THE METAVERSE: A Guide to the Future of Capitalism

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A video about The Metaverse, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook and the future of capitalism.
Chapters
00:00 Mark Zuckerberg
04:08 1. KZbinr Burnout
10:27 2. Platform Capitalism
15:07 Surfshark Spot
16:41 3. The Bare Extractive Minimum
22:15 4. Monopoly Men
29:16 5. Into the Metaverse
Some Copy about the Video for the KZbin Algorithm
In this month’s video, we’re looking at “the metaverse”. This October, Facebook (since renamed Meta), released a video presentation titled “The Metaverse and How We’ll Build It Together” to serve as the keynote for the social media company’s annual Oculus Connect conference. The presentation saw Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announce the company’s ambitions to build “the metaverse”, a proposed evolution of the internet in which Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality technologies enable us to interact in more immersive ways.
To be able to engage in debates surrounding “the metaverse”, however, it’s first important to have a decent grasp of how big tech has already reshaped the economic structure around which our society is built: capitalism. We therefore go on a trip through the history of what Nick Srnicek calls “platform capitalism” to consider how technology companies such as Facebook (or, Meta), Amazon, Twitter, Apple, Microsoft and even the Roblox Corporation have fundamentally changed the world in which we live-and what this might reveal about the intentions behind this proposed shift to “the metaverse”.
This video is, in some regards, a spiritual successor to my video about Tesla CEO Elon Musk (The Fake Futurism of Elon Musk), as well as my more recent video about the science KZbin channel Veritasium and their partnership with Waymo (the successor to the Google Self-Driving Car Project). It picks up similar themes of techno futurism and the partial futures offered to us by our new tech overlords, and asks who those futures will really serve.
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If you've enjoyed this video and would like to see more including my What The Theory? series in which I provide some snappy introductions to key theories in the humanities as well as video essays and more then do consider subscribing.
Thanks for watching!
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Website: www.tomnicholas.com
#metaverse #Facebook #TomNicholas

[@Tom_Nicholas]

Support me to make more videos like this by checking out my Patreon at patreon.com/tomnicholas Patreon supporters receive: - Early access to videos - Copies of scripts with footnotes and references - Access to exclusive commentary tracks to accompany each release - The ability to take part in Patreon exclusive Q&As - Weekly updates on what I'm working on next All this alongside helping me to continue to improve the quality of my videos through helping to cover the costs of research materials, set, costume, stock footage, music synchronisation, filming kits, editing software and more. If you like what I do, I'd be super grateful if you'd consider checking out the Patreon page at the link above. Thanks as ever! Tom

[@rawbebaba]

Well you got me Tom. New member

[@The.muslim_wojak]

✌🏽

[@RhizometricReality]

The function of the corporate becomes that of the state.

[@tim290280]

Um, something to check with KZbin. This video isn't in my Subscriptions tab but instead came up as a recommendation and watch next. I mean, great that the algorithm remembers that I've watched all your videos, but concerning it isn't there with my subscriptions where it should be.

[@AFSRodrigues]

@@tim290280 same here, have heard people complain about it, but it's the first time I noticed it happening

[@oliverberzs7455]

how nonchalantly you call Mark Zuckerberg a "failed Turing test attempt" is magnificent :D

[@Tom_Nicholas]

Haha, glad that one tickled your fancy!

[@marksilla8276]

Spoiler alert

[@SA-mo3hq]

CEO of the Uncanny Valley

[@marocat4749]

He makes elon musk look human :P

[@curvingfyre6810]

Strictly speaking, you dont have to be a robot to fail the turing test. You need a human control to establish human requirements, requirements which a human might be able to fail. Considering the entire human races opinion of the zucc, you could say he literally has failed the turing test

[@matheus5230]

Zuckeberg is right when saying that screens and phones can't fully capture the range of expression and depth of human interaction. Which is why it's important for us to use our technology with moderation. What Zuckerberg is proposing is not a solution to our addictions, it's to make them worse

[@ladystoneheart8155]

Bingo. But I don’t think he understands genuine human connection. And with every passing year, more and more lose the ability to connect to the point where we actively seek alienation, only we label as “doing what’s good for me” and “focusing on self-fulfillment” I have to listen to David Foster Wallace’s ‘This is Water’ once a week to remind myself that I am indeed a human being and not the main character in some bad fan fiction

[@petereissing5070]

I wonder if a part of the selling point will be a solution to the current epidemic of loneliness - while arguably related to social media use, it may be said that the greater potential of interaction could help people. I have to agree with you that tech should be used in moderation, and it's up to individuals to determine how much tech they want in their life, rather than up to companies making the use of tech vital to everyday function (this is what makes me most hesitant to the metaverse - will it become a necessary part of life so that normal daily function requires it's use?)

[@ShinyNix86]

I agree, but the quest dies after only an hr of use. Lol. You can buy external batteries of course, but it's not really built for hours & hours of use. I can lose a day on my xbox or ps5, but never spent more than 2hrs max on my quest 2.Outside of streamers & other career VR users, I don't think most are playing for hrs on end. I guess my point here is, as of now, I don't feel the same addicted feelings I got from social media. I love my VR, & it's had a very positive impact on my life. I can't say the same for my experiences with fb. I'm a cancer survivor with a very compromised immune system, & other subsequent health issues. I can't always be social, even when mentally & emotionally I need it the most. I can't always leave my house to exercise at a gym or even outside. VR has fulfilled those needs like nothing else has. Many of us want desperately to protect the VR space. Unfortunately, it seems everything capitalism touches is eventually tainted & ruined. I imagine these are the golden VR years, like the early years of MySpace. It's probably only a matter of time before the Zuckerberg villian ruins something else for society. 😒

[@XMysticHerox]

I think a "metaverse" built with the actual goal of community building and social health would be quite good. Of course this metaverse will be built for profit. It´s something that could only be done well by a government or similar official organization.

[@DaveSmithHayes]

Cocaine is way too expensive of a way to get high and does not capture the range of expression and depth of human emotion. So here's crack.

[@TheEgalisator]

When the desire to use a platform becomes nearly as universal as the need for roads, schools and hospitals, it's time for governments to make non-profit, ad-free versions of them. Preventing dystopia is worth paying a tiny amount higher taxes. And most of these platforms would just roll over and die very easily if they had competition that simply doesn't take a cut.

[@abelabel3664]

I agree. Maybe this time is yesterday.

[@AtomicVoid95]

Desire is not the same as need though. And society doesn't even have free food or water or electricity yet.

[@user-xg6zz8qs3q]

@@AtomicVoid95 Affordable public utilities is the opposite of what our leaders want. Just research the dismantling of EDF in France in order to serve private companies. It's a crime against the French people. And nobody cares.

[@ButWhyMe...]

Based

[@MrEdrftgyuji]

Government is just as evil as these corporations. Perhaps more so. However, unlike these corporations, Government has the monopoly on violence and has the legal power to drag you from your home at 3.00am and take you to prison where you will never see the light of day again. My personal viewpoint - these platforms ceased to be "private companies" when government employees use them to conduct business. They should be treated same as any other private business that govt subcontracts to, which includes them being bound by 2nd amendment.

[@cashnelson2306]

The notion of calling something the metaverse unironically is... hilarious. It's not unlike if they called it Skynet, just way fewer people are gonna catch the reference.

[@minikipp8549]

hmmm we're collecting people's metadata let's rebrand to meta

[@Takkiebos]

Isn't it just like capitalism to take a dystopian concept and sell it like it's a good thing? Big brother comes to mind...

