All too real metacapitalism

Towards a non-dualist political ontology of metaverse

Bibliographic Data

ID21703558
AuthorsMark Coeckelbergh (0000-0001-9576-1002, University of Vienna, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume26
Issue2
Publication date2024-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEthics and Information Technology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1388-1957 • E-ISSN: 1572-8439
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/s10676-024-09768-4
OpenAlexW4395463855
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited18

Current techno-utopian visions of metaverse raise ontological, ethical, and political questions. Drawing on existing literature on virtual worlds but also philosophically moving beyond that body of work and responding to political contexts concerning identity, capitalism, and climate, this paper begins to address these questions by offering a conceptual framework to think about the ontology of metaverse(s) in ways that see metaverse as real, experienced and shaping our experience, technologically constituted, and political. It shows how this non-dualist political-ontological approach helps to better identify, understand, predict, and evaluate some real and potentially dangerous ethically and politically relevant phenomena, including what I call ‘metacapitalism’’s environmentally problematic dream

Data science · Epistemology · Human–computer interaction · Metaverse · Ontology · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Virtual reality · Computer Science · Digital Education and Society · Digital Media and Philosophy · Humanities and Social Sciences · Philosophy

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Open DOIOpen Access