Life in the metaverse in the year 2040.

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In this edition, I sketch a scenario of what someone's life might look like in the year 2040, when the metaverse might play an important role in our lives. It's the story of Sarah. I'd love to hear what you think!

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Sarah in 2040

Sarah sighed as she sat down at her desk in the small, cluttered office. She was a secretary at a local law firm, and while she enjoyed the work, she often felt lonely and longing for something more.

As she began to sort through her messages, her mind kept drifting to the metaverse, a virtual reality environment that she spent much of her free time in in the past couple of years. Staying in the metaverse had become so popular in recent years that the dedicated metaverse headsets were becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. The headset was no longer available to everyone.

In the metaverse, Sarah could be whoever she wanted to be and do whatever she wanted to do. She would often dress up as a superhero. She was also using different names because she was afraid that others would recognize her from the physical world.

In the evenings, after her work is done, Sarah puts on her virtual reality headset and enters the metaverse. She often attends concerts and sport events, or she flies through the digital skies in Wrzdy, an environment that mimicked space. In the early days of Wrzdy she sometimes went to the meet-and-greet rooms, but lately there were only men hanging around who used foul language. And even though she used her digital shield so that other avatars could not get close, she still often found the proximity of these other avatars unpleasant because the interaction quickly became abusive or sexually explicit.

She also enjoyes watching virtual drone flying competitions, where people with brain-computer-interface chips can control the drones with their thoughts. So exciting! Sarah has made two friends in the metaverse, and they are often meeting up to play games together in a three-dimensional arcade. This makes her stay in the metaverse really pleasant.

However, there was one place in the metaverse that Sarah was not welcome: Blitzon.

Or as the advertisement says: "Blitzon, a world where human potential is truly realized."?

Blitzon is the largest and most popular network in the metaverse, where the smartest, richest, and most influential people spend their time. It is also where the best events and opportunities can be found. But Sarah had been banned from Blitzon after starting a political discussion with the director. She is no longer allowed to enter this amazing virtual world.

Sarah often feels left out as her colleagues at work talk about events and happenings at Blitzon, and she knows that if she had access to Blitzon, her career would be much better. In Blitzon it was easy to be seen and noticed, and many people use it to find new jobs and opportunities.

But without access to Blitzon, Sarah's opportunities were limited, and she struggled to earn extra money on the side. She also doesn't have any BlitzCoins, the digital currency used on Blitzon, which makes it even harder for her. Because without these digital BlitzCoins, you also don't have access to certain smart AI-software that helps you create three-dimensional objects for the metaverse, something that used to be a hobby of Sarah's. She once had the idea of making her fulltime job out of creating and selling these useful objects. But because she does not have the smart AI-software at her disposal that others do, her results are not nearly as good as others.

So as she sat at her desk at work, Sarah couldn't help but wonder if she had made a mistake by starting that political discussion with the director of Blitzon. But at the same time, she knew that she didn't want to live in a virtual world where everyone had to keep quiet and agree with each other.

Despite her loneliness and longing for what she couldn't have, Sarah held on to her principles and continued to explore the metaverse, seeking out new experiences and adventures.

What do you think? Is this a likely scenario? Let me know!