The Metaverse: The Next Battlefield

At what point are we going to allow ourselves to talk about what political life will be like in the metaverse? Or do we think that politics and the metaverse will not coincide?

Every day, our immediate problems, the economy, work, and family, do not leave us the time or energy to think about long-term issues. This includes the goals of institutions and products created by global corporations. However, a glaring issue is hidden in plain sight, the metaverse. The metaverse is seemingly invisible to most citizens but is key to institutions such as political parties, or even the government itself. The fact is, we are not talking enough about it.

The metaverse in three words: new digitized reality.

When I invoke the theme of the metaverse among some elite politicians and executives of traditional companies, I often hear arguments like, “It’s science fiction”, “it’s just a game”, and “it could never supplant reality”. The metaverse is still being defined today. However, a good starting point is my definition, the metaverse is the codification of our reality for its digitalization to generate immersive virtual spaces for transactional purposes in terms of communication, finance, labor, personal, political, and cultural.

Although it may be a difficult concept to grasp, corporations are investing 5 trillion dollars in the next 5 years. According to McKinsey & Company, the metaverse should be something that arouses the interest of political leaders and society in general. JP Morgan projects that the metaverse will be part of every sector of the economy in the coming years, culminating in a market opportunity estimated at more than $1 trillion in annual revenues.

The metaverse will soon be a new reality, a new space for work, social relations, entertainment, and commerce, that is, a space that will replicate our current daily life. So if this is true, do we believe that there will be no institutional life in the metaverse? Or political life? Are the political parties talking about this? Not really.

If a significant part of our population is going to spend their working day within the metaverse. They also may spend some of their personal time in this new parallel reality. The average voter will live half of his day inside the metaverse, therefore his ideas and understanding of the world will come from his experience within it. So if he is going to be in the metaverse, are politics or the government willing to be there too?

According to a PwC study on the metaverse, 95% of the companies surveyed expect to be doing business in this new reality in less than 5 years. Unfortunately, there’s no word from governments and institutions regarding their impact on humanity in the metaverse. We humans have the power to determine how we spend our time and one may say it’s the arrogance and conservatism of political institutions pushing the narrative that the metaverse is not likely to succeed. However, they are wrong, we are awaiting the dispute of power and attempts to impose bias and mislead visions of the world. Where there are people, will be politics, and the metaverse will not be oblivious to this.

McKinsey & Company estimates that by 2030, it is entirely plausible that more than 50% of live events could be held in the metaverse, and more than 80% of commerce could be impacted by something consumers do there. If people begin to prefer to socialize within the metaverse, the topics that will probably arise are the same as in our daily lives: love, passions, religion, and politics. In short, even if the status quo doesn’t like it, the day someone finally turns on the metaverse switch, everyday life changes. The future of politics lies in the hands of the party that leads in the metaverse.