When you think of Dogs you probably think like most of us, that they are adorable and mans best friend right? You'd be 
right of course Dogs are awesome and almost everybody loves Dogs. How about Wolves? On first glance Wolves appear to be a
lot like Dogs but they're not. They're more savage and not domesticated. They are basically a raw, badass version of Dogs.
Wolves are what nature intended before Humans got involved and made them all pathetic and weak and unable to fend for 
themselves.

Why am I talking and Wolves and Dogs? I'll tell you why. Because I think what we did to Dogs we've also been doing to 
humanity and it's reached a peak level now. I think we need to stop and course correct before it's too late!

It's no secret that with each passing generation there is a feeling that the younger generation is a bit "soft" compared 
to the one that went before it. I know I certainly feel that way looking at the kids today, with their obsession with 
identity politics, woke cancel culture and safe spaces. They place complete avoidance of hurty feelings above all else and
it's not good for anybody in the long term. I've read a couple of great books about this subject if you want to understand why.

* THE MADNESS OF CROWDS - DOUGLAS MURRAY
* THE PARASITIC MIND: HOW INFECTIOUS IDEAS ARE KILLING COMMON SENSE - DR GAD SAAD
* THE CODDLING OF THE AMERICAN MIND: HOW GOOD INTENTIONS AND BAD IDEAS ARE SETTING UP A GENERATION FOR FAILURE - GREG LUKIANOFF, JONATHAN HAIDT

## But what does this have to do with the Metaverse? 

I came across a few unbelievable articles this week in relation to VR and the Metaverse. These articles and the points
they are making had me facepalming harder than anything else I've seen up until this point.

These aren't just random internet articles either, the first one is from the BBC News website. The second from the World
Economic Forum. (Everybody that knows me knows I despise these two organisations).

## Sexual Assault in VR

[Female avatar sexually assaulted in Meta VR platform, campaigners say](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-61573661.amp)

In this "article" a female campaigner says:

> virtual assaults can be intensely traumatic

What you have to remember here is this so-called "assault" took place in Meta's (Facebook) [Horizon Worlds](https://www.oculus.com/horizon-worlds/)
VR platform. A platform not too dissimilar to [VR Chat](https://hello.vrchat.com/), only more cartoon-y and where your 
avatars don't even have legs. I mean look at this lot. Any adult that can assaulted in VR by this lot are in this 
position because this is how we've raised a generation. Preparing the road for the rubber, instead of the rubber for the 
road...

![avatars](/assets/images/blog/2022/05/27/00-cover.png)

The "researcher" then went on to say:

> "part of them was really shocked, part of them thought, 'OK, this isn't my real body, this is an avatar' and another 
> part of them thought 'this is really, really important research that I'm doing, I need to capture this footage'"

The article goes on to mention that other avatars in the area were making "lewd" comments.

Has this person ever been outside? To a real crowded location like a bar or a football match? I use VR a lot and yes 
sometimes places are quite annoying. Far too many young kids on VR Chat for example that make the experience unpleasant.
But the solutions already there, you simply highlight the person(s) that are annoying you, and you block them. They then 
disappear instantly. You can even configure any environment to only allow your friends in, or friends of friends.

Try that in real life.

I question how important this research is...

I'm sorry but people need to get a grip. We cannot continue to cater for the absolute weakest members of society and keep
normalising it. Read some of the books I pointed out earlier in this post if you want to see where it's heading. 

**Hint**: authoritarianism and a complete absence of personal choices and responsibility. 

## Metaverse Legal Issues

This article is what you'd expect from the WEF. On first inspection you might think they are forward-thinking and tackling
some tricky issues for the near future. But like everything from the WEF there is more to this than meets the eye.

So the [article](https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/02/metaverse-legal-issues/) discusses a variety of issues that we
face as a society as we combine more of the real world with the online world. They begin by talking about NFT's (and I
think we can all agree that these have been a grift) and crypto/digital currencies that will power transactions in these
new online worlds. Fair enough. I don't particularly like WEF getting involved in any of this but obviously they will 
need to as they are the self-appointed global financial dictators of the world. 

Next they discuss data and regulations such as GDPR. Again to be expected nothing too wild to say about this section.

But then we reach the final section. 

#### User interactions 

> When users interact through their avatars, we may have situations where some kind of altercation occurs that would 
> equate to breaking the law, if it took place between people in the real world. Such incidents could be in breach of 
> tort law (which covers civil claims such as negligence or nuisance) or criminal law (involving illegal acts and crime 
> such as assault, murder, burglary or rape).
>
> Imagine one avatar assaults another. Could we apply criminal laws of assault and battery to this situation? How could
> we make an avatar responsible for their actions in the metaverse? This would be complicated, because it would mean that 
> we need to attribute a legal persona to the avatar, giving them rights and duties within a legal system; allowing them 
> to sue or be sued.
>
> Proving assault or battery would also be much more difficult because it usually requires “actual bodily harm”. In the 
> metaverse, there will naturally be no actual bodily harm. It would be challenging to prove harm, loss or injury 
> suffered by an avatar.

Read that last paragraph again. Sounds a lot like the nonsense the "researcher" was spouting about assaults in the 
Metaverse doesn't it? 

By their own admission it would be hard to prove as there would be no harm. **AS THERE WOULD BE NO HARM**

Is it just me? Or has everybody lost their damn minds? 

Stop the Metaverse. I want to get off.

CANCEL THE METAVERSE