[@markhaus]

Or making a meal replacer and calling it “Soylent” as if it isn’t referencing a dystopia where food shortages led to euthanasia followed by processing people as food

[@wildercerrate7295]

@@markhaus I just saw a Soylent fridge in a CVS in downtown Boston. Feels so weird seeing it especially after watching so many essays about the history of their company

[@jeffwells641]

@@markhaus But Soylent Green just tastes way better than Soylent Red or Soylent Yellow. What are you going to do? Besides teleport into some random stranger's bedroom for some no-strings-attached happy fun times, I mean.

[@VoltieBird]

This is just the natural extension of our corporate society's obsession with infinite growth. Profits cannot grow indefinitely; humans have limited time and limited resources, meaning there's only so much you can extract from a person. We've already seen systems of commerce and value extraction morph and evolve into things wholly unlike their intended shape, and this pattern will only continue.

[@bepisthescienceman4202]

It's just like cookie clicker

[@NikitaGusev888]

@N-Gnoid TV we will? are you sure?

[@aniksamiurrahman6365]

@N-Gnoid TV What makes me most afraid is that - will this for profit model even allow such things? Expanding into other planets requires reinvention of almost all of our technologies, building massive infrastructures just to sustain life. These "foundational infrastructure" may take centuries to become profitable. Will the for-profit model ever help us grow into a multi-planetary system? B4 u answer with the current corporate space race, just notice that none of SpaceX, Blue Origin or Virgin Galactica are investing in such infrastructures. Only NASA and ESA are talking about space station in the deep space. When asked about life support system in Mars in 2015, Elon Musk simply replied that he thinks that it won't be a problem! That clearly shows that these companies aren't going to invest there until NASA or similar one's lay the bricks.

[@elonmusk352]

As you might be a liberal arts 3 tier college grad with no ambition please don't generalize for everybody

[@marocat4749]

The thing is its humans, and it grew as much as it could with that mindset, without scrwing and collapsing everything. Even capitalism. Next step would be hellscape everywhere.

[@aqueercommunist]

ive also heard people refer to platform capitalism as techno-feudalism

[@atyshlmes4360]

a theory developed by Yanis Varoufakis.

[@fromthebackseat4865]

Capitalism is just neo-feudalism. It makes sense that with the rapid growth of tech it would turn into techno-feudalism. Marx and Engels couldn’t have predicted it. Which is why the contradictions of capitalism haven’t destroyed it yet.

[@jmarsh5485]

Surveillance Capitalism is another one, referring to the title of Shoshana Zuboff 's book.

[@SpencerLemay]

@@fromthebackseat4865 Communism/Socialism/Corporatism/Technocracy is Feudalism too going by the loose definitions internet philosophers use. At a fundamental level Capitalism is about being able to accumulate and trade assets freely with as few constraints as possible, so every system that tries to be an alternative to that is a system that uses the state's monopoly on violence to control you. Marx and Engels were naive fools. If the people allow Capitalism to turn into Feudalism then it was the people's fault for not using their leverage while they still had it. The technology exists so that platforms can exist without corporate or government backing by being designed with the principals of Free (as in freedom) Software, people just prefer proprietary software for a variety of reasons.

[@Troy_K]

@@fromthebackseat4865 Because if Marx and Engels were resurrected to drop their highly anticipated conclusionary essay on anti-"techno-feudalism" all of society's deep-rooted economic fallacies would simply turn to dust and fade with the wind I guess...

[@blackfeatherstill348]

Considering how much damage his company (now rebranded as meta), according to their own suppressed in house studies has done to the psychology of their users, particularly young people, kids basically. It really is accurate to say we are looking at a distopian future where these soulless manipulators of humans for profit are gaining the tech to get even deeper inside people's heads, behaviours, and perspectives.

[@cjay2]

'for profit'? Really? It's always just been about control. They can print as much money as they want, any time they want to. These people and their corporations are psychopaths.

[@driftingdruid]

exactly, and i don't like how they're already using that level of intrusiveness and influence

[@Shooketh__]

exactly, its terrifying how theyre straight up targeting our brains

[@anakita6546]

zuck is the kind of guy that sees your private information, asks "is anyone gonna eat that?", and not wait for a answer.

[@SorowFame]

His power source runs on privacy invasion

[@anneginzburg1362]

There might also be something to be said about how much the purpose of the art will be respected on Meta and how it will be censored. The soundtrack to a Meta ad, "this future will be made by all of us" prominently features a song by British band Bastille in the background instrumental. The song, "Distorted Light Beam" is very clearly anti-VR and anti big tech in the lyrics, and comes from a concept album about a corporation called "Future Inc" using VR to take over the world and brainwash the populace. So it's clear that Meta is willing to censor and "reinterpret" the art that is featured on the platform.

[@Ironication]

Of course they are. Any idea can be distorted and bent in a way to suit your message if you big and powerful enough.

[@r-pupz7032]

That's super interesting and disheartening.. I'll check out the album!

[@anneginzburg1362]

@@r-pupz7032 the band is releasing the album in February, with some singles having been released already!

[@nenmaster5218]

For Chistmas, i'm gonna rewatch 'The War on Christmas' by Hbomberguy. And You?

[@Fanas5]

I mean, if them calling it metaverse doesn't clearly show that, then I don't know what would. With those big tech companies, it is always - "You know that story about that thing, that the story specifically warns against, let's do that thing for real."

[@thompsonnoel]

I think it's also worth noting that many of the platforms mentioned at the beginning like Airbnb and Uber, often referred to as "sharing economy companies" were preceded by platforms that were initially non-profit like couchsurfing and the initial versions of blablacar which were actually about sharing spaces and rides you would have done anyway.

[@bengagnon2894]

@Elias Håkansson Not everything is about "making money" and "beneficial transactions". You know, for people who are not sociopath assholes, it is possible to simply give out of their time. For free. I know, it's pretty bold.

[@thompsonnoel]

@Elias Håkansson I guess that's why blablacar is still widely used in parts of Europe like france and Spain where bus companies sued (and lost) for unlawful competition. It doesn't mean that the passenger gets a free ride, it means they share gas costs. It started as a virtual bulletin board for carpooling. Also, it is not treated as a taxi or Uber. There is a horizontal relationship of equals between driver and passenger. In many cases, after the first ride through the app you stay in contact through messaging apps bypassing blablacar entirely. The expectation of the driver is not to make money from it, but for the cost of a trip you're going to do anyway to go down to zero or close to zero (that's why they won the courtcase whereas Uber keeps losing courtcase after courtcase) As for couchsurfing, when it was a non-profit, there was an expectation to share food costs for example and a value greater than economic in meeting people from other countries, hanging out with them, practicing language, maybe not as tangible but definitely there. There was also the promise you would host as well if you liked the person and they ever came to your town. The reason Airbnb, Uber, etc where called "sharing economy" companies first (circa 2012-15) was because they where co-opting the language and philosophy of these, initially, non-for-profits. When that was discovered to be a sham, they changed to "gig economy" and included riders, starting to brand it as "be your own boss, make your own schedule" approaching the language of freelance workers, autonomous workers and entrepreneurs.

[@thompsonnoel]

@Elias Håkansson Airbnb and Uber "won"* because they were aggressive, for-profit companies that took advantage of how slow the lawmaking process to regulate business on the internet works in most countries, the increasing income inequality and the desperation after the financial crisis that forced people to hustle without asking for benefits or the ability to unionize. I doubt the US will ever crack down on them but at least parts of Europe slowly are. *Uber didn't win against Blablacar because they serve different purposes: short distance VS. Long distance. But I'll give you they partially "won" against taxis the same way Airbnb partially "won" against hotels and long-term renters (students, low and middle income families) creating a huge problem in many countries.

