Today, the metaverse is on everyone's lips, a hot topic of controversy... caught between technological enthusiasm and growing skepticism, generating a lot of discussion and sparking many debates. Yet, it fails to truly captivate or convince, except perhaps—and I do mean perhaps—advertising agencies. But without a target audience, what's the point, you might ask? So why? After all, a statement closes the mind while a question opens it, and it is in this spirit that we will attempt to elucidate this phenomenon by trying to provide some answers according to the Golden Indigo model.
Let's start by defining what the metaverse is? A fortiori, the metaverse is a 3D universe simulated through virtual reality and which would offer multiple possibilities for social and societal interaction, combining a virtual cyberspace in which users would move freely in the form of avatars and where users would not just observe the Internet through their screen, but would actually be there in a way.
In short, welcome to The Sims 2.0! Or a Second Life remake?
Enough joking around, let's get down to business. I'd like to ask you this question: "Isn't there something about this worldview that bothers you?" While it might be feasible one day, is it truly desirable? We could almost believe we're in a remake of the film *The Matrix*. Yet the idea proposed by the Meta company, as improbable as it may seem, is very serious. So, a question arises: Is the world you truly want to live in simply a game of bread and circuses? Isn't it irresponsible to try to shirk our responsibilities in the face of the adversity of a real world that is literally going up in flames due to ecological, geopolitical, and societal damage, and where our constitutional and fundamental rights, which we take for granted, can self-destruct if we're not careful? Let's think, in particular, of freedom of expression and the freedom to be oneself, which are so precious...
We're already so connected... that by being glued to our screens, we're disconnecting from reality and our mental health. Furthermore, current social media platforms tend to make us more antisocial than sociable.
The problem is that by constantly severing ties with our humanity and the very essence of what defines it, we are dehumanizing ourselves more and more each day, moving towards a societal malaise adrift in meaning and balance, where no one knows why or how to communicate anymore. By forgetting to live and feel alive behind our obligations, we lose the impetus that drives us to reach out to others, and that allows others to reach out to us.
Human beings are fundamentally social and community-oriented. This is undeniable. While we need personal time to recharge and disconnect from social life, we also need others for inspiration, and we need to connect with others to feel alive. This awakens our collective consciousness and cultivates our irrepressible desire to bring ever more meaning and depth to our individual lives, as well as to the unbreakable bonds that unite us as human beings.
Social connections contribute to our happiness, or at least a part of it. At Golden Indigo, we prefer to believe, perhaps wrongly, that a future more focused on humanity and on a feeling grounded in greater meaning and depth is our future, your future. Only time will tell.
Finally, we would like to mention one of the best-known theories, which is Maslow's pyramid developed in 1943. This theory aims to prioritize and highlight 5 reasons that would explain our social needs.
It consists of 5 points:
1) Physiological Needs (hunger, thirst, survival, sexuality, rest, habitat).
2) The need for security (feeling safe, being able to trust).
3) The Need for Belonging (to be loved, listened to, understood, esteemed by others, to be part of a group, to have a status).
4) Need for esteem (feeling of being useful and valuable, developing and cultivating one's identity).
5) The need for self-fulfillment (developing one's knowledge and values).
And you? What future do you dream of for the world of tomorrow?
