Taking On The Metaverse Roadmap

Through Sharon B's Mindtracks I found the 3 megabyte PDF, Metaverse Roadmap Overview.

I opened it up, and a few names popped out. Sure, the Second Life denizens were easy to spot (though many seem to be laying low after creating high priced virtual paperweights). But I know Jamais Cascio and Ethan Zuckerman through WorldChanging.com. Granted, it has been a while, but I have had more communication with them than most on things. We don't always agree, but we don't have to. They even had Baba Yamamoto as a reviewer, he who was banned from Second Life¹.

So I read through what all these 'industry leaders' had to say. When I read it, though, it seemed half prospectus and half advertorial. There is a lot of technology that can be merged, or as people in the US like to say, 'mashed up'². And generally speaking, there might be some value to some of it - though that value is ill defined and very subjective. Swimming in information is all well and good, but there is a reason that there is the phrase, "Too much information". While having the world at my fingertips is tempting, I really don't see how my life could be improved by many of these things - and I'm no Luddite by any stretch. This leads to whether we look at things as long term success or short term success.

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