https://miro.medium.com/max/296/0*VgxL4bNVVYpD3Ghr

(Any views expressed in the below are the personal views of the author and should not form the basis for making investment decisions, nor be construed as a recommendation or advice to engage in investment transactions.)

Art is an expression of human civilisation’s energy abundance. When viewed in net energy terms, it is completely worthless. But when viewed as the purest expression of humanity beyond our basic functions of consuming calories, reproducing, and perishing, it is priceless. We “work” to enjoy leisure, and leisure is a personal pursuit that usually involves some art form. That encompasses music, film, paintings, sculptures, sports etc. All of these activities are energy sinks, but bring endless pleasure to the participant and the spectator.

The advent of super-intelligent networked thinking machines will herald an era where the vast majority of humans’ labour is economically worthless. Freed from the physical constraints of work, humans will turn to their new digital worlds and the complete expression of civilisation’s creativity and vitality. The metaverse is the future.

What, then, of the concept of “art” in a purely digital construct? How will money, which is just an energy abstraction, be “wasted” on the pursuit of digital art? Are NFT-based art forms both worthless and priceless at the same time, similar to all other “traditional” forms of art?

NFT-permissioned art is completely worthless from an energy standpoint, but it will represent the ultimate way to Flex social standing in a purely digital world. While it seems silly to those who think Art Basel and The Venice Biennale are the epitome of gatherings of like-minded cultured individuals, infinitely replicable JPEGs traded on the blockchain are no sillier than squiggles on a piece of canvas.

You Are Worthless

Compared with a self-learning intelligent machine, the vast majority of human labour is not worth the energy inputs it takes to sustain it. Regardless of how “smart” or “creative” you think you are, a machine will be better than you over the next few decades.

What to do now? Old people will play physical sports, hang out on the beach, go to physical nightclubs, etc. once we tire of COVID lockdowns. (By old I mean millennials and older.) Young people will play video games and create entire new worlds inside various digital metaverses.

The COVID shock just accelerated these trends. Now a large percentage of the world is locked in their dwelling; their only means of interaction is through internet-connected machines. Whether you like it or not, your online avatar will only grow in importance. The metaverse is now, and you are participating in its creation.

The metaverse will be anything the human mind can dream up and it won’t be held back by the traditional physical laws we take for granted in meatspace. Entire new economies and occupations we cannot imagine will come to be in these worlds. Hopefully these jobs create the same sort of self-satisfaction as traditional employment such that the population feels content with their lot in life. The alternative is billions of restless souls that will lash out at perceived and real inequalities especially as capital is further concentrated amongst our tech overlords.

The most powerful man in the world — as defined by the number of users he influences — is Mark Zuckerberg. He is betting all the marbles that the true Facebook-enabled community of the future is the metaverse. AR and VR devices that allow humanity to create communities in digital space is what Facebook believes the next iteration of digital community represents.

China is fashioning a mobile-first online society. All data and interactions are networked, monitored, and policed by the state. The Chinese metaverse is complete with social credit scores that encompass the entirety of your on- and offline lives. Given the amount of R&D spending on AI and 5G, Beijing believes the future is a digital first connected population.

Regardless of your politics, Western and Eastern capital believe in the metaverse.

Gamers Unite

According to Statista, in 2020 2.55 billion people played some sort of video game. On average, gamers spend 54 minutes per day, or 6.33 hours per week, doing their thang.

At 2.55 billion people, gamers represent the largest affiliated population cohort. They span traditional nationalities and religions. An interesting data point — which I don’t possess — would be whether gamers feel a stronger affiliation to the in-game community or their country of birth / practiced religion. I am willing to bet that as gamers spend more time in their virtual worlds, affinity to a nation state or religion wanes in favour of in-game communities.

Gaming is not just shoot ’em ups. I view it essentially as some social activity inside a virtual world. The construct will morph into any activity inside a virtual world. If we consider how many hours humans now spend on Zoom and Microsoft Teams, which are just virtual workspaces, the amount of time spent socialising / working would be much higher.

People like these new worlds. Preferences for working from home (WFH) vs. inside an office building has drawn lines between generations and income levels. The boomer boss wants to see their younger and poorer chattel sitting physically in an office where they can be policed. Labour, if it can be done online, would rather sit in their athleisure in the comfort of their own home, and benefit from the additional leisure time that comes from no longer having to commute. As we socially evolve to form strong bonds in a completely virtual setting, the concept of an in-person meeting to seal a deal will become an anachronism.