In recent weeks, both Mark Zuckerberg and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella announced with great fanfare that the metaverse offers an antidote to the lack of human connection. Perhaps I’m old-fashioned but interacting with others through cartoon avatars is not my idea of establishing meaningful connections. Indeed, avatars with limited emotional expression and no evidence of subtle non-verbal communication appear to me to be another step toward dehumanizing interpersonal relationships. Facebook and Microsoft have chosen this moment to set out the metaverse as a virtual realm in which they propose to be both the leading landlords and the architects of a new social order.
Full commentary: We can’t walk blindly into the Metaverse.