Metaverse ⬇️

"Sky-high expections" of "futuristic vistas" where we all would interact in virtual worlds, that's how the Metaverse was promoted. Glowing predictions of the internet of the future attracted investors to Mark Zuckerberg's vision. But it was just big hype.

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Zuckerberg told media hosts that a billion people would use it and spend hundreds of dollars there. But they didn't. Users never approached the expected numbers. Consulting firms predicted that the company would be worth $5-13 trillion within a few years. But it wasn't.

"Meta could not convince people to use the product it had staked its future on."

"Zuckerberg misled everyone, burned tens of billions of dollars, convinced an industry of followers to submit to his quixotic obsession, and then killed it . . . "

from Business Insider

Meta spying

Social media learns information about us as we use it. We see the results when an ad shows up which seems to address a need we've talked about. What else do they know about us?  

If you live and play in the Metaverse, you're handing over quite a bit more information about yourself, like your real physical attributes, your gender, your wealth. Ads will be more personalized: "A lot of people think metaverse ads mean billboards. Actually, it could be something far, far more immersive than that . . ."

And beyond making our data available to their customers who want to advertise to us, we're sure that they will sell our data to . . someone . . for some unknown purpose.

A study published last month demonstrates how easy it is to gather data from virtual reality (VR) users. They created a simple VR game and learned over 20 data points about those users in about five minutes:

from Forbes

Meta

Facebook has rightfully lost steam because it's lost the trust of the public. So attention is being re-directed to Meta, its new parent company and Mark Zuckerberg's new vision. 

That vision is, ta-da, The Metaverse: a virtual reality where we will be able to live and do what we can't in our real world. If you saw the movie "Ready Player One," you've seen the concept.

When you want to escape your dystopia because you feel helpless to change things, fear not. You can escape to the Metaverse where everything is cool. 

Or not. In the movie, corrupted human beings still control the escape universe. Kinda like Facebook?

If we're all going to live VR lives, let's hope Meta is not the guardian of that universe.

from MSM

AI & nuclear 1

Remember the "Metaverse," that virtual reality envisioned by Mark Zuckerberg? After billions of dollars of investment, there was enormous loss. The Metaverse virtual reality platforms still exist, but not as the company's primary focus. 

Instead, Meta has turned to artificial intelligence. Their new superintelligence research lab will be led by the founder of Scale AI (they paid $14.3 billion dollars for a 49% share in his company).

As MIT commented, building out AI will require "staggering" amounts of energy. So they're actively looking for nuclear developers with whom they can partner (read: invest $) to produce new power. That could include either big conventional plants, or the emerging SMR's (small modular reactors).

But of course fusion (instead of current fission) nuclear would be the breakthrough solution if the theory ever becomes practical. Meta has an agreement with Helion, as does Microsoft, for the delivery of fusion-produced nuclear power by 2028. 

Can Helion do it? It remains to be seen. We're hopeful. They've started on Microsoft's nuclear fusion plant:

Deepfake

"Deepfake" combines the AI term "deep learning" with the word "fake" to mean a video or image in which the true person's visual is replaced (powered by artificial intelligence) with the likeness of someone else. Why?  To simply entertain . . or to deceive.

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The resulting video or image is really convincing. Take a look at some Youtube videos. Here's one of Bruce Willis' face on a younger actor's body, speaking Russian in a commercial. And here's one using Tom Cruise's familiar face.

A Russian company called Deepcake made the deepfake video of Tom Cruise. They are probably ready to make one for you, or for a political party or for a country, or . . what wouldn't they and  other deepfake creators be willing to do?

It used to be that we could believe videos of people saying or doing something, because the technology didn't exist to lie so convincingly. What now? It will make truth even harder to know than it used to be. For example: do you believe some video showing a politician saying something awful? Or should you suspect it's a deepfake video made to convince you that she's awful? It could happen -- will happen.

Or this technology could create . . well, anything. Including some fake life that you wish for on the Metaverse. As always, what we do with any tool reflects what we value. You and all of us make choices.