[@thompsonnoel]

@Elias Håkansson I don't think you understand the motivations behind non-profit sharing... In blablacar you determine the price of your trip not on profit, but on how much the trip is going to cost anyway. It's not a business model, it's cost reduction. As a driver, the trip you're going to make anyway is going to cost you less or more often zero. As a passenger, it costs less than a bus or train trip because you're sharing the cost of the trip with the passengers and the owner of the car. As for couchsurfing, same deal, if you're not interested in meeting people and sharing your house and life with them for a few days you won't be on couchsurfing because you are not doing it for economic profit. Uber (and Uber eats, glovo, deliveroo, Airbnb) all lost court cases in Europe because the business model is outside the law, creating false employees that receive no benefits, security or bargaining power from their predatory faceless employers. Furthermore, when the new rider law passed in Spain to protect the workers some of these companies just left the country because their whole business model is predicated on exploiting workers.

[@MrTaxiRob]

@@thompsonnoel the ride apps left Austin, TX when the city demanded that they obey local ordinances. Then they lobbied the state to deregulate the industry statewide. Of course cabs and limos need to follow the same old laws, because Uber isn't about "sharing" anything. That's going beyond natural monopoly and into regulatory capture.

[@delilas2398]

I love to spend hours in vr in games like Half life or Pavlov. But the Idea of having to put that thing on for 8 hours a day to work is a literal nightmare.

[@Afterthoughts]

I am SO GLAD you brought up the lack of control users feel they have in their digital lives. That's such an important aspect of mental health that doesn't get discussed often enough.

[@oscaranderson5719]

from a game design perspective, sometimes designers will create adaptive mechanics that constantly change to ‘tailor the player’s experience’ or some shit. this is always worse than just having simple mechanics that the players can understand and meaningfully interact with. I remember when people were complaining about their facebook feed spitting out random things they weren’t looking for or hiding things they were, and this was back in the 2010s. anyone still on there isn’t having a good time.

[@NaoshikuuAnimations]

you, here! :D

[@notaninquisitor7274]

why are people surprised that the easiest and most efficient way to make profit (take money without giving anything in return) is to be the gatekeeper to a resource. The money is made by shaking down people as they try to get access. Capitalism isn't about efficiency or innovation. It is about taking resources and actively preventing others from using them. If you wonder why employers are so draconian it is because they are gatekeeping access to your labor.

[@rory2094]

preach comrade

[@Virsho]

hello comrade

[@ShinyNix86]

I'm a big VR enthusiast, but I HATE where I see Zuckerberg taking things. I thought this video was extremely well thought out & executed. It gave interesting points I hadn't heard of from others on the topic. Great work, looking forward to future videos.

[@zhuljens]

VR has more potential than just entertainment. I see it could help reduce requirement of office work. Metaverse is not required for that, but cheap AR headsets are.

[@nenmaster5218]

@@zhuljens For Chistmas, i'm gonna rewatch 'The War on Christmas' by Hbomberguy. And You?

[@kurono1822]

VR enjoyer

[@AnoNymous-dh2sv]

We don't need those crooks in the future. We can build decentralized systems with cryptographic technology. It will happen because it must happen to survive them.

[@troliskimosko]

@@kurono1822 Is that meant to be an insult Lol

[@godless-clump-of-cells]

"Apple is an interesting example of a company that does so much that we might not initially think of it as a platform company at all; it makes a whole range of products and erects glowing glass cathedrals to itself on top of sites of historical interest." Noice.

[@cabbagezonk]

I've found the concept of "digital enclosure" to be especially helpful in understanding the progression of big tech. Similar to how the commons has been enclosed into private property, the 'commons' of the internet has been enclosed under the ownership of platforms

[@littleh4xx0r]

Has anyone ever looked Zuckerburg in the eyes, and thought, yeah this is a guy i should trust? He always gives me the creeps...

[@Tom_Nicholas]

I find him disappointingly boring. Like, if you're gonna be an evil monopolist, at least have the decency to really lean into it...

[@littleh4xx0r]

i sometimes wonder, is this what an early version homo oeconomicus might look like? a calculator in a human husk, always trying to optimize profits, no matter what. seems kinda sad.

[@sleepinbelle9627]

@@Tom_Nicholas I am forever mad that billionaires are so uniteresting. Not a single one of them lives on a blimp. Not one of them has a lab built into the heart of a mountain. Incredibly rude of them to make the apocalypse so boring.

[@jeffreywillstewart]

@@sleepinbelle9627 and the houses they build are so alike and boring too. No one in the future is going to pay to tour their nightclub or basketball court like they tour Hearst Castle or Biltmore.

[@curtiskretzer8898]

His partners from Harvard that he started fbook w/&,they found out!

[@mat_hg]

I had the same considerations some years ago about Facebook being a garbage platform that we are forced to use just because "people is already there". Very much agree with the concept of "natural monopoly" that should logically be a public service. I imagine this will be common sense in the future.

[@nivekvb]

They are monopoly platforms used by the public, but they don't abide by the first amendment, the right to free speech. Some people say that because they are private companies then they can do as they please. But they are not working in the public interest. I know some things should not be expressed in public, but this is something we can all agree on. 2/

[@nivekvb]

But KZbin remove my political comments all by time. I'm just an average leftie, not a communist, but I hate anti Putin and anti China propaganda. I'm not saying these entities are entirely innocent, but I know propaganda when I see it. I also know the West is about as evil as you can get. The US is trying to start WW3 with China. It's good for their arms sales too.

[@Ansalion]

We haven't even nationalized internet service yet either, even though that is also a natural monopoly. Heck, parts of the US still have private electricity providers. It'll be a long road to get to where we're heading.

[@rovoska]

@@nivekvb you have big "how do you do fellow leftists" vibes

[@DaPeePeePooPooCheck]

Just remember… Common sense is not common😪

[@griffithf.k.4136]

A corollary: Back in 2013 (yes, 8 years ago) Netflix released a statement which said "We compete very broadly for a share of members' time and spending, against linear networks, DVDs, other internet networks, video games, web browsing, magazine reading, video piracy, and much more." Translation: Netflix is not in the business of giving you access to entertaining content for a fee. They want to monopolize your leisure time to such an extent that you'd rather renew your $14 (or whatever) monthly Netflix subscription instead of spending that money on literally _any_ other leisure activity. The ideal scenario, from their perspective, is one in which everyone on earth spends all of their free time paying Netflix for... well... it doesn't actually matter, as long as they get their money.

[@jjescorpiso21]

Wow, this changed my perspective 🤭 I'm now reconsidering all my subscriptions in light of your comment.

[@user-zy4wv7yx1z]

I want to thank you for speaking respectfully about those that do sex work. You called people who market themselves on Only Fans creators. I just wanted to say I appreciate a man who speaks respectfully of women, especially in a profession so shunned by men (who ironically are the biggest patrons of sex work). So thank you, and to all the men out there who do the same.

[@willygrags4367]

I honestly love vr so much and that’s what makes this so scary. I don’t want to see something I like twisted and misused by people who have enough money to make any psycho pipe dream a reality

[@vanessapigwin]

I fear when these psychopaths get to VRChat since that platform is an anti-thesis to the concept of a controlled, corporate metaverse

[@DjDolHaus86]

Oh it'll happen. Some of us are old enough to remember what the internet used to be like before it all became one big advert that harvests your data and sells it to the highest bidder.

[@j_eezus_christ_bro_chill]

This is true. It may not seem like it but... I too love VR ❤️

[@casualcookin3893]

@@hwvrg Whats wrong with the internet,everyone is free to use it however he pleases,if ones a sh!t person hes gonna use the internet to degenerate,if one is an adequate person hes gonna use the internet to learn things,its as simple as that

[@jplabre]

I've been on metaverses since 2007, Second Life has been around since 2003. This is the same thing, but launched by billionaires. Nothing of what they're proposing is new, I saw U2 live on a metaverse back in 2008. The thing is people want to see their horrible bands in person, not through an eye burning screen and graphics that are inferior to the capabilities of the human eye. Also, no one wants to log on to a platform to work or to attend a class. Those who do, do so because they're forced to.

