9 Movies That Warn You to Steer Clear of Zuckerberg’s Metaverse

Mark Zuckerberg is all about the metaverse these day . By metaverse we mean a hypothetic next version of the net that function as a persistent , three - dimensional virtual world enabled by technology like VR and AR headset . Themetaverse , sort of , already existsin forms ranging from video recording play and practical chat apps and the internet already functions as a bizarre parallel realness , but Zuckerberg is so confident this is the future that Facebook Inc.renamed itself to Metaand has plans to startpushing hardware in retail stores .

Zuckerberg obviously did n’t come up with this concept , but rather rive it off from decennium of sci - fi . The name was first mint by Neal Stephenson ’s 1992 novel Snow Crash , which build on tropes introduce by picture like Tron and William Gibson ’s 1984 novel Neuromancer such as hacker walk around in virtual populace generated by computers and with child influences from the goon subculture . Both before and after Snow Crash , though , one may notice that most all fictional version of the metaverseare kind of dystopian — either envisage it as a form of escape from a crumbling physical realism devastate by ungoverned capitalism or an entrance to a serious novel one , privy to manipulation and new forms of ascendance by powerful mega - pot , malicious cyberpunk , and demonic artificial intelligence . Or , you be intimate , sometimes it ’s just taken over by a in series Orcinus orca .

These nine old movies ( we ’re defining “ old ” as free prior to the turn of the millennium ) are a flashing monition house to manoeuvre clear of Facebook ’s forthcoming Metaverse . Otherwise , you might make out with a TV , get melted by a microwave , kill your spouse in VR , or wake a atrocious digital god who will consume us all .

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, seen here alongside Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski trying on an Oculus headset at Facebook’s booth at the Asia-Pacific Economic Corporation Summit in Lima in November 2016.