The metaverse will be paved with new communication, not payments layers | Hacker News Reader

The metaverse will be paved with new communication, not payments layers

sethkim.me

11 pointssethkim14 comments

New communication doesn't really address the contradictions in society that make electronic utopia a funny prank. Contradictions around status, identity, wealth, ideology make a bolted on electronic world a sewer of exploits.

We're already in the coined metaverse. It's pretty boring.

I didn't believe in the Metaverse when William Gibson or Neal Stephenson wrote about it, when people were selling virtual office space in virtual malls, when it was called SIM CITY or SECOND LIFE, and I don't believe in it now.

My thoughts exactly. I literally do not see a difference except how the data integrity is verified. Maybe someone can clue me in?

It comes with native support for blockchains, crypto and nfc. (web3?)

That enables easy access to vertically and horizontally integrated SaaS opportunities (scam as a service).

You don't have to believe in it yourself but mass advertising and hype through mainstream channels with nearly unlimited marketing budget will convince the masses to buy into it and sooner or later you will be the odd one out and be forced to join into it.

Probably I'll be forced into and then be the odd one out as a result, if not regardless.

WebRTC based decentralised web apps taking off would be very good, there's some fine potential in this round of the wheel of reinvention.

I totally agree with this - but with my current understanding of WebRTC, there is no "efficient" way of decentralizing a multi-party real-time app (1:1 is only so useful). It requires an SFU or MCU architecture.

Finding an efficient way to chain peers without a centralized server would be a seriously transformative piece of engineering (hence the title).

Yep, WebRTC video with lots of participants is one of the harder cases. But there are other sweets pots.. depending on what information you are routing through your decentralised system. If it's metadata, it's small and much less problematic than having a room of 10 WebRTC video sessions all streaming 10x video streams between each other. But if you are running eg something like a DHT, and then using that to set up transient real time sessions between a few peers, things start to look a lot more manageable.

The Metaverse is going to be so full of cringe.

This article is surprising given the content on the author's twitter. Glowing bitcoin eyes pfp and everything.

Are you sure you're looking at the right Twitter account?

Actually, NFTs and decentralized finance on Ethereum are crucial to the Meta. It allows for decentralized ownership of virtual assets.

I prefer the "I have a copy on my hard drive" type of decentralized ownership of virtual assets.

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