[@rdablock]

idk, a janky old game with dated graphics is nothing compared to Meta which is being backed by a trillion-dollar behemoth of a company. They not only have direct influence over the software but also the hardware, and the latter is improving fast - we're not far from having human-eye resolution, facial and full-body tracking, haptic feedback and so on. VR is only going to get better with time, for better or worse.

[@iamjustkiwi]

@@rdablock what everyone seems to miss is the ridiculous amount of computing power needed to handle VR. Not everyone has 3 grand to shell out (for the pc alone, not factoring in the vr equipment), and add to that the large electricity costs associated with high end computing, something we should be avoiding, just look how awful cryptocurrency has been for the environment already. It will also require reliable high speed internet, which in the US is very spotty outside of large cities. Basically what I have yet to see demonstrated is why we need vr...I don't need or want vr to chat with family...I can use video chat already and its way less awkward and clunky and far far cheaper. VR has existed for a long time and yet it has very little appeal especially for the mass public. Its going to be a near impossible sell for anyone outside of hobbyists.

[@xponen]

@@iamjustkiwi Facebook's VR headset is very practical because it doesn't need a computer and cost only around 300 USD. If Occulus Quest is a power hog like traditional VR headset then it wouldn't be able to run on batteries like it did won't it?

[@northernnaysayer1240]

@@iamjustkiwi that's kind of the point, being poor is a barrier to entry to use these services or get these jobs, therefore blocking the poorest from any social advancement, creating a permanent underclass. The sickening thing for me is that, the neo liberals will use this barrier to entry to employ middle class people at the other side of the world to take over services usually done by working class people in the west(ie receptionists, customer services, any phone based jobs) so they can save a few pennies on the pound. This will have a knock on effect and reduce the amount of local low skilled or part time jobs and collapse the local job markets which have recently become more competitive, benefiting the employees. Let's face it, its been happening for years anyway, it will just speed it up over time as the tech gets better.

[@yohannessulistyo4025]

@@xponen For average consumers they just want "graphics" (he said "Second Life" to be dated), so I don't think your $300 rig would cut it. My bum friends typically are quite willing to spend more than half of their monthly paycheck to get the latest iPhone. A proper VR will demand top tier graphic cards that is quite cost-prohibitive, especially if you are not typical broke Apple consumerists or avid hardcore gamers. That graphic card requirement alone makes it energy intensive and inefficient. Facebook's VR (Oculus Go) is probably just a fancified mobile phone's screen glued in front of the wearer's eye. The latest iPhone has quite a decent graphics capability, and it runs on battery for several hours too, so that's probably it. But of course it will look quite janky compared to your HD monitor when you put it into VR.

[@ingej003]

Serious question...does anyone actually WANT the metaverse, aside from the tech-bros creating it?

[@D4G13]

Video games are the biggest industry of entertainment. It is desired. The tech bros just see that they can make money from this

[@mtn1793]

Does anybody really want tabloid propaganda marketed as legal entertainment?

[@cjay2]

Yes, the already-indoctrinated young want this techno crap. Anybody who still has any common sense don't want this garbage.

[@mtn1793]

@@cjay2 Spawning a zombie league of consumers. They call it entertainment but it’s more addiction and boredom. Oh, and money in their money addicted pockets…

[@mtn1793]

If the meta verse were actually a global forum of seekers and finders of course it would have a strong draw and purpose. However, if it only serves shallow entertainment and consumerism it is yet another needle and the damage done. Sure something’s might be accomplished with such a fashioned tool. But c’mon. Are we really capable of the responsibility yet? Would it withstand the forces of evil? I doubt it and expect the worst, off hand. Volunteering to test drive the better potentials!

[@jaygreene2257]

This shows how important mutual aid and community building off of these platforms is to people in marginalized communities. Say you are elderly or disabled and can't drive yourself around-why use Uber if you have a group of friends who volunteer to give their elderly/disabled friend a ride? The solution to mass platform capitalism is more interpersonal off-platform community building, which is extremely hard to do if you're also relying on platforms for communication and living in society where the need to work to earn money takes up all your time/energy you would usually spend building relationships off of platforms. It's a pernicious problem.

[@moonandstars1677]

The community building is something I struggle with partly because my time is scarce and partly because there are no natural places to gather without the expectation of spending money. I guess also in part that there is no good public tranport here (Limited to a single taxi cab charging $12 per stop). I do make it a point to keep in touch with my neighbors and co-workers but it's difficult to build off of that.

[@moonandstars1677]

Funnily enough, though anti-theist Atheist myself I've observed some religious organizations excelling at community building. Large parts of my volunteer work have been working with these groups despite my distaste for them.

[@SimonWehrli]

Love your insight. If there was a universal currency for joy and long-term life satisfaction, then it is TIME. People with lots of time get bored, and bored people eventually get active and seek contact for other human beings, then they build communities and become creative about their preferred way of living! The means of control of the powerful ones is to control the CHANNELS BETWEEN US. The want to control the economical interaction by controlling the money, the personal interaction by controlling the digital communication and information channels (media), and the pandemic helped them to present any artificial meta world as a solution to an unstated problem, which is nothing less as an attack on our hard-wired need of human interaction including touching each other.

[@Celthiccness]

Nothing makes me happier to have deleted my facebook than every single thing I hear about facebook.

[@Tom_Nicholas]

I go back once a year to reply with "Thank you" to birthday messages on my wall and that's it. Must delete it at some point...

[@nivekvb]

I hate Facebook because they pretend to be nice and friendly, when really they are hard faced businessmen after your data. I also find it to be a mess. It's ugly.

[@elizabethsmith7224]

I just use it to keep in touch with my family.

[@valebliz]

@@Tom_Nicholas do it man. It’s a platform filled with shit and nobody really need it.

[@jackvac1918]

I should add regarding your example of Uber is more a minimum-effort platform rentier in the making (a more quintessential and mature example of that is Valve Corporation) and its current business model is a growth-at-all-costs loss-leader that prioritises gaining market share. It actually has consistently made losses since the beginning, but Uber also has massive capital reserves which it uses to aggressively sell rides below cost to undermine traditional taxi hailing services and smaller platforms that cannot weather predatory pricing for long. Make no mistake though that this aggressive expansion is ultimately aimed at establishing a monopolistic position which it can then exploit to extract a greater share of transactions from it's service as well as develop further monetisation strategies. Great video and insight Tom, even if the topic is rather bleak. It's ironic that behind the VR and the "metaverse" marketing gloss that sells itself as expanding freedom and unlocking possibilities, is a system and infrastructure that seeks to monopolise and monetise ever more facets of human experience, cyberpunk but where you use shitty bland Meta avatars to go to virtual but the same boring office meetings.

[@Tom_Nicholas]

I think I'm right in saying that Uber's valuation (or maybe its valuation during its IPO) is/was based upon a potential future in which all other forms of public transport ceased to exist.

[@nivekvb]

Amazon is doing something similar. I definitely think that should be nationalised, but it's an American company so difficult to do. Amazon is incredibly convenient but is wiping out the smaller businesses. They have algorithms which scan the web for anyone selling anything cheaper to undercut them, but you have to be careful because they often greatly overcharge for some items. People think they will always be the cheapest so don't shop around.

[@SF-li9kh]

Valve.. oh boy. They are truly evil. Just picture a developer slaving off creating his masterpiece and at the end of the day a rich dude pulling up in his Maserati demanding 30 percent of the developers daily wage. One third of the income.

[@goutamboppana961]

@@SF-li9kh what does valve do? i just heard it now its new for me can you tell?

