The metaverse pill is hard to swallow for many internet users

Before our eyes, screens follow one another all day long, taking the place of social interactions of “real life” … In these times of Covid-19, no need to write science fiction to imagine a world where technology is queen. But when the boss of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, announces that he wants his company to become a “metaverse company”, with the objective of injecting more and more digital into our daily experiences, it’s up to them. movies and books that many Internet users have thought of.

” The Guinea pig and Ready Player One would then become reality, describes Christophe. Anyway, when we see people immersed in their phones in the street, to the point of no longer seeing others, we sometimes have the impression that they are already in another universe, which ignores others. “For Jean-Luc, it is simply a question of” rushing us into the matrix “, in reference to the 1999 film. Matrix, in which the hero, Neo, discovers that his reality is just an illusion mounted by robots.

Are we still humans?

For his part, Luc wonders if “Orwell is not going to turn around in his grave” and announces, in the meantime, that he “returns quickly to his forest”. In George Orwell’s book 1984, totalitarian society crushes the possibility of exchange between individuals. “Personally, I fear that all of this takes us away from our reality in terms of humanism,” says Pamela. I am not at all charmed by this new world. “

This risk for our “humanity” is the main criticism formulated by Internet users: “The confinement has shown us the importance of real social relations and physical contact for the well-being of the human being”, recalls Martine, “” not at all interested ”in the metaverse. A point of view joined by Romain, who denounces “the new fad of the digital giants”.

“Colorful worlds when it’s gray and cold”

“I am not against the technology itself, but against the way in which it will be exploited by the Gafam [les grandes entreprises du secteur] Seri worries for his part. She also refers to Ready Player One, about “these metaverse run by big companies that have only the word ‘money’ in mind,” drawing a parallel between these companies and IOI, the predatory film company of Spielberg. Hugo, “is not afraid of becoming an avatar” but denounces a waste of resources: “These people should rather work to develop technologies that would help the population to live properly (…) or help the planet. “

Attention, the metaverse also has its defenders, for whom technologies do not distance us from each other, quite the contrary: “These virtual worlds are an escape and an opening to the real world at the same time, thus describes Naoki. When it is gray and cold, colorful worlds are at our disposal. When you feel alone, thousands of other people from all walks of life are there to play, talk, share and learn. This does not prevent this reader from worrying about the “follow-up of our actions” by Facebook, and the capture of data.

A question of balance

“This metaverse that frightens you, I’ve dreamed of it since the 1980s,” says Lyzbeth. “That large groups like Facebook are putting great effort into making it a reality, also means that many people will strive, like me, to work on free and unconstrained versions”, she adds. .

For Jc, a video game lover, the metaverse is downright childhood dreams come true: “I would dive into it with gusto. I will fly over the seven wonders of the world reconstructed like Superman, participate in poker tournaments in digital casinos, I will take a seat for the Michael Bublé concert in front of two million spectators and take part for sure in space battles. Exhilarating! “According to this Internet user, that will not prevent him from pressing OFF from time to time:” The hills of my native Provence have not finished seeing me crisscrossing them. And there, no Superman tights on the hiking boots.