the current narrow focus of the younger generation. He called it ‘The most rapacious societal disease of our time: short-term thinking.’ Lear went on to reflect on the professors comments.

The professor explained: “There will be a time very shortly when young people-very young people- will be looking into computer screens. They will be looking directly into screens, not to the side, so there will be no peripheral vision; they won’t be looking over the top, so they won’t see what’s ahead; they’ll be staring straight ahead into those screens, blind to everything ahead and around them.”

Money managers and financial product traders will be selling, buying, and swapping financial products around the world. With that narrow focus, like a horse with blinders, they will have more control and hold more power in those split seconds than we can today imagine. And all of it entirely focused on short-term gains.”

Unfortunately, many of today’s politicians and business leaders are following the same old game plan. It’s sometimes hard to see past the hype and colorful façade to the reality behind it. But a more proper perspective and long-term thinking is critical to seeing a clearer path ahead.

What’s old is new again and some things never change…for the good and the bad. So it’s back to: Buyer beware…all over again.