Future Psychosocial Implications of the Metaverse Exploring possible non-technical and existential dimensions
Introduction The following indications were evoked by the Pew-Elon Internet and Technology Project Canvassing of Experts undertaken in February 2022 by the Pew Research Center and Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center . However the responses here are not constrained by the survey's particular focus on the Future of the Metaverse and the degree to which it could become a broadly adopted aspect of daily life by the year 2040. The results of the survey are expected to be published in June 2022. This follows the results of an earlier survey by the two bodies whose results are published as Visions of the Internet in 2035 . The concerns in what follows are, however, not with the technological emphasis but rather with the psychosocial emphasis -- whatever that may be deemed to mean. IOT (Internet Of Themes vs Internet Of Things)? The metaverse as a network of connected virtual worlds in 3D could be understood as a simple extrapolation of what is already recognized in