Major technology companies around the world have entered into a frantic race to create immersive virtual worlds, with the ‘Metaverse‘ at the forefront – however the Chairman of the Supreme Council for Media Regulation Karam Gabr warned that this new medium risks exposing youth to pornography and racism.
“We are on the verge of a new catastrophe on the wing of fake happiness in light of the shift of many websites to use Metaverse, especially amid the absence of clear rules to regulate this entertaining and interesting world, so that the risks it poses are much greater than its benefits,” he added.
The CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg stated that an individual in the Metaverse will be able to do almost anything imaginable, get together with friends and family, work, learn, play, shop and innovate.
Zuckerberg added that how people use the Internet today will in the coming years be seen as a silly joke because of what is coming, Gabr said.
This new virtual reality, as Zuckerberg claims, will be a truly alternative world, and therefore risks disrupting social relations, and having serious educational repercussions, Gabr warned.
Gabr said that the previous four industrial revolutions were preparatory revolutions for the fifth industrial revolution, but the main focus was on the machine replacing the human being.
Now, the fifth industrial revolution relies on the development of the human being and considers humans the center of technological development, he said, through two main ways.
The first is by giving humans more control over machines by utilizing the “Internet of Things” devices and self-operating devices through thought, and the second is by giving the person more freedom of movement in its new industrial environment through mixing human and machine intelligence.
