New Realities: AR, MR, VR & the Metaverse. Heaven or Hell? GerdTalks#9

The Future of Virtuality 

Since the beginning of the Internet, the concept of 'cyberspace' and 'online worlds' has been a constant theme and the subject of numerous famous science fiction plots, as well as the implied mission of countless startups. VR's basic promise that you can dwell (or.... live?) in a 3D, fully customisable and limitless digital 'fantasy world' where everything is possible, free of restraints of a physical nature, location or regulation - from Second Live to The Sims to Roblox to Fortnite to Facebook Horizons and Microsoft Mesh and the flood of recent Metaverse projects - is really tantalizing and powerful. And given that we are now living in the era of 'exponential everything', science fiction is increasingly becoming science fact.

But how feasible is VR, for businesses or for consumers, and is it actually compatible with human brains (and bodies) - or is it as dazzling but also as unrealistic as perpetual motion? And is Augmented/Mixed Reality more feasible and more humanly sustainable?

VIRTUALITY in any shape or form, whether AR (augmented reality), VR or in MR (mixed reality) seems to suddenly be no longer the exclusive domain of hardcore gamers. Rather, it is being pitched as a kind of next edition of the (mobile) Internet, a next step in the evolution of the web (web3 + NFTs ++ etc). Although VR is currently still very much held back by the high cost of suitable devices and bandwidth issues or computing power, the buzz is reaching gold-rush like proportions.

We are leaping into the future - gradually, then suddenly is the new normal. And yet - will virtual life make our real-lives better, or will we just vanish in simulations?

In this episode of GerdTalks, I will address both the positive i.e. the possibly 'heavenly' aspects of this development as well as the negative 'hellish' trappings that may occur if we aren't careful (see the current social media debates on disinformation), and will outline what it all means for marketers, communications, e-commerce, and business as well as life in general, in the next 5-7 years.  I examine the concept of the Metaverse from a variety of angles, and will make some recommendations on how to get involved (or not). I will delineate why I think that while we need to embrace virtuality just like we have embraced 'digitization' and the other 9 Game-Changers, I believe that all marketing - and indeed all media - must remain focused on reaching humans in their holistic and embodied complexity, keeping in mind that we think (and live) not just with the brain (and with our senses) but also with our body. Virtualisation is the inevitable future of everything, yet dehumanisation needs to be kept in-check at all times.  Embrace technology but don't become it!

I will present for 15 minutes and will then take live questions via LinkedIn and YT, as well as bring in some special guests. The event will be live-streamed via LinkedIn, Youtube, Twitch/Twitter and many other platform as well as on my website at https://www.futuristgerd.com/livestream/