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On the 15th of October our book “Real Fake – Playing with Reality in the Age of AI, Deepfakes and the Metaverse” has been released. It is our take on synthetic media, deepfakes, fake news, conspiracy theories, memes, internet culture, Generation Z and Alpha, crypto, narrative economics, virtual humans, CGI influencers, vTubers, NFTs, DAOs, VR, Web3, the Creator Economy and the Metaverse. Real Fake is about how humans continuously manipulate reality and how new digital technology tools enable us to go one step further in this ancient game.
The iPhone Baby: How 15 Years Shaped A Generation
“On June 29, 2007, the first iPhone went on sale. On that same day, a boy named Noah Schmick was born. Over the next 15 years, the iPhone grew…and so did Noah. Through interviews with current and former Apple executives, WSJ’s Joanna Stern traces how Apple’s invention matured and changed all of us—perhaps the youngest generation most of all.”
The “Hollow Abstraction” of Web3
“I cannot stop watching videos of Web3 boosters failing to explain the usefulness of the technology. […] What makes the videos so cathartic for a crypto skeptic is that the interviewers give McCormick and Andreessen no place for their arguments to hide. The interviewers are asking very simple, rational questions, and the interviewees are unable to answer them without abstract language. […] The videos demonstrate that the Web3 movement has no logically coherent vision for a desirable end state.”
I guess this is wat Paul Krugman means with “world salad”: “You can ask the same question about crypto in general. I’ve been in a number of meetings in which skeptics ask, as politely as they can, what cryptocurrencies do that can’t be done more easily with more conventional means of payment. They also ask why, if crypto is the future, Bitcoin — which was introduced in 2009(!) — has yet to find any significant real-world uses. In my experience, the answers are always word salad devoid of concrete examples.”
Also read the article Web3 Use Cases: Today and make up your own mind.
Is The Internet The Only Place We Can Truly Be Ourselves?
“Half of Gen Z claim social media is the only place they can truly be themselves, according to a poll that also found young adults are using platforms like Tiktok to make it appear their lives are more exciting than in reality. A study of 1,000 people aged between 18 and 25 found more than one-fifth generally did not like to expose their true personality, with three in 10 being more self-expressive online. As many as 58 per cent found having an online presence made them feel more comfortable in their own skin, while 34 per cent thought this was made easier by taking on a persona.”
Democratizing Reality: Designing for VR, AR and the Metaverse
“Mixed reality and virtual worlds share a common goal to create a well-constructed environment grounded in human emotions, sensations and connection. Between ideas of augmentation and immersion, often these projects have been created in the hands of specialists from varied fields of technology. As they are shaping reality, what happens when anyone can be a designer? While reality is defined as the “actual state of things”, it also extends to spaces, facts, and events taken as a whole. This state of affairs is changing within a spectrum of “real” and virtual environments being created by new voices.“
MUST READ: 10 Trends Shaping the Metaverse
“The metaverse remains a fluid concept. Many of the biggest names in gaming and tech agree that the metaverse will likely be composed of one or many 3D virtual worlds with functional economies, persistent identity and some level of interoperability. But it’s still early days, and many fundamental questions remain unanswered: How important will AR and VR be, what role should concepts like the blockchain and NFTs play and how might we avoid the pitfalls of Web 2.0?”
MUST READ: The Metaverse in 2040
“Hype? Hope? Hell? Maybe all three. Experts are split about the likely evolution of a truly immersive ‘metaverse.’ They expect that augmented- and mixed-reality enhancements will become more useful in people’s daily lives. Many worry that current online problems may be magnified if Web3 development is led by those who built today’s dominant web platforms”
Report by PEW Research Center. Download here.
MUST WATCH: How South Korean Influencers Go Viral
MUST WATCH: Brand Trust And Gen Z
Contact
Real Fake is a weekly newsletter in which SogetiLabs’s Research Institute VINT examines the future where synthetic reality becomes part or our objective reality. We investigate the impact of new technology on people, organisations and our society. If you have any questions or comments, do not hesitate to contact us. You can reach us at vint@sogeti.com.
