Mark Zuckerberg is dealing with the post-universe these days. By meta-universe we mean a hypothetical future version of the internet that works as a persistent, 3D virtual world powered by technology such as VR and AR headphones. The interconnection, about, already exists in formats ranging from video game and virtual chat applications; and the internet is already up and running as a strange parallel reality, but Zuckerberg is so convinced that this is the future that Facebook Inc. was renamed Meta and has plans to start push material in retail stores.
Zuckerberg obviously did not think of this idea, but rather grabbed it from decades of science fiction. ΤIts name was first coined by Neal Stephenson1992 novel Snow crash, built on tropes introduced from movies like Tron and William Gibson’s 1984 novel Neuromancer such as hackers walking into virtual worlds created by computers and heavily influenced by punk subculture. Both before and after Snow crash, however, one can observe that almost all imaginary versions of the post-universe they are somewhat dystopian– either as a form of escape from a collapsing physical reality destroyed by uncontrollable capitalism or as entering a dangerous new world, inherent in manipulation and new forms of control by powerful big companies, malicious hackers and demonic artificial intelligence. Or, you know, sometimes a serial killer takes over.
These nine old movies (we define “old” as it was released before the turn of the millennium) are flashing warning sign to avoid Facebook’s upcoming Metaverse. Alternatively, you can do it with a TV, melt in the microwave, kill your wife in VR, or wake up a monstrous digital god who will consume us all.
