On Ethics of the Metaverse

The development of information and communication technology (ICT) has witnessed breakthroughs in virtual reality, digital technology and sensor technology, making the metaverse a controllable technical concept. Through digital avatars, people can live hybrid lives in which physical and digital worlds interact. The blurring of boundaries and the fusion of the real and the virtual have resulted in reflection on the meaning of the metaverse as an ideological concept. Now is the time to discuss the ethics of the metaverse.

The metaverse concept showcases the depths of human imagination and creativity, exerting transcendental power and value creation. However, it would also allow people to engage in infinite desire, greed, and conceit outside the constraints of the physical world. As metaverse technology evolves, ethical issues will emerge.

The metaverse poses myriad issues for users. First, the metaverse challenges individual identity. The being in the metaverse is a digital avatar representing a real person. A person with such dual identities can travel between the real and virtual worlds ruled by different laws and regulations. The issue is how to hold users accountable if their digital avatars commit a virtual crime. Though guidelines and frameworks could be formed in the metaverse, digital avatars do not have real feelings or autonomy and that would lead to a regulatory failure. Users behind the digital avatars have to be held accountable for their virtual crimes, so there is a problem of shifting between regulation mechanisms in the two worlds. Second, the metaverse could make people struggle to live in both worlds. The immersive virtual world enables users to satisfy emotional needs that they cannot get in the real world, and the overstimulation may cause psychological issues and online addiction. After experiencing an amazingly immersive world, coming back to the real world could leave people lost and depressed. Third, the metaverse will lead to alienation. The initial tendency would be to feel sorry for mistakes and crimes committed in the virtual world, but the more incredible the immersive experiences become, the more people will detach from reality and the less they will feel morally guilty about their wrongdoings. This double alienation may give birth to a weaker sense of responsibility and autonomy.

The metaverse magnifies tensions between science and society. Whoever masters the technology will dominate the construction of the virtual space. This technological hegemony will in turn influence the discourse of individuals, social organizations, and even governments. Real lives will be reshaped by the metaverse horizontally and vertically, which will inevitably require the readjustment of social structures to adapt to the development of the metaverse.

Some mysteries concerning metaverse technology remain unresolved. First, metaverse technology is beyond human comprehension. The more a technology influences people in depth and breadth, the harder it is for people to understand it, and the biggest challenge is whether the technology remains under the control of humans. Second, the metaverse confuses interpersonal relationships. If the metaverse is meant to provide a different experience from the real world, is it necessary for people to take risks when entering the uncharted realm? If the metaverse only replicates reality, is it still such an indispensable experience? If the metaverse is meant to create experiences unavailable in real life, they are likely to be unhealthy or risky.

Despite such implications, the development of metaverse technology should continue in earnest. In fact, ethical concerns about the metaverse come in the wake of cheers for the new technology because it is clear that the metaverse can deliver tangible benefits. Individually, digital identity and immersive experiences help people transcend the limitations of body and space and liberate them in a broader sense. Socially, the metaverse helps create equal dialogue and social structure for human equality and social cooperation. Technologically, metaverse integration enhances creativity by engaging people in the creation of the virtual and real worlds. Well-guided metaverse technology should serve human life better. In this sense, the metaverse refers not only to a technology, but also to an ideological concept.

We should build metaverse ideals around an improved ethical value system tuned to metaverse technology. The metaverse offers a kind of immersive experience that is direct and embodied. It achieves direct multipoint-to-multipoint connections between strangers thousands of miles away and liberates people from physical limitations to a great extent. The metaverse can deliver users digital senses and even let them feel other people’s feelings. A decentralized metaverse would provide greater autonomy, convenience, and openness. Everyone is a content creator in the metaverse. They can enter the virtual world anytime, create what they want and need, and enjoy a personalized immersive experience. People in the real world are responsible for the behavior of their digital identities. In and between the two worlds, we should design justice procedures based on the subject of responsibilities and form ideas about public good in the ultimate sense, so that the subjects of responsibilities share a common future.

The metaverse has not yet fully welcomed people into a virtual realm, but it remains the gateway to a new era. “The most important thing in life is to stop saying ‘I wish’ and start saying ‘I will’,” wrote Charles Dickens in David Copperfield. “Consider nothing impossible, then treat possibilities as probabilities.”