I Am In The Meta World

Last week, I entered a whole new world. I purchased an Oculus Quest II. I really wanted to wait for the Apple VR Glasses (I am too invested in Apple World to escape!) but they are now talking of release in the third quarter 2024 – wowza.  So, Meta … Here I come.

It is pretty cool. I have visited Petra, Rome, Venice and Zion National Park so far. And though you can’t walk around too much – it does the walking for you. To be clearer, you kind of hover. Can you say vertigo? You are the drone – you are there, 100 feet in the air – on the corner of a castle wall – deep inside the Great Coral Reefs.  I felt I was falling, sinking, hovering.

I’ve watched movies as if in I-Max, looked at instagram posts of my grandkid filling an entire wall, and played Moss helping a cute little mouse through a 3-D VR world. Coolness to the max.

It’s got some improving to do. I desire a reader app (preferably one that can use iBooks) where I can sit in famous libraries, by a fireside, or under a shady tree in the warm Summer days – reading.

The battery is kind of short-lived, 2 hours or so. But, the interface, the level of technology, the personal world one dives into is worth the price I paid.

However, I realize I was alone. I watched the movie in an empty virtual theater. I saw hundreds walking around historic locations, but couldn’t smile, nod, or talk to any one of them. The only interactivity I had was with a cute, yet mute, little mouse – who wasn’t real!

We are tuning out the real world for a fake. We are thinking we are escaping the chaotic world, while at the same time actually voluntarily enslaving ourselves in the world of the Matrix.

This isn’t new. I’ve switched paper books for iBooks long ago. I waste hours fixating my eyes at a tiny little phone/tablet to see FB, Twitter, IG and more. I prefer texts over phone calls.

The Oculus Quest II does the same, just better. And the mask makes me more … alone.

Hopefully, I will learn how to interact with others in the Meta World. The technology continues to improve.

But what does this teach me, and you?

The tech is cool. Take advantage of it. But moderation is the key. Don’t get obsessed, don’t get lost in it, don’t be enslaved by it.

I took my wife to Rome. She loved it. (Unfortunately I can’t afford the real trip but this was good.) But I would rather spend 30 minutes with her in the local park much more than “see” famous sites for hours.

COME LET US REASON, TOGETHER … FORSAKE NOT THE ASSEMBLING OF THE CHURCH FAMILY.

We need each other. I need other people. So do you.

But for a bit, in moderation, I am enjoying some Meta World time too.