A Government Backed Metaverse - Who’s In? Anyone? No? Ok.
Article source, here.
TL;DR
Today we're taking a scary concept and using it to learn - specifically, about the benefits of decentralization.
The Chinese gov. has enlisted a handful of other academic institutions in order to develop it's own, custom built metaverse.
I.e. a government backed tech product that will track users' eye movements and immediate surroundings at all times.
And that's why folks in the blockchain/Web3 space are so bull-headed when it comes to building on decentralized systems.
Decentralized systems don't require trust in any central authority, whether a nation state or private entity.
Full Story
We've all learned some hard lessons through scary experiences (it's a part of the human experience).
It could be the reason you:
Learned to knock before entering your parents bedroom.
Learned the IRS doesn't accept iTunes gift cards as payment.
Learned to check the interest rate on a credit card, before flying to Cancun and treating the entire bar to shots (three nights in a row).
And that's the model we're using today: we're taking a scary concept and using it to learn - specifically, about the benefits of decentralization.
Enter: China's government backed metaverse.
The Chinese gov. has enlisted the help of Nanjing University of Information and Science Technology (NUIST), along with a handful of other academic institutions in order to develop it's own, custom built metaverse.
I.e. a government backed tech product that will track users' eye movements and immediate surroundings at all times.
Yikes!
Ok...but, isn't every other country in the world adopting a similar technology?
Fair point! And, yeah, kinda.
Although, the 'metaverse' that the rest of the world is playing with has one thing on its side:
It's a complete mess!
Right now, these early metaverse concepts are a tangled web of siloed experiences, coming from a bunch of different/competing companies - each with a wide/varying range of data security measures in place.
This hodgepodge of technology sucks when trying to create a smooth/unified user experience...but it makes blatant and broad reaching government surveillance just a little harder to pull off.
If we were betting folk, we'd wager that a CCP backed metaverse would have a bunch of surveillance specific backdoors built in to it.
(Ok. Ready for the call-back to decentralization? Here it comes...)
...and that's why folks in the blockchain/Web3 space are so bull-headed when it comes to building on decentralized systems.
Decentralized systems don't require trust in any central authority, whether a nation state or private entity.
Very cool!