Life 1.0 - The Metaverse vs Real Life

I enjoy video games, and spend a lot more time on the computer than watching TV.  But while my avatar is leveling and progressing, my physical body isn't.

Working from home is awesome, but some days I barely move.  20 paces from the bedroom to the office, downstairs for food. Rinse, repeat.

So why do we care so much about our virtual selves at the expense of our real selves, and what can be done about it?

With all of the talk about the metaverse, everyone wants to "live their best (virtual) life" in the metaverse (when it comes out), but as much as everyone talks about interoperability, where is the human to computer interoperability?  Analytics are great to see what you're up to, and machine learning can predict trends, but to what end? To sell you crap, that's pretty much it.  They want what's in your wallet.

How about as we build out the metaverse we think about the connection back to the human at the other end of the internet from the servers?  And not just for their money, but for their physical and mental health.

Netflix for example, could require you (if you sign up for a feature) to walk X steps to unlock Y minutes, let's say every 1000 steps = 15 minutes of watch time. I guess the only ones binging would be marathon runners, except they're too busy training.

Accountability could be fun.  If I say I'm going to read a particular book, perhaps there's a test to see if I've read it and that unlocks something in the metaverse (I know, you're going to explain to me about gaming the system, these are just rough ideas).

So let's not just think about linking system to system, but human to system as well.  I don't want a metaverse that's full of marketing, NFT collectible nonsense, and focused on only vanity, I want something that can actually better my life and the lives of others.

Metaverse for good!