Batya Friedman, co-director of the Tech Policy Lab and professor of human-computer interaction at the University of Washington, was among a group of global thought leaders selected by Pew Research Center to share their views on the future of the metaverse. Professsor Friedman highlighted the relatively “impoverished” nature of the metaverse with respect to human values and relationships, inviting readers to consider a world where resources allocated to the metaverse were instead directed toward neighborhood well-being. “If enduring human values of dignity; emotional, psychological and physical well-being; care; play; and community guide our choices – of what we build, of where and how we choose to live our lives, of who we wish to be and what societies we wish to enable – the metaverse has little to offer,” Professor Friedman writes. “Better for us to spend our resources – our time and attention and beings – elsewhere.”

https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2022/06/30/1-a-sampling-of-overarching-views-on-the-metaverse/