The concept of a virtual physical space existed long before technology was able to accommodate the vision. Books like Neuromancer, Snow Crash, and Lawnmower Man have given pop culture, for better or worse, a perspective on how to live when physical space isn’t constrained. IRC and AOL chat rooms, later SecondLife, and now the Metaverse are practical applications of “What if you were here and there?”

In the 21st century, there was still no space that marketing didn’t want to monetize. Back in February, The New York Times wrote: This work We detail the push to bring digital real estate Fetch to life. The “real estate” price alone is enough to bring tears to your eyes, but it is reportedly sometimes included as a “gift” along with the actual real estate. (These properties also tend to be eye-poppingly priced, but at least they’re actual buildings you can live in!)

So far, the people pushing the idea of ​​digital real estate are the same people who want to invest in bitcoin and show off their bored apes by server load. In January 2022, Dan announced that his Olson will release his own video “Line Goes Up – NFT issue.He spent most of the year researching, writing, and producing a video whose release coincided with the NFT market’s first major setback. The impact on the NFT market has been dire and has never really recovered.

Less than a month after the New York Times article on digital real estate, Olson has once again published a video essay that takes deadly aim at the industry of selling intangibles. “Future is Dad’s Mall – Decentraland and Metaverse‘, like ‘Line Goes Up’ before it, is a methodical deconstruction of the whole concept. The Times article tries to promote an exciting new investment opportunity, but Olson’s video outlines that it’s not such a great opportunity after all. He focuses on how sparse the “population density” of the digital space is and how Decentraland and the Metaverse are trying to capture what his Second Life was successful 20 years before him. . (Second Life started in his June 2003.)

Ultimately, as with any gambling, those who stand to make money are those who join early and leave early. harm those who do not. After the implosion of NFTs and the current state of interest rates, “it’s not real, but you own it” could deter too many deals for savvy investors. I have.