Presented at Gikii 2023 in Utrecht – Netherlands
// For your consideration
# Dateline: Boomtime, 66 Confusion, 3189 YOLD (last minute, but before the stroke of midnight)
# Title: WHAT THE FUCK IS THE METAVERSE?
# Abstract concepts:
Visions of the future/present from the past. Or as the KLF said, What Time is Love?. This presentation will combine the cinema and sci-fi of the 90’s, which are in turn a result of 80s cyberpunk and Reagan/Thatcher Cold War aesthetic, and look at them from the far future of 2023. Maybe we find some lessons for today along the way.
The principal investigation will centre around two box office bombs:
* Johnny Mnemonic (1995)
* Strange Days (1995)
We will have a look at the underlying short stories (in the case of William Gibson), the visions for the future, some contemporary forces at play (such as the 1992 Los Angeles Riots), with a sprinkling of Chaos Magic, and of course, mention Snow Crash and the birth of the metaverse. Looking back and across in time, we will discuss samizdat, remember SecondLife, and maybe see what the fuck Web3 is all about.
ATTEND AT YOUR OWN RISK.