[@SF-li9kh]

@@goutamboppana961 Valve corporation has a game store called Steam. Very much like the example of Facebook here, they have the first mover advantage and have a huge user base. They demand a whopping 30% from all game developers for each copy of a game sold. Like Tom mentioned, they justified that they take 30% because retailers take 30%. Retailers buy physical copies, have logistics, stocking expenses, real estate expenses, maintenance etc. Steam on the other hand has none of these expenses yet wants to make the same amount from the game developer, for just merely hosting a website. Enter Epic Games who have demonstrated that an online store needs at max only 8% of a game sold to run their website profitably. Compare 8 to 30 !! In the end we as consumers should care about the game developers. They are the ones working hard to entertain us. They are the ones spending sleepless nights creating beautiful game worlds and stories. If anyone deserves money, it's them. In my country India, the developers website usually sells in dollars which is rather expensive. Valve Steam and Epic Games both sell at local currency so it's much less expensive. Out of that buying from Steam will pass only 70% of the money I spend to the actual developer. If I buy from Epic, the developer will get 92% of the money I spent. For this reason all my purchases are via Epic games. I used to pirate games, but if I thoroughly enjoy a game, I usually buy it to support the developers.

[@lulish1]

The pandemic showed us that the 8 hour work day is a 1918 outdated injustice and that we could work from home and have a life/sleep schedule aside from work but instead of learning from that Capitalism has taken the chance to tell us that our entire life should be virtual (except work of course. Go to work , wageslave)

[@curtiskretzer8898]

The virtual truck driver delivers the virtual load;hope that is something that we all really dig,when that gets here/becomes a thing.

[@MrEdrftgyuji]

We more accurately live in a corporatist system rather than capitalist. In a true capitalist system, businesses would be forced to adapt to the needs of their workers. Especially in a time where businesses are struggling to recruit and retain staff. In a corporatist / communist system, the failing "business" / govt. department just receives another bailout courtesy of the taxpayer.

[@lulish1]

@@MrEdrftgyuji here we go again. No PragerU you don't get to copout capitalism by gaslighting it's natural evolution. Under private ownership of the means of production the worker needs to adapt to the owner's demands and prices given that he cannot compete other than with his labour force, and only through state powers and strike/active action can they meet the power dynamic of the capitalist owner

[@MrEdrftgyuji]

@@lulish1 No, you don't get to cop-out communism. And no, it won't end differently to any of the many times it has been tried past or present - mass starvation and tyrannical government control over its citizens. Fact is, what you like to call "late stage capitalism" is actually the end result of a bloated, corrupt state that thinks it knows what is best for everyone, and continues to seize more and more power for itself. A state that uses thr power of regulation to protect big corporations (which are no longer really businesses, more like government departments). A government so fearful of losing its power, that uses significant resources to stomp out competition and protect itself. That feeds to the unholy alliance we see today, where big government and big corporations use each other to seize more control away from the people. Both are considered "too big to fail". But they will collapse eventually. Do you really want to end private property? Do you realise what you are if you aren't allowed to own anything? Would you even be allowed to own your own body, or is that too property of the state?

[@derpfaddesweisen]

@@MrEdrftgyuji No, late stage capitalism is the result of the accumulation of capital. Capitalism by itself is a strict hierarchical system. If you are born wealthy amd aren't a complete moron, you stay wealthy. But capitalism has always the same general distribution of wealth. Therefore, if you stay wealthy, statistically 9 other people have to stay poor. Fuck this unscientific garbage you produced and stop believing every propaganda-bs the rich want you to believe

[@MikeFantauzzi]

That ending thesis gave me goosebumps. I would say it’s a slippery slope, but we are so far past that. I worry for my children.

[@frankbacon1002]

I feel like the largest issue Meta will face is the exhaustion of technology in the eyes of most consumers. Europeans are already decades into hating tech, Americans aren't all that fond, and more and more people worldwide are seeking ways to just kick their dependence on tech out. You can see this in a lack of new groundbreaking apps and platforms. There is some great development happening there, but it's all exclusive to geeks, tech bros and IT experts. And i think that the Metaverse could potentially have a similar fate. People like me will cave in and immediately buy their hardware, however i don't think that most people care enough to get involved in a new digital space again. Basically, i don't think that he will achieve enough of a network effect to be successful. Unless his marketing strategy of "its actually not a screen, its like a better reality" works, i don't see this happening on a similar scale like Facebook or even Instagram did. Nevermind the potential hardware cost that could essentially make the Metaverse exclusive to the Western market, which could make profits even slimmer. Unless there are $50 headsets, this thing is NOT happening in India, Africa, South America, even Eastern Europe and parts of the US itself

[@xxnarnarnarxx]

The quest 2 has moved 10 million units and its a relatively new product in a relatively new space. This strikes me as the kind of thing you could have read about smartphones a couple years before their explosion.

[@MaryArts]

Because of Covid there is a huge investment into making tech, chatrooms and augmented reality a huge part in our lives. I think it is not decreasing but increasing. Yet, people are sooooo fed up with it. And yet we are forced, but by whom? We have the feeling to always be on trend and to always be ready to fully digitalize our work and life. And yet we all hate it. We hate Zoom Meetings, we hate doing our taxes online, we hate spending so much time on our PC. And yet we do it. Urgh, why can't people like Zuckerburg see, that people get sadder and sadder the more technology takes over our lives. For me... I am so fed up. Corona showed me how fed up I am at the system digitalizing everything...

[@ussglowcloud6988]

@@xxnarnarnarxx I hope not

[@ussglowcloud6988]

@@MaryArts embrace Luddism

[@frankbacon1002]

@@xxnarnarnarxx 10 million isn't impressive for a company that's as large as Meta, Apple probably sells that many airpods per day or smn funny like that. Also i don't think that this is necessarily comparable to smartphones, the world was quite literally different when they sprung up, smartphones themselves LED to distrust of tech in general, and hatred (as well as dependence) towards social media, plus smartphones basically perfected personal computing. You don't need more from a computer than you get on an average smartphone, at least as an average consumer, which is shown best in the Chinese market. Desktop PC sales keep stagnating or falling year to year, so it's pretty clear that phones are basically the perfect form factor in this category. Can AR compete? Probably, in future at least. Maybe ten years, maybe more. However i don't think that the market is the same as when smartphones started out. Again, most people HATE having tech glued to them nowadays, and directly see the bad side effects of this in their lives, plus they distrust big tech and so on. This just wasn't a factor in 2008-2012, and I'm interested to see how much of a role this will play in potential AR glasses sales. My bet is that unless they're dirt cheap and/or made necessary somehow (hard to imagine this since smartphones exist), they don't stand a chance of catching on outside of some niche circles (tech bros, vloggers, idk). Again, I'm literally WAITING for good AR glasses to come out so that i can instantly buy them, but I'm a tech nerd and an IT guy, I'm not an average consumer. I just like tech, flashy lights, apps for every single dumb thing, UX, imagining that i live in a utopia, hyperpop, and so on

[@unoptimalpunishrio9885]

turns out when you can no longer get any bigger in a free market, you just have to own the market.

[@shadowcween7890]

Well, yeah

[@conarthesonar6089]

Not even just own them you have to invent new markets to own

[@unoptimalpunishrio9885]

@Abstractism remember that pointing at flaws in one system isnt advocating for one of the alternatives.

[@cw4959]

McKenzie Warks “Capital is Dead: Is this something worse?” Is a great analysis of all this and a roadmap for resistance

[@cw4959]

Edit: lol you just referenced her

[@oiytd5wugho]

Steam might have been a bad example right after the flexible costs explanation, as valve is huge enough to have it's own servers instead of renting. Just a minor thing

[@TomSka]

Great video as always!

[@janno288]

Agreed!

[@ygi2822]

Ayyyy! Miss u buddy

[@369TurtleMan]

Based TomSka

[@janno288]

@@369TurtleMan based

[@ethandew1768]

Based

[@himbourbanist]

Do these people not realize that Snow Crash is absolutely a dystopian satire?

