Thread by @PnictogenHorses

Dan Olson ([at] FoldableHuman) recently released another fascinating video, this one about the failed attempt by @facebook / @Meta to hop onto the "virtual reality" bandwagon, a couple of decades too late—for 3D simulated realities are now routine technology.

(cont'd)

I've talked about how @elonmusk's daydreams have a fusty, antique quality to them—like some kind of lingering hangover from the days of 1980s science-fantasy movies and the 1990s Internet craze, when people could make quick dirty money simply by grabbing a domain name.

(cont'd)

this is one reason I'm always amused to see people like @alx and @jason riding the @elonmusk bandwagon: clearly, these people have _also_ hoped that grabbing a short and catchy username would make them rich. see also Elon Musk's obsession with "X" and "the X App".

(cont'd)

the #Decentraland video is a reminder that the @Meta / #Metaverse fad also feels a bit old. Mark Zuckerberg stole the name from an old book, @nealstephenson's "Snow Crash" (which I...don't actually like very much) and did absolutely *nothing new* with their "metaverse".

(cont'd)

@SecondLife is *two decades old*. #FFXI is at least as old as Second Life. compared to these things, @Meta and #Decentraland look positively rudimentary—it's quite clear that the only real draw to the Zuckerberg #Metaverse was that it had the big-name corporate brand.

(cont'd)

this is typical of capitalism and corporate "innovation" in #technology. this was how Steve Jobs made a packet, when he returned to @Apple and turned the corporation into a mere slick repackager of existing technology. Apple didn't invent MP3 players or smart phones.

(cont'd)

what was supposed to matter about @Apple's devices were that they came from Apple and Steve Jobs. in a similar spirit, @elonmusk hasn't invented #ElectricVehicles, but you're supposed to think @Tesla is revolutionary because Elon Musk is (purportedly) a unique genius.

(cont'd)

and clearly #MarkZuckerberg was hoping that @Meta could put a similar spiffy brand-name *stamp* on virtual reality with its "metaverse" but...well, if you watch the Dan Olson "Decentraland" video, I think you'll get some idea of how well that turned out.

~Mona Drafter

(I should clarify: I've conflated the Mark Zuckerberg @Meta initiative with the #Decentraland thing because they're manifestations of the same phenomenon; "Decentraland" exists because Zuckerberg tried to rebrand around the "metaverse". but they're separate business entities.)