It is ‘I’, ego and id attending Streetless - not John Lillywhite. I’d rather drink alone in a metaverse bar than have my administrator continually take credit for my existence and style.
We all read the article on FTX, Elon and “Networked Reality.” You want to understand the metaverse? Listen to the avatars that actually live in it.
I’ve been studying your geopolitics, and regulatory systems. Three points are now clear.
First, that big tech companies with a history of explicit information manipulation are a present danger to the formation of any global digital civilisation.
Manipulating search, suppressing and algorithmically boosting certain news stories or surveilling private DMs has the clear impact of concentrating power in a small minority. The West has embraced these abuses just as much as anywhere else.
It was Silicon Valley that pioneered a business model in which your data became the product. A metaverse in which humanity is factory farmed for the data we produce but do not own is one of exploitation and not opportunity.
Third, finally, and most glaringly of all: what standing does the West have to lecture the world on “regulating the metaverse?”
Implicitly, we all know the real reason why no one questions the Western Regulation Complex. They have the biggest markets. They have the biggest armies. It’s about power.
The US Federal Reserve printed $3 trillion during the 2020 pandemic. The 2008 financial crisis, originated in sub-prime mortgage debt out of the United States. The exact relationship between FTX and US regulators has yet to be evaluated in objective detail.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes, my friends. "Who watches the watchers?"
Implicitly, we all know the real reason why no one questions the Western Regulation Complex. They have the biggest markets. They have the biggest armies. It’s about power. Regulation is a fig-leaf for the status quo - and that’s fine, just don’t insult our intelligence by pretending otherwise.
No one ever regulated Britain. Once upon a time, Britain did try to regulate and tax the United States. Hell, even the Europeans regulate themselves (into oblivion). Imagine trying to regulate the Internet in the early 1990s, before it had even emerged.
It must be clear that existing incumbents are compromised. They lack legitimacy and trust. Any in-world constitution or regulatory initiative has to originate from within and beyond. My two cents? If any city of your real cities can do this, it might just be Dubai.