As we think about the metaverse and virtual worlds, we might want to think more about who we want to be…

There is nothing new about our pending virtual worlds.
We saw it with Second Life.
We see it with Roblox.
We see it with Minecraft.
If you have Oculus, you are already seeing it.
We’ve seen this movie before.

If nothing changes in our social media behavior, we will fracture our society (even) more.

If that doesn’t scare you, it should.
We will become more insular.
We will become more divided.
We will become more like others who are like us.

We will lose our ability to understand others… and their differing perspectives.

My experiences traveling this past few weeks for business have been eye-opening.
Zoom doesn’t solve for life.
Zoom doesn’t make us see the world (and one another) in a different light.
The information transfer in a business meeting is only a small fraction of what a business meeting should be about.
Being together – in our protein forms – is critical too.

We need to experience others… and other places.

Pico Iyer said it best…
“We don’t travel to move. We travel to be moved.”

On the other hand, the metaverse will…

Build new businesses.
Bring people together in new and interesting ways.
Enable us to be more connected to more diverse voices and people.

Which brings us to the big questions:

Why would the metaverse be any different (or better) than what we’re seeing with social media?
Who will govern the metaverse?
Who will set the rules and (hopefully) make this a better digital experience?
What will we do to make sure of this (because, if we do not… we have learned nothing)?

There’s much more to it…

This, and other current topics (driven by the questions above) were discussed along with Christopher Barger (Owens Corning), Scott Monty (Scott Monty Strategies) and host Bob Knorpp (always a good human) on the very excellent BeanCast Podcast (which I’ve been fortunate to be a guest on in the past). I don’t know what it is about BeanCast, Bob Knorpp and these other panelists, but there is always “something in the water” when we record these conversations that brings out a lot of stimulating ideas and insights (and some friendly disagreements too!).

Are you ready for this deep dive into the world of media and marketing? Here is: BeanCast #655 – Sound Effects Gone Wild.

For about an hour, we discussed and debated the following topics:

• Apple Allows Repairs.
• Will Singles Day Go Global?
• Virtual Reality Tribalism.
• iMessage’s Big Changes.

Take a listen and jump into the fray…

Are you interested in what’s next? How to decode the future? I publish between 2-3 times per week and then the Six Pixels of Separation Podcast comes out every Sunday. Feel free to subscribe (and tell your friends).