META OR THE DANGER OF TRANSHUMANISM

Mark Zuckerberg's company now intends to become a metaverse company, even going so far as to rename itself "Meta" to mark its ambitions.

During an online conference, the Facebook boss unveiled his vision for a technology that could transform the Internet as we know it today.

Inspired by science fiction, and in particular the novel "Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson or "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline, the metaverse presents itself as a virtual and immersive online world. Everyone can live part of their life there, in the form of an avatar or a hologram.

For Meta, this universe promises more social contact without traveling, whether it's organizing a business meeting, participating in a fitness class or strolling through a pixel store.

The "metavers" are in short the equivalent of the OASIS of Steven Spielberg's film: a kind of lining of the physical world, accessible by Internet and connected interfaces, and in which we should be able to exist in the form of avatars.

This extension of the Internet is made possible by the convergence of different technologies, so that an individual can experience a world in virtual reality, by engaging his body, living emotions and sensations. “Gradually, screens, holograms, VR headsets and augmented reality glasses are supposed to allow fluid movements of virtual universes in physical places, such as teleportations,” Mark Zuckerberg explained on his Facebook profile.

The Oculus Quest headset developed by Meta completely immerses the user's gaze in a 3D setting. To move, you must also equip yourself with hand controllers. To get around, some imagine a treadmill system. Besides Meta, HTC, Sony already have their headsets.

According to information from Bloomberg, Apple's will be released in 2022.

Being able to truly move around in a virtual environment today requires a combination equipped with lots of sensors in order to faithfully reproduce your every gesture.

The technologies necessary for the proper functioning of the metaverse are not yet there ...

Towards transhumanism ?

Meta will invest $ 10 billion in 2021 alone to complete its project, but although it strikes a blow, Meta will have to come to an agreement or force to abandon a number of competitors such as Fortnite or Roblox. The war of the virtual worlds has begun.

And if it is Facebook that wins the market, we have everything to fear from the metaverse. Indeed. " Today Marc Zuckerberg intends to create a parallel universe by using for that the technology allowing to manufacture a virtual reality which must replace reality. It is not in science fiction but in transhumanism.

Transhumanism, which intends to increase mankind thanks to new technologies, considers that man who currently exists must disappear. With regard to reality, he intends to make it disappear in order to replace it with an augmented reality ”, according to the philosopher and theologian Bertrand Vergely, author in particular of La temptation de l'Homme-Dieu (Le Passeur Editeur, 2015)