Knowledge Communities are Shaping the Metaverse.

Is the Metaverse Synonym of Dystopia?

At the end of October in 2021, when Facebook changed its name to “Meta”, we had a boom in the Metaverse topic. Look at this google trends data: in this period of 2021 every single news outlet spoke about it. Seriously, even granny's were searching for it.

Probably not a coincidence, from the end of October to November the term “Dystopia” also had its own spike. Definitely, everyone got curious about what the metaverse is, and what it will bring for us.

That boom has already passed... Now we're in a steady range as the trends show. But it's just taking a break until it jumps again as soon as new developments appear on the horizon announcing AI, Internet legislation, or Web3 developments. 

Why do I say this?

Because the metaverse is a bold description for immersive tech to interact with people and apps in a virtual World. But it was born “cursed” from the beginning. Because it was created to describe a high-tech world with low human rights. As Mr. Neil Stephenson introduced it 30 years ago.

Here is the Metaverse, and here is Dystopia since 2004. Almost 20 years of searches are here. In the dominant narrative, the “Metaverse” and “Dystopia” are opposite sides of the same coin. And that coin is our future.

It’s time we “own” the Metaverse Narrative: The knowledge revolution. 

That's why it is time for us to “own” the Metaverse Narrative. Simply because when we talk about the metaverse, we are talking about ourselves in the “future”. 

And we are the authors and the protagonists of this story. 

Since we are all building our future together, the dark side, the “dystopian bit”, shall be removed from the picture.

Making physical reality indistinguishable from virtual reality is indeed a technical human achievement but that doesn't mean we shall “renegotiate” our rights and lower our standards for that future. 

We don’t have to give away our personal data or accept totalitarian systems.

After all, we all know that to be immersed we don’t really need fancy technology, or to be in a virtual World. In other words, “engagement” is emotional and it has been like that for millions of years. 

So the real question is: how can we make our future a bright one, and avoid the Orwellian nightmare? 

The answer is: by realizing that we’re living in a “Knowledge Revolution” which is mainly driven by “Communities”. And soon aided by AI.  

Simply expressed: there’s too much awareness already to build dystopian futures that no one wants. 

We already have 5.4 Billion users on the internet. Hundreds of millions of communities of good and talented people working and creating options for a better future. Only in Meta there are more than 8 million communities already.

An enormous “good will critical mass", sustained by “vast streams of knowledge”.  

Knowledge revolution: From the printing press to digital technologies. Community networking created the Noosphere.

To get some perspective about our current knowledge, I will say that in the middle ages before the printing press literacy in Europe rates were below 20% of the population and the biggest library of the World, the Paris University one, had only 300 books.  Those days, a single book took from 15 months to whole years to be finished since it was crafted handmade. And each book was a unique piece, as was the information in it. 

However, today, literacy is 99% and the biggest library of the world, the Library of Congress, has 164 million items and 1,350 kilometres of bookshelves. That is 152 times Mount Everest's height. Already reaching some satellite orbits. 

The printing press brought accuracy of data, and enabled standardization of science. The translation of the Bible to German, and from there to many other languages dramatically changed how we related with the divine and shifted power relations. Causing wars in many cases.  

After this revolution, since the 20th Century, Telecommunications technology developed dramatically. Everyone knows the importance of the telegraph, the telephone, or the radio and TV in shaping modern societies during the last 100 years. 

However, since the digital era began we now call them “knowledge technologies”. We shifted because we finally understood the real impact in our culture.

The “knowledge impact”.

It is also possible to map the knowledge layer in our globe. Some already cleverly call it “the Noosphere”. 

In more spiritual terms, Vandana Shiva calls it the “Oneness”.

Communities multiply and make us knowledge producers.

We’re the best communicated and informed generation in history. There are more than 340 billion emails sent a day. We have over 2 billion websites on the Internet, and we do more than 8.5 billion searches a day: Internet searches like the one we’ve seen with the “Metaverse” or “Dystopia” ones, are a sample of it.  

Our decision making process got drastically better since we have an immense amount of information at our disposal. 

But you know what is really impressive? 

Is how we gather to manage and discuss the information. 

Did you know that 76 Percent of Internet users actually participate in online communities? And 98 percent read reviews to assess businesses. 

That means that basically 4 billion of us participate in networks.

Basically any issue on earth you can think about is being consulted, benchmarked, and selected for each use case.

No wonder search engines will probably transform with AI to become “knowledge assistants”.

With no doubts the most powerful aspect comes when we communicate with others to ask questions, leave reviews, or just hold a conversation. We build bonds and trust networks. That can happen in forums, or social media. 

Due to our communication we’re actively contributing to the knowledge production and the collective decision making process. Indeed: we evaluate even the platforms we’re using to communicate. 

We very often listen: Don’t use this or that platform, “the algorithm is not fair or has a bias”.

BTW, I can not mention examples or I'll be banned:)

We've only been two decades since the Internet took off in 2000. So the real question is: Does anyone know what can be expected in the next 50, 100 or 200 years?

Despite Being the 21st Century the Communities Century: its relevance is not understood.

Obviously: The key piece of the puzzle to understand our future is the community. I would say it is the spine of the metaverse's roadmap.

As a paradox, the less understood piece of this metaverse plot is our “knowledge community”. The knowledge community is a new animal which we're still trying to understand under the term “users'' from a customer based perspective, "voters", or "followers'' within the hierarchical social media Web2 paradigm. 

The truth is that those terms don't really work because none of them realize that in this era it is already a give and take relationship. 

As a consequence, what is required now, is a more democratic association if you will. Allow me to say it in this way: “the community belongs to the community”.

Conclusion

We have the longest life expectancy and higher living standards rates ever before. We are also dealing with the most well informed, skilled, and interconnected population in human history.  With 5.4 billion producing content and benefiting from the information available on the Internet. While 4 billion are interconnected via communities. 

Behavioral tricks or Manipulative propaganda are sure to cause backlash and generate low trust among the population: as seen in all the research. 

So what is left then? The answer is clear: Transparency, honest leadership, and negotiation. 

Understanding the relationship with your communities, sharing power with them, increasing participation, listening, or gamifying business schemes is part of the solution.

Any organization that understands this will thrive. 

Another good news is that the community is looking forward to actively building a better world: More democratic, open, and inclusive. 

I believe that we are creating our own path to follow. And I am convinced that this 21st Century will be the “age of the communities”. 

We can’t be afraid of people communicating, therefore the real challenges ahead are threats such as fake profiles and inappropriate personal data management. 

Identity verifications will have to be addressed in a democratic not intrusive manner to enable the eradication of fake profiles while assuring the cooperation and trust of the communities. This work has to be done and will bring new business opportunities. 

On the other hand, personal data management and its commercialization will have to become totally transparent while revenues will have to be democratized. Simply because personal data belongs to the people.

These two issues will unroll a long process, and we can expect that many power relations will be redefined. 

That way next time when we talk about the “metaverse” we shall be talking about Community Empowerment and that promising future that we're building together. 

Because community empowerment and a promising future are opposite sides of the same coin.