My objective is to delineate the emerging, virtual commercial space known as “the metaverse”. What I observed so far is that the metaverse initially appears as a space of pure potential and consequence-free enjoyment. Sacrifice is delegated out of sight, into the physical world. But upon closer examination, this virtual space is interwoven with the sacrifice of its users. 

Zelda Zonk strolled leisurely through Central Park on a warm spring afternoon, sheltering from the sun with a pair of cat-eye Ray Bans. She paused, taking a deep exhale of relief. She cherished these brief moments of freedom: feeling blissfully unknown, liberatingly unimportant. Comfortingly average. 

My mother is an elementary school teacher, and when I was growing up, she taught me about the importance and value of education. This could have been the beginning of a heart-warming story, if not for the fact that learning, as it was presented to me by my mother, was always only a means to an end.