Facebook’s latest project, the metaverse, promises a future of virtual realities and experiences beyond the constraints of the physical world. But a thought experiment by Robert Nozick provides a cautionary tale for why we should be wary of stepping into simulated realities. Living a virtual life, no matter how full of novel experiences, success, and pleasure, is not as fulfilling as it might sound. And even if we occasionally like to give in to the allure of fantasy, we should be cautious about entering a universe curated by a company accused of putting profits over the wellbeing of its users. The metaverse might be the ultimate distraction machine, from the company’s troubles and from what we most care about, writes Peter West.

If you’ve been living in the real world for the last week or so, you’ll no doubt be aware that Facebook (now ‘Meta’) CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been making a lot of noise about something he calls the ‘metaverse’. By employing supposedly cutting edge virtual reality technology, Zuckerberg believes that the metaverse will be “the successor to mobile internet” and will allow people, wherever they are in the world, “to feel present – like we’re right there with people no matter how far apart we actually are”.[1] What Zuckerberg wants us to believe is that the future will be one in which we can all inhabit a virtual universe beyond the real world; where we are not confined by the particularities (geographical, but perhaps also financial, physical, or professional) of the lives we currently live.

There are of course the usual concerns to do with the Facebook corporation (now re-branded “Meta”). The various legal battles it is currently caught up in, the echoes of privacy violations, whether by design or accident, as well as the recent whistle-blower revelations that Facebook puts “astronomical profits before people” and has very little concern for the well-being of users, should make us all wary [2]. The timing of the rebranding and the pivoting to a technology that has in fact existed for many years are signs of a company trying to run away from its problems and ensure profitability forever more. But aside from these glaring questions over the nature and incentive of anything that comes out of 1 Hacker Way, Menlo Park, California there is another, perhaps more existential, kind of concern that Zuckerberg’s plans for the metaverse raise. Should we want to spend time in a virtual world that is like the real one, but not quite?

The experience machine can be programmed to make you feel you are living the life of a great novelist, one full of fulfilling relationships, or one full of hedonistic extravagance.

In Anarchy, State and Utopia (published in 1974), the philosopher Robert Nozick asks us to imagine that we have the opportunity to plug ourselves into an ‘experience machine’. This involves placing yourself in a tank run by scientists who are able to stimulate your brain in such a way that, as far as you are concerned, you are having the most wonderful experiences. The experience machine can be programmed to make you feel you are living the life of a great novelist, one full of fulfilling relationships, or one full of hedonistic extravagance.