In every technological revolution, innovations introduced in society have led to significant economic and social developments, but they have also brought long-term effects. For example, mass production, which marked the beginning of the second technological revolution, later resulted in problems related to the repetitiveness of workers’ tasks. With the introduction of the internet, problems related to the dissemination of sensitive user data also emerged for the first time.
Such consequences are sometimes predictable and can therefore be prevented by developing specific measures.
To date, the innovation that could lead to the next technological revolution is the metaverse, a space accessed through specific devices such as helmets and glasses, which allow immersion in a network of 3D virtual worlds. The term is borrowed from the science fiction world of the novel “Snow Crash” to Mark Zuckerberg’s META project, launched in 2022, which aims to create a parallel world based on virtual social connection.
Although the metaverse currently seems like an inaccessible world, partly due to currently exorbitant costs but also due to a market that struggles to take off, the history of technology teaches us that continuous investments and developments in new technologies allow for products that are increasingly accessible to consumers.
The Facebook group is not the only one to have started investing in this promising technology, other important companies such as JP Morgan and Gucci are also investing in it. Additionally, META has entered into a partnership with Microsoft aimed at developing a more accessible metaverse, offering virtual and mixed reality solutions applied to Teams, Office, and Windows functions.
Given the trend of many companies to enter this market, McKinsey has estimated that the metaverse has the potential to generate a value of up to $5 trillion by 2030. Presumably, virtual reality will become an integral part of our daily lives within a few years, even being used as a learning tool in schools, as presented by META’s advertising campaign.
The metaverse would therefore revolutionize the concept of social, work, educational, and perception of reality. However, in addition to developing benefits and opportunities, new problems could emerge at both an individual and social level.
The achievement of increasingly realistic virtual realities could cause consumers to detach from reality, as we already experience with current technologies. In addition, there could be a set of risks related to user exposure within the metaverse.
According to experts from Ermes, among the possible dangers for future users, identity theft could occur, as hacker attacks could target the theft of the user’s virtual identity. Alternatively, a hacker could exploit publicly available online information and impersonate third parties in order to present themselves under a false identity.
In general, all issues related to information theft, which we already face today, albeit limitedly, could be exacerbated and accentuated by the growing number of means through which malicious actors can interact with users.
History teaches us that new technological processes need to be accompanied by prevention strategies in order to avoid these types of repercussions.
According to Jonas’s ethics of responsibility, the modern technological process brings with it a potentially destructive force. Uncontrolled progress risks causing significant damage, the consequences of which will be noticed in future generations. Therefore, humans must be able to anticipate the influence that our actions may have on the fate of humanity and the planet. Such effects may be predictable or unpredictable, but this does not exempt humans from being aware of them.
This could translate into a system that utilizes blockchain as a means to ensure the application of ethical norms based on principles of modern society, such as transparency, responsibility, and security.
In fact, blockchain is a transparent tool, meaning anyone can access it and verify the sources of information, it is immutable, and therefore, no one can delete or modify this information. It is secure because it is based on principles of cryptography, decentralization, and consensus.
But how can we use blockchain as a tool for ethics in the metaverse?
Humans are individuals who are wary of strangers and tend to open up when faced with people they know. A key point in the metaverse is precisely the identification of the physical person in the virtual identity, which is essential for participating in virtual reality itself.
In this context, blockchain would offer us a system to ensure the maximum correspondence between the avatar and the real person, through a series of finalizing documents, for example, for the generation of a digital card that attests to ownership, origin, and other sensitive information. In addition, every update or progress of the avatar would be recorded by the blockchain in real-time.
This recognition would allow for a lower risk of fraud related to avatar impersonation or identity theft in general.
The ethics of blockchain is not exclusively applicable to the metaverse because the system on which it is based can be employed in any context that requires reliable, protected information that can be updated without compromising what has already been recorded.
Sources
Value creation in the metaverse | McKinsey
The Principle of Responsibility – Hans Jonas
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