[@sharoncurran6622]

I don't think many people have actually read it, except Sci-fi admirers.

[@asdkotable]

Unfortunately, a lot of techbros don't see it that way.

[@Bojoschannel]

Just look at Elon Musk, this idiots probably yearn for the dystopian futures of cyberpunk because in the end, they'd be the kings in such dystopias

[@DrakeBarrow]

There's a meme floating around out there, something like: "We at Big Ol' Tech Company are proud to announce that we have created a real-life version of the Torment Matrix, as depicted in the famous sci-fi novel Don't Create The Torment Matrix."

[@himbourbanist]

@@Bojoschannel yeah that's really what it is; they think it would be cool to have robot arms and don't think about how they would definitely not be able to afford robot arms because health insurance premiums are $2000/mo and they don't cover anything

[@nfzeta128]

The easiest response to the 'shops' argument is that they have to stock their shelves themselves, thereby buying the products of others then to try and sell it for enough profit to make the whole facilitator thing worth it. Online ones don't have that constant upkeep costs, serves and maintenance are basically just the rent fees for the comercial space and... maintenance, which the shop will pay on top of more costs. The online one wins out in that they don't even have to peddle to product to the large customer base like a shop does, they peddle it to other sellers and then let them do the work and reap constant benefits from an initial investment in creating the space. It's being a landlord all over again.

[@jaceybella1267]

I feel almost guilty tbh. I've been following the development of VR for a long time, but never found it affordable. Recently my finances and the cost fell into the right place, and I scooped up the newer oculus quest because I'd been itching to play games like beat saber for so long. I still like the thing, and I still play my games on it, but I started feeling skeeved out as soon as I realized I *had* to sign in with my Facebook account. I guess it's just more proof that this stuff is working exactly as they planned

[@guyferrari8124]

Make a Smurf account

[@racewiththefalcons1]

If a whole lot of mega-rich people are all about it, you know it's a scam.

[@MrEdrftgyuji]

Which is why global warming, critical race theory, covid etc. are all scams.

[@omarsener8491]

@@MrEdrftgyuji go back to 4chan

[@MrEdrftgyuji]

@@omarsener8491 Go back to eating bugs

[@astralseaslug546]

Sorry what's that about McCarthy being a communist lmaooo

[@HxH2011DRA]

Yanis Varoufakis seems to think this will all lead to a techno-feudalist future (a distinction possibility)

[@Tom_Nicholas]

Yeah, the idea of a Neo-feudalism is one which has come up a fair bit in the literature. I think David Harvey has used similar terms.

[@HxH2011DRA]

@@Tom_Nicholas yes indeed he has! I wonder if you'll ever make a video on the topic 🤔

[@shadowcween7890]

@@Tom_Nicholas What do you think of making a video on the concept of techno-fuedalism

[@Bojoschannel]

Mckenzie Wark also proposes a similar idea where it is no longer the capitalist the ruling class, but rather it taker a less prominent role as the "vectoralist" class takes over by controlling the means of accessing and processing information and data. The "hacker" class also comes into being as subjects whose purpose is to provide and create new data for the vectoralist class by constant engagement with their platforms and endless movement

[@HxH2011DRA]

@Estrogen Fury thank you!

[@SaurabhNJR10]

This is the peak of KZbin. The liberty that creators like Tom can afford and at our disposal for free. Enjoy while it's there.

[@rafa_leo_siempre]

Great insights like always :) I would also mention one more way in which Amazon as an intermediary is different from physical shops or even chains like Walmart. Yanis Varoufakis mentions this while talking about how high tech can lead to a utopia or a dystopia. On entering a store, every customer sees the same products at the same prices. On entering Amazon however, the products we see and their prices can be adjusted by the algorithm for each user. This is one way in which the company gains power (which you also mentioned) and becomes something more than a company- it owns the algorithm which creates a different market for each user based on their location and personal preferences. So it would be incomplete to just think of Amazon's marketplace as a substitute for a physical market- it is that but much more.

[@nunyabidnis3815]

Tom, you spoil us with the well measured way you present these concepts. Thank you for all you do.

[@Tom_Nicholas]

Thank you! I'm really glad you like the videos!

[@Guimhj]

"The global financial crisis also affected good people" 10/10

[@ghostofgralton6859]

Did my Masters Thesis on the Platform Economy, but you did a better job breaking it down then I did. Well done!

[@lucaalbertorizzo4114]

Just to clarify a bit, from an economical point of view there's a stark difference between a company like Facebook and a shop, namely the fact that Facebook is a "two sided platform", i.e. a company with two different kind of clients (us and advertisers) which profits from the interaction between them. That's completely different from what real shops do, since no shop profits because we interact more with farmers/companies. This is the basic idea behind the work of Jean Tirole, from which he was awarded of the Nobel prize in economics in 2014. Anyway, thanks a lot for the video!

[@somecuriosities]

KZbin didn't list this upload in my subscription feed... …So I am giving it a 'like' to make it up to Tom for this egregious oversight on Google's part... ...After all, Tom should be on Santa's nice list - his videos have been so good this year!

[@vinnie2356]

Got the same problem, no idea why though

[@MCArt25]

@@vinnie2356 it's youtube, sometimes the algorithm just fucks you

[@burgermind802]

@Tambourine the algorithm shouldn't exclude videos from subscriptions though. I did not get this video in my subscriptions either, but it showed up in my recommendations, several hours later.

[@Kelly_C]

@@burgermind802 same exact thing happened to me. hmmmm......

[@huellenoperator]

same problem here

[@TheXaminedLife]

Nice job putting the ad breaks at logical transition points rather than letting YT just break in randomly.

[@MsJilliard]

First video of yours, very well explained without much bias - 10/10 from me. I've been trying to wrap my head around all of what you covered for a while now

[@georgeyb91]

This was awesome, Tom! I love how much more humour you're injecting into your videos these days, it gives more of a sense of your personality and makes the videos even more watchable!

[@215Gallagher]

Yes, M Zuck has finally created a platform that reflects his true nature as a cartoon character. Lets hope these people become so immersed in their meta-verse they forget to eat. As Bob Dylan sang, "we're idiots babe, it's a wonder we can even feed ourselves."

[@MotherGapshin12]

Metaverse most definitely won't be democratic even, people are acting as if Metaverse will "free us" but in the end wealthy early investors will buy all the "land" on Metaverse. I'm already seeing huge investors buying lot of metaverse-related stuff...capitalism is truly a shadow that follows us no matter what.

[@neonsashimidream1075]

Oh my God, Tom, you are my favorite. Thank you so much for making this video. I've been going insane from these issues for awhile, not the least reason being that nobody seemed to be talking about it. It's a genuine catharsis for me to hear you put it so clearly and get so deep into the subject.

[@FerousFolly]

I'll never get over how good you are at all this

[@EdgarAlexai]

My first ever boyfriend’s mother told me about 10 years ago that she’d never use Facebook as “following Facebook is like following Nazism.” 18 year old me was pretty perplexed by that comment and laughed it off as ridiculous but with the amount of hate and white nationalism on its platform and Zuckerberg’s extremely authoritarian desires with the Metaverse, I’m starting to realise that she had a point.

[@mhxybeats653]

Pssshhhh, Facebook is light work. Feast your eyes upon the cancer that is Bitchute.

[@anarckyboi6915]

Yanis Varoufakis calls it technofeudalism and recently talked with Slavoj Zizek about this topic. Social media companies own the very spaces and mediums through which we communicate now. Capitalism ran out of land to colonize, so now it's colonizing our minds.

[@lillysnet9345]

Finally... somebody said it.

[@gridlock489]

You contribute to improve as a video essayist (production quality, delivery, etc), and this is a fine piece of work you’ve created. Thanks for doing what you do, and keep it up!

