If Zuckerberg's Metaverse comes to pass, the present will feel like rust. The human universe will change, and your children's lives will seem strange. Strange to you, at least.
The world will look and feel very different. As different as Tesla's Model 3 is from the Ford T. As sharply contrasting as the Petronas Twin Towers are from my humble hut in Jenaris.
In 2015, I wrote of a possible scenario. Of a time that is to come.
"Here is what will unfold. You will put a device on your head, which will instantly 'place' you in a stadium.
"You look around and there are thousands of others with you watching the game between Selangor and Kelantan. They are cheering, jeering and groaning.
"You feel the hardness of your seat. You tremble excitedly as you feel the shuddering of the structure as tens of thousands of spectators erupt at the scoring of a goal or the scouring of their team.
"But they are all in truth in their very own homes, wearing the same device as you. Their electronic selves, which you can amazingly see, hear and feel, are being projected into the stadium."
That was a long six years ago. What else could happen in Meta's Metaverse, and other new 'worlds' which are sure to be born? If not in five years, then by 2050? I put on Isaac Asimov's hat, and peek into the future with that.
It is an optimistic lens of a hat. In 30 years, Malaysia will remain in one piece, and its people at peace, with themselves and each other. No more quarrelling (or quibbling) over words.
The world will be closer to net-zero emissions, but thankfully, not near wars of annihilation or the doom of Trump-like minds.
But here's what I think the Metaverse will make possible.
Political rallies as we know them will cease to exist. People don't have to step or drive out of their homes to attend a ceramah or to demonstrate. Their avatars will do these things for them.
The people will be there. But they will not be there. It will reflect the stadium experience I wrote about earlier.
No army of buses ferrying protesters and supporters from all over the country, no fear of damage to property or injury to persons, no use of state resources to keep things under control.
It's for sure not the preferred atmosphere for the fossil type from Perikatan Nasional, Pakatan Harapan, Barisan Nasional, etc. of which there are a good number.
The same will apply to elections and examinations (if the latter still exists). Wearing a device, your grandson will send an avatar to the polling station to cast an electronic ballot, and sit in school halls answering questions digitally.
Yes, some countries already have online voting. Estonia is one. But the avatar experience will be totally different. And the law will mandate it.
It reminds me of the holodeck on the 'old' Star Trek vessels, which makes all of life's experiences possible. And real. But Gen Z and Millennials may not understand this. Or would they?
The technological leap sounds good? Sounds impossible? Think about it.
The Internet's power — everything that it enabled and destroyed — was hardly even science-fiction in the 1980s. Too few could envision the waves of revolution in the decades to come, and the slow beaching of the old.
Never in our wildest dreams in the 80s did we think humans would attend meetings in the thousands via handheld devices as they do now.
Or pay utility bills in seconds without queuing up in an office in a traffic-choked area. Or send videos across the vast oceans and lands to a multitude of people instantly.
So now I am free to dream these wild dreams. Zuckerberg and I may not live long enough to see if they will come to pass, though.
But be kind to me. Before you rust out, tell your kids about these Metaverse predictions. Give them something more to smile about — either a madcap journalist or a seer — in 2050.
The writer is NST production editor
