L’opera d’arte nell’era della sua colonizzazione. I rischi del Metaverso

Abstract

The Effects of the Metaverse on People. Social and Political Risks of a Platform in the Making. 

The metaverse is configured as the final frontier of digital spaces: a land of opportunities (social, economic, technological, recreational). A space that is beginning to take shape thanks to the technological evolution of VR, AR, XR devices, artificial intelligence, IoT and the increasingly pervasive spread of digital services. It is a frontier imagined as an environment capable of uniting the physical and digital worlds in a technological (and cultural) convergence that can guarantee full interoperability between different platforms and devices. In this paper, we want to try to investigate the critical aspects of such an ecosystem which, beyond the enthusiasm of the pioneers, already presents a number of risks that could turn this promised land into a real hell. The dangers linked to the art world and NFT, the enormous amount of data in the hands of an oligarchy composed of the tech giants, the possible addictions, social tensions and forms of control that already animate the current digital world, could, in fact, have an enormous impact on society as a whole. An analysis of this media ecosystem, of the imaginary connected to it, of its history and of the logics that animate it, can help us face the risks and better govern our unbridled race towards this new frontier.