[@aprofondir]

He's like those leftist KZbin video essayists, except he didn't go too far into the drama/me me me parasocial relationship bullshit (not gonna name names, but you know them)

[@annaspringbear]

This is very good, thank you. Really appreciate your style too, it's a comfy vibe for a lot of people in my life I think would appreciate learning about these things for the first time (aka middle aged and middle class lol) but who feel very alienated by the styles of lots of youtubers. This video is like a friendly BBC Click journalist only with actual analysis and useful insights. Thanks!

[@NikosMouratidis]

Amazing work. One thing I was expecting you would touch until the last minute is that the metaverse solves the non-sustainability of capitalism by allowing near ever expanding consumption. Capitalism must become fully "green" soon, and what is "better" than producing and consuming virtual goods?

[@focusfolks]

Let us know when a digital meal fills you up 😉

[@NikosMouratidis]

@@focusfolks Notice the quotes my good friend. I thought it was clear I'm not a fan of capitalism, traditional or "platform" (=traditional).

[@user-dn3mm3gr9u]

Hes saying that the basis of capitalism itself is material production, digital commodities cannot take place of a material ones because they cannot exist without them in the firs place, so its an another form of a commodity fetishism in the 21st century to think that digital commodities will start an era of infinite capitalism. In order to really understand capitalism as it is we must know one simple fact - real capital isnt money or commodities themselves - it is societal relation created through an act between owner of the means of production(capitalist) and the owner of a workforce(worker). Everything after this is an upperbuildings which will come crashing when this relationship will become absoltely unsustainable. So if there are now means for worker to fulfill at least a part of his personal needs - ownership on the means of production becomes useless and soon capitalists will find riots and revolutionary movements right at their backyard.

[@NikosMouratidis]

​@@user-dn3mm3gr9u I don't argue the inevitability of capitalism crashing my friend. The sun will also run out of fuel one day and everything will freeze dead. That's inevitable too, but you'll have to wait a few million years. We're talking about "metaverse" or however you want to call the shift of capitalism from focusing on material production to virtual production, and how this shift is going to hugely postpone that inevitable crash. Our generation grew up brainwashed to get addicted to consuming materials. Kids now, don't want to buy the new Nikes. They want to buy new character skins in Fortnite. This is what capitalism brainwashes the new generation to worship. And while there's a limit on how many Nikes can be produced and consumed in this planet, there's much more room for producing and consuming virtual Nikes. Future capitalism will teach the new generations to eat rice, live in minimal homes, and generally consume minimum in the real world. Hell, they might give you all these for free. As long as you also wear your free VR glasses everyday, and work on the virtual world, to create virtual Nikes, and consume virtual Ferraris to drive in the virtual world. As long as you are fulfilled in the virtual world, you are fine. Who gives a shit if you are eating shit in real life, if you are a king in the virtual world where everything takes place? Virtual Ferraris, don't pollute. They also don't have to obey physics laws, so their speed can increase forever. Metaverse is the bypass surgery of capitalism's dying heart. And if you ask me, it's going to be successful (meaning, we're f***ed).

[@cyberrb25]

As I said, the final evolution of Neoliberalism (which this is) is that we replace the main unit of State-Nation for the State-Company.

[@Tom_Nicholas]

There's definitely ways in which one can interpret some of the activities of some of these companies as being similar to those of states.

[@freddosaurus]

@@Tom_Nicholas rentier capitalism might have to do something with that

[@TheStarBlack]

We effectively already live in that system considering the overbearing influence corporations have on our governments.

[@elonmusk352]

Yes you want a Venezuela or cuba

[@krystalsummers1436]

@Elon Musk You're all over this comment section providing room temperature IQ commentary. It's incredible. Your tech-Daddy doesn't care about you. He doesn't even know you exist. But if you're gonna be a "debate" bro (if you could even call your comments substantive arguments) at least debate people that want to debate. Hop on discord and debate Vaush, the KZbinr. I'm begging you.

[@ElementalShogun]

Tom, I just found your channel recently and I LOVE these video essays you do.

[@TheHairydanny22]

Hi Tom i just wanted to say im glad your channel is doing so well, i've seen it grow from since you were in uni giving essay advice!

[@lottavernix]

If you can't reasonably start your own company without the internet or social media, the next logical step is to turn those into public utilities.

[@twifanly]

a mate on NZ twitter called that there would now be the equivalency of ‘zoning laws’ to prevent penises being built next to someone’s adjacent property

[@Tom_Nicholas]

Haha. Imagine Minecraft but with having to fill out a planning permission application to build anything.

[@tarsy_revo1180]

Interesting, tell me more?

[@m.richman3486]

It's been two months but it totally worth the waiting. Amazing content, amazing writing, amazing presentation. Long story short simply amazing! Keep it up!

[@ENigma-um8zw]

Love your Charlie Brooker-esque chapter/scene semi-set-piece transitions. Bravo! Subscribed I know it’s a tale as old enough to legally drive now, but my happiness went up immensely after I walked away from Facebook, and I was the first generation of students that it started on when it was just for college students. My how that all has changed. Fight the power of corporatism everyone. Great work!

[@AgolaOdero]

Thank you, this was a wonderful presentation of platform capitalism. I still think that at least in the near term VR will remain a pretty niche technology. It is likely to go the way of 3d movies and the attendant glasses. Virtual worlds simply aren't rich enough to compete with the real one. Having a drink with friends is still infinitely better than meeting the same friends in VR

[@mr.huygens1273]

I feel pretty similar to you when it comes to VR. I think it will also remain a niche technology in the future in my opinion. I remember back in 2016 many thought VR was going to take off but didn’t. Also have some concerns about it replacing the more one on one things in life too.

[@potatoguy7929]

i really hope vr tech takes off but i hate the idea of facebook having a part in it.

[@lasagneman5586]

@@potatoguy7929 VR is cool, but if it turns into a "metaverse" controlled by corporations, I'm moving into the woods without Internet

[@potatoguy7929]

@@lasagneman5586 i just love vr games, its like going to the range but with no downsides, or getting scared shitless when you cant really do that irl.

[@Gliccit]

i mean, they said that about social media, but boy were they wrong

[@nivekvb]

It would be nice to see FB, Google, etc, either nationalised, or the government to make alternatives.

[@Tom_Nicholas]

It's interesting to think about how that might work given their international presence.

[@cyberrb25]

@@Tom_Nicholas Actually, there was some idea flowing around in Spain trying to create a variant of LinkedIn, coercing companies to publish their job offers through it, and also complementing that by making the Employment officials to help unemployed people to find a job or some course to help them get the job. It's not the same as "France's Facebook", but still is a public (doubly so) platform.

[@schmlif8839]

Government run social media would actually be terrifying in the United States. Simply because of the first amendment. I can already imagine the many people claiming their first amendment right are being violated because they're not allowed to say x or y

[@nivekvb]

It might be up to the public to create its own platforms, and with government help if needed. The problem is that if it's paid by tax a lot of people, esp. the right, will complain. If we charge a small fee, many people might not want to pay. Hmm, but there must be a solution. Some bright people in the tech world might know.

[@schmlif8839]

@v01dnet my fear is that things like bigotry will run rampant without any consequences. While yes that is currently existant, the bigots have no way of fighting back. They will be able to fight back against the American government

[@logarhythmic6859]

Great video. About one of your last points where VR takes energy and intentionality as opposed to browsing a mobile phone, that's in the context of current consumer tech. I think Facebook is looking ahead to AR glasses, which aren't too far off. If browsing your phone is mindless, imagine how it would be if that "screen" is just immediately available anywhere within your field of vision.

