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+title: On Zuck's Metaverse — Ads Everywhere
+date: November 25, 2021 14:06
+---
+<p>
+First off, let's just call it VR. "Metaverse" is a brand name invented to
+separate current efforts from the previously failed hype around VR. The reasons
+VR has failed before are interesting of themselves, but more on that in a future
+post. Here I want to talk about Zuck's ideas for social VR and what I think
+about the whole concept.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+VR as a social and communication medium, which appears to be Zuck's focus, and
+is likely to end up being one of the widest VR markets in terms of number of
+users and overall man-hour usage time, is not progress in any way. It doesn't
+actually introduce any new features that would make life better. It will never
+replace real world human connections as Zuck seems to imply it can. At least not
+until we reach Matrix-levels of simulation, but that comes with a whole host of
+other obvious problems.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Remember &mdash; it's not social media, it's marketing media. VR social media is
+simply a huge investment of developer time, and a trade off of internet
+bandwidth, to squeeze extra attention and shopfront-facing time from users. VR
+is fancy, engaging, and can probably be made to be even more addicting than the
+current flat phone screens.  Just like it's hard to take your eyes off of a
+flashing TV screen, even if you're not actively interested in what's currently
+on, it will be difficult for the people that plug themselves into VR to take the
+headset off. Zuck talked a lot about interoperability of "metaverse" systems:
+this is also going to be useful from a profits perspective, by seamlessly
+guiding users (<i>useds</i> in Stallmanian terms) from a chat with friends to
+purchasing a new product.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Internet ads already replaced magazine, newspaper, radio, and to an extent even
+TV ads. By building a simulated world for people to spend time in and move
+around, Zuck (and other VR investors) could now also steal market share from
+highway billboards, sidewalk posters, and other places we encounter marketing
+while moving around the physical world.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That's all there is to it. If you see Zuck investing billions into a new effort,
+remember that it's to see a return on investment. And for a marketing product
+like Facebook, returns come from sapping human attention.
+</p>