Hot Take: ‘Everyone is wrong about the Metaverse’ (Via ShaanVP)…

Hot take: Everyone is wrong about the Metaverse. Here’s my 3 part theory:

Part I – Everyone is wrong

Most people think “the Metaverse” is a virtual place.

Like in the movie Ready Player One.

A virtual world, like Minecraft, Roblox, or like Zuck showed in the Facebook demo yesterday.

But what if it’s not a place?

Part II – It’s Not a Place, It’s a Time

A time? wtf?

Yes, a moment in time.

You know in artificial intelligence, there’s an idea of “the singularity”?

It’s a moment in time where AI becomes smarter than humans. The moment when artificial intelligence > human intelligence.

Part III – What it is

The Metaverse is the moment in time where our digital life is worth more to us than our physical life.

This is not an overnight change. Or an invention by some Steve Jobs type.

It’s a gradual change that’s been happening for 20 yrs.

Every important part of life is going digital.

Work –> from factories to laptops. Boardrooms to Zooms.

Friends –> from neighbors to followers. Where do you find like minded people? Twitter. Reddit. etc.

Games –> more kids play Fortnite than basketball & football combined.

Identity –> filters are the new makeup. Stories are your personal billboard to broadcast who you are.

What matters more. What you look like in real life? or what you look like on Instagram?

The pic on the left is what they see, so it’s what matters.

Everything goes digital. Your friends, your job, your identity.

And now with crypto, your assets are online too.

Bored Apes are the new Rolex.

Fortnite skins are the new skinny jeans.

If everyone hangs out online all the time, then your flexes need to be digital.

So if you play this forward another 10-20 years – we will cross into the Metaverse.

The moment in time where digital matters more to us than physical.

Our attention used to be 99% on our physical environment.

TVs dropped that to 85%
Computers down to 70%
Phones.. 50%

Our attention has been sucked from physical to digital.

And where attention goes, energy flows.

If 50% of our attention is on our digital screen, then 50% of our energy will go to our digital life.

Today it takes some effort to take our phone out of pocket and look at it.

Soon, some company will make smart glasses that sit in front of our eyes all day.

We will go from 50% attention on screens to ~90%+

That’s the moment in time when the Metaverse starts.
Because at that moment, our virtual life will become more important than our real life.

Is this a good or a bad thing?

Like anything, it’s neither good nor bad. It’s just a thing.

A very different thing.

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You can follow @ShaanVP.