We kind of think along the same lines. I’m wondering though. In order to place some safeguards on the use of the Metaverse, maybe the creators could install timers so that the users would have to lay the stuff down after say, a half hour or an hour or whatever. Make people come up for air and reality, so to speak.
I've commented before that when I used to read all sorts of stuff from the time I was a kid. All of the new technology used to come with the admonition that "we need to have a conversation regarding the ethics" before the stuff gets released. We never did. At some point the pretenses stopped. You may as well give people Alcohol Ration Cards because some cannot control themselves. And then make it illegal to sell your Alcohol Ration Card to any one. And put in a system to monitor Alcohol Ration Cards. And create forms of punishment. And then punish people. OR...let people manage themselves and make their own mistakes, and reach out a hand rather than making institutions responsible for human behaviour. Who are you gonna give the power to...the ones responsible for deploying the technology in the first place????? I feel as bad as the next guy does when I see lives wasted. But we cannot regulate everything and we cannot control everyone. That never fixes the problem, and it always shifts more power away from all of us and gives it to central institutions.
I took hubby to a mall in Milwaukee that claimed a meta verse experience kiosk. The ad indicated it was like a video arcade. You chose the experience you wanted and sat in a special effects chair. It was a disappointment. Cartoon like. But those at Disney World and Universal could keep me there all day if it weren't for the waiting in line. I took the grandkids to Florida just so I could ride the avatar ride. I have a poster of a park we visited in Canada on the wall. The picture is beautiful as was the park. But when you are in parks hiking, there are rocks on the trails, climbs, bugs, sunburn, long drives to and back...Maybe now I would prefer the meta verse when it is perfected? The book Agenda 21 indicates that people had to produce energy by riding a stationary bicycle or something to enjoy the meta verse--or anything. That would make 'reality' a real turn off for me.
For myself, I think I’d like to 86 the background music and keep the other sounds but other than that, the experience would be quite fascinating!