[@cyber8658]

Loved the production and scenes in this! Also really enjoyed the flow of this one - a brilliant essay! I want to read the books you mentioned in this… will have to add them to my ever growing list of books to eventually get around to :)

[@Will.Evans.11]

Fantastic video Tom, probably your best yet! Srnicek's work is really interesting. Funnily enough, I'm doing a masters at UEA and had a module this semester with the guy he co-wrote 'Inventing the Future' with, Alex Williams, on digital media. Your video was an excellent distillation of some of the themes we touched on! I don't think persuading people that Meta, Google, Uber and their analogues are bad is the difficult part, but trying to imagine what comes next very much is.

[@NotoriousSRG]

“The economic crisis also hurt good people” Why I continue to come back to TN videos:3

[@neonsashimidream1075]

Facebook screwed up. VR is amazing the first few times you try it out, but go and get a VR headset. It's like having your own private Disneyland for a few days, maybe a week. Then the novelty wears off, and you'll only ever pick it up again when showing it to a friend.

[@muspul7727]

This really gave me pause for thoughts. - I'm not really familiar with this aristocracy of tech nerds, but (even as a gen Z myself) I feel like Zuckerberg is playing a very long game here. Those ideas and tools feel like it can work on scale when we are on the edge of achieving type 1 civilization. Except of course it can work sooner in the case of wealth and development gap in the world become even more extreme (in which case its not really as massive as Facebook, but still global -for the elites). - And as a young and naïve I often still wonder about the "why". I get that this is about finding (and even making) more channels in which they can be intermediaries, about monopolies and control, and about growth. But, I mean... why? What's next? Where are we going and what is it that lies at the end of that road? A true and absolute monopoly? Theoretically speaking if it can be achieved, wouldn't there be a dead end of growth at some point?

[@bugboy800]

Everytime Tom says “For,” I know the next sentence is about to be fire

[@Kraft-doug]

going through his channel its crazy he isnt getting more attention he'll get crazy views on one vid then the algorithm will hardcore sleep on others he deserves more consistent viewership for the amount of effort going on here.

[@burgermind802]

I almost missed this video because it was not listed in my subscriptions, that's going to reduce the views significantly, because subscribers are more likely to want to watch it.

[@AL-cr2ot]

@@burgermind802 The video wasn't in my subscriptions section either. Is that normal for youtube? Is he aware this is happening?

[@joshuajohn8870]

@@burgermind802 I checked mine as well. It is not listed in my subscriptions either. I suspected it wasn't going to show up since the views were low.

[@felixmoore6781]

I saw this video in the top row on the front page yesterday and I'm not even subscribed.

[@tomseiple3280]

Exceptional work Tom! As always, well researched and strongly positioned with thought and clarity - straddling academia and entertainment!

[@AndrewScott1337]

Amazon's control over the cloud and business computing space is even scarier than their near monopoly on online shopping. Most businesses and universities use AWS in some capacity.

[@gabsnandes7818]

It was something I wasn't aware of until I created an idea for a startup in a class, is truly terrifying how much Amazon controls with AWS

[@greyboi9550]

I like how most science fiction tells us how bad of an idea this is, but Rich nerds till follow through

[@kyrrebegnum1516]

Love the Marx pyjamas. :)

[@Tom_Nicholas]

Haha, I wanted to try and get some proper old-style button-up ones but the budget wouldn’t quite stretch. I think they did the job though!

[@PhantomHalf]

This is my first video from you so I wasn’t expecting the music at the start of every part. I thought I was constantly getting ads until you started talking again

[@Eudaletism]

The best thing to come out of this is lots of people will now read Snow Crash. If you like science fiction, read it. It probably inspired half the people working on VR.

[@Kuesa]

Thanks to your videos I'm finding myself ordering copies of a lot of the books you mentioned. Wonderful and insightful video as always Tom!

[@Tymbus]

Looking around my tiny studio apartment with a view of traffic and huge dust bins, I honestly think many people will put on 3D visors simply to imagine they live somewhere else

[@edwarddevries9214]

I appreciate that you used one of the most popular youtube songs during your talk about youtube burnout. I think that the repetitive nature of churning out videos that are effectively the same either daily or weekly really impacts their mental health. Everything becomes a blur with the anxiety of constant deadlines.

[@Arcticwhir]

Even I, someone with a high anxiety level when it comes to presenting, actually was looking forward to challenging myself and presenting my senior project in person. The week before the presentation, our professor declared we'll have the presentation on zoom. On one hand, that made things SO much easier, but the interaction and communication, eye contanct and presence of in person presenting is much more engaging atleast as a presenter and was looking forward to it. What im trying to get across is that, as much as these big tech companies want the metaverse to take over our lives in ever increasing activities, I think humans will adapt to the environment and not be totally trapped in the digital space and will always yearn for in person communication. Although that brings up another point, what if when the metaverse is indistinguishable from reality, will it matter? Side note I think youtube is overall a great benefit to society, I dont know that much about Facebook as I dont really use it.

[@skootties]

the problem is that yearning doesn't necessarily translate to healthy adaptation. people starved for social connection don't tend to know how to reach out or that they even need to reach out. they can just as easily retreat into themselves and become trapped in a vicious cycle, as they drift further from society and find it more and more difficult to reintegrate.

[@patrickkirby6580]

The way you film your videos and the way you dress up and speak in this show has improved a lot in this video!! Also sorry if my English sounds so bad I lack expression skills.

[@Tom_Nicholas]

Thanks so much! I was really keen to pull out all the stops for this one!

[@droidcelestial]

I think you either missed or didn't emphasized enough the fact that any company who gets to the level facebook has, would consider the example of a company like Nokia, which once being the at the top of the world, lost the "next big thing". Technology is ever-evolving and those companies know that, so its natural for them to work on the next-big-thing. And VR-AR seems to be that, in addition to stuff like web3 or any other innovations related or blockchain, space technologies, etc. Facebook just figured working on VR seems to be best suited to their company, and started pushing that. They might soon be working on other things that could be considered the next-big-thing, like Apple is currently working on AR.

[@krekcabnow2910]

Also I would say it actually functions significantly different to shops. Shops have to buy the inventory before they sell it. Uber doesn’t pay anyone before the driver drives anyone and then try to sell the service of the driver to those in need of a ride. Neither does KZbin or Facebook in fact they don’t even necessarily pay for the content after it is created they pay based on the ad sales.

[@daydreamer-ix2bo]

I've been away from the Channel a while and just delighted to come back to find Tom has over 300,000 subs. We'll done Tom. Love your work!! ❤️

[@Jonathan-zf6ho]

"Subscribers not being recommended their latest releases." Yes.

[@Tom_Nicholas]

:sad face:

[@goutamboppana961]

@@Tom_Nicholas :sad face:

[@zombielizard218]

Facebook (Sorry, Meta) is literally just the generic evil corporation from a sci-fi setting at this point.

[@jameschu8376]

Your VR goggles are the best thing I've seen all day, thankyou.

[@morganawingate6250]

As always, superb presentation. One of the best information channels I have found to date. Sincerely, thank you!

[@Rahir888]

Kinda want the Marx T-Shirt now, mostly to wear it to future job interviews.

[@crimsonkate8241]

As a Man Utd supporter seeing a book titled 'Work Without The Worker' by Phil Jones, is especially funny lol. Top video as always!

[@radlee8436]

WOOOOO NEW TOM VIDEO. Always appreciate the effort you put into your videos

[@jurgengosch3915]

Nice work as always, Tom.

[@secretsecret6747]

don't know why this doesn't show up in my subscriptions, but a great video nonetheless

[@andr386]

Facebook should become an open standard so that I can keep my contacts and I would gladly pay taxes for the cost if the algorithms are transparent and regulated and my privacy guaranteed. I don't wanna use any of those monopolies anymore and they can keep their metaverse. Once those VR devices are open and cheap enough, I'll gladly use open tools with it if it's worth it and I can use something else than monopolistic tools.

[@JohnPaulsonJohnisaStegosaurus]

great and obviously timely.