While talking about how technology is impacting the social lives of people worldwide, James Onen popularly known as Fatboy has gotten concerned that Mark Zuckerburg’s ‘Metaverse’ could become the new reality.
During The Fatboy Show today morning, Fatboy explained that since the pandemic called for measures such as lockdowns, more people found themselves hooked onto technology for interaction and work, and unconsciously experienced a life outside the real world while increasing their addiction to technological devices.
As it is for Mark Zuckerburg, the 37-year-old billionaire plans to transform Facebook into a virtual world where people can do business, game, travel and socialize as avatars in a virtual reality.
“A lot of people thought that the Matrix was science fiction but it's increasingly starting to become our reality. In future, we are going to find out the negative effects of getting addicted to technology and I am afraid we are gonna learn the hard way,” said Fatboy.
He went on to give an example of how the concerns for watching ponography earlier in the day were only moral and spiritual, however over time it has started to affect relationships where male consumers are failing at sexual intimacy because of how lengthy and ‘tedious’ the process of acquiring pleasure becomes, as compared to getting off porn videos.
“Now that we are living in a digital realm where we’ve become slaves to technology, time will come when our minds get shattered and we can’t break out hence why am saying that the Matrix will become a reality,” Fatboy continued.
The Matrix is a sci-fi series of films that shows a dystopian future where the human race gets trapped inside a simulated reality which the machines use to distract and control humans by using their bodies as energy sources to survive.
Lesham, the Co-host of the show, similarly referred to ‘The Age of Ultron,’ another sci-fi film which she said that despite people having a glimpse of what living in such a future would be, they continue to support efforts that push humanity in the same direction.
More so, Fatboy said, “We need to be mindful and I'd be joining people to caution against the Metaverse that Mark Zuckerburg is trying to create because the virtual world used to be for gaming but now reality is being intertwined with it.”
He continued, “Already now without official access to Facebook, we know how it has people’s businesses when their accounts get blocked, suspended or deleted. So, when you're unable to participate in the virtual economy on social media, you become a nobody and it's almost like you have been cut out of society. And because they hold the power to decide who gets to stay or not, one can easily become un-personed by these companies.”
Fatboy added that if the scheme is allowed to advance to where personal or business identities are commercially, financially, medically or politically attached to the Metaverse, it would be easy to delete an individual or business from participation in ‘society.’
However, he acknowledged that some countries such as China envisioned this and have issued restrictions against the platforms such as restricting online gaming access according to age and time after realizing that their younger population was spending too much time on it.
The Fatboy show is hosted by James Onen aka Fatboy, Olive, Sarah and Lesham every weekday from 6am to 10am on RX Radio.