The Metaverse, and why I can’t explain “it”.
People often say to me that they don’t understand the Metaverse, and can I explain it to them. What is it? I don’t get it. Can you give me a crash course on it?
The problem here is not that I don’t like explaining complex things to people. To be fair, I do that for a living.
The problem is that the Metaverse simply isn’t an “it”.
Why the Metaverse isn’t an “it”
Attempting to explain the Metaverse as a discrete object, an enclosed thing, is like trying to explain what love is. Or like trying to write a 10 slide keynote explaining what “digital” is to a marketing client.
Love and Digital are truly too complex to effectively conceptualise as a thing, to capture in a simple sentence.
Digital is expressed as series of the digits 0 and 1, typically represented by values of a physical quantity such as voltage or magnetic polarisation.
Imagine you are a marketing client, and I just explained Digital to you using the Oxford dictionary definition. Are you clear? Do you get it now? Did I successfully encapsulate the full breadth, complexity, and impact of a transformative technological ecosystem? (Either way, I’m billing these hours)
Credit for the weekly marketing lols: Tom Fishburne, marketoonist.com
So with that in mind, if you’re somebody who has wondered / is wondering what “it” (as in, the Metaverse) is, I’ll let you in on a little secret.
Don’t think about the Metaverse as a thing.
Think about the Metaverse like how you think about other complex ecosystems.
In what sense is the Metaverse a complex ecosystem?
Let’s use an analogy here.
Take nature for example. Nature is of course somewhat intangible, hard to grapple with and define. But what we can say is that nature is a “catch-all” term that umbrellas over a group of complex, interconnected, persistent, evolving, and semi-permeable ecosystems:
Complex
Nature refers to a variety of smaller ecosystems (e.g. oceans), each comprising a multitude of smaller forces and units (e.g. erosion, algae), so on and so on...
2. Interconnected
The ecosystems and forces within nature are largely interconnected, whereby changes in one have a direct or indirect impact on changes in another.
3. Persistent
Nature is “always on” (the tree literally does fall even if no-one is looking).
4. Evolving
The ecosystems and forces of nature are in a constant state of adaptation and evolution.
5. Reactive
Nature’s ecosystems react to the things (i.e. animals and humans) inhabiting them (unless you are a climate change skeptic that is).
6. Semi-permeable
The boundaries of nature’s ecosystems are dotted lines, not thick, bold lines. Forces bleed between them.
Now let’s apply the same framing to the “catch-all” term that is the Metaverse, and see what comes out:
Complex
The Metaverse refers to a variety of smaller ecosystems (e.g. blockchain, e.g. gaming), each comprising a multitude of smaller platforms, virtual worlds, organisations, products (e.g. bitcoin, e.g. Roblox, e.g. Krause House), so on and so on...
2. Interconnected
The ecosystems and forces within the Metaverse are largely interconnected, whereby changes in one have a direct or indirect impact on changes in another.
(e.g. as more money is spent in games and other entertainment, more developers are incentivised to create better experiences, meaning that hardware companies might finally make a comfortable and affordable headset)
3. Persistent
The Metaverse is “always on”.
(Trust me — the price of bitcoin, or the value of your palm tree NFT, will certainly fall even if you aren’t looking)
4. Evolving
The ecosystems, technologies, players, and user behaviours of the Metaverse are in a constant state of adaptation and evolution (and on an unprecedentedly rapid timeline)
5. Reactive
Much more so than the Web 2.0 internet, the Metaverse’s ecosystems react and feedback to the things (i.e. humans, rarely animals I hope) inhabiting them in real-time.
6. Semi-permeable
The boundaries of the Metaverse’s ecosystems are dotted lines, not thick, bold lines. Technologies, products, organisations, and players can bleed between them.
So there we have it.
Obviously, my point here is that the Metaverse is equally as important as Nature to the ongoing survival of the human race.
Jk. What I’m actually saying is that the Metaverse is best conceptualised as a broad, fluid “catch-all” term, not an “it”, and that the term “Metaverse” refers to a network of interconnected and — in my opinion, highly transformative — technological ecosystems.
Why am I writing this?
Having been a keen observer and occasional investor in this space for 5+ years, I recently started building a product in one of the aforementioned technological ecosystems. As I venture deeper into this scene, I have observed that the active community creating cool things in this space is small.
Let’s be honest — the world doesn’t need more crypto bros. But the world does need more creative people figuring out how to harness these technologies to their potential.
So, with that goal in mind, I will be sharing my thoughts here about this space, the technological ecosystems that comprise it, and a little about what I am working on (no promotional trojan horse shithousery, promise). Hope to catch some of you for a chat (in the physical or virtual worlds) soon!
Ciao.