Could the metaverse perfect our imperfect world?
Prof. Andy MiahWhen people talk about the metaverse, they mean a future where there's a seamless connection between physical reality and the virtual world. But will that future be better than the world of today?
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Imagine a world in which our physical and virtual lives are one and the same. Could that potential future be better than the world we live in now?
Today, when you want to interact with the digital world, you'll probably do it through a device like a phone, tablet or laptop. But since the late 1970s, the technology community has imagined that we might eventually move past the point where the physical and digital worlds are separate places. In the metaverse, our physical and the digital worlds are indistinguishable from one another.
Is the metaverse really what we're moving towards? And if we are, will it improve our lives? Professor Andy Miah has published over 150 papers exploring the effects and implications of technological change, making him the perfect person to join us in The Garden and help us navigate this brave new world and its implications for humanity.
Read this talk's transcriptTalk outline
50 minutes
30 minute talk
20 minute Member Q&A
Andy Miah investigates the ethical, legal, social and cultural questions brought up by technological change. His publications draw on ideas from science, technology, art and media culture.
Utopia Collection
In difficult times, humans start thinking about what a perfect world - a utopia - might look like. Many have explored the concept, some have even tried to build it. We’re exploring how different thinkers have approached the idea of utopia.A century ago, the world was reeling in the wake of the First World War and the Spanish Flu pandemic. How did these catastrophic global events motivate people to live in new ways?
When people talk about the metaverse, they mean a future where there's a seamless connection between physical reality and the virtual world. But will that future be better than the world of today?
Imagining new worlds in speculative fiction, fantasy and sci fi doesn't just help us envision possible futures; it also gives us a powerful way to think about our world as it is now. What do our fictional worlds tell us about the world we want to live in?
Humans have always speculated about what a perfect world might look like, whether as a reward in the afterlife, part of an origin story like the Garden of Eden, or a real place on Earth. How do we see these ideas play out in the art we create?
