a conduit of ideas and catalyst for change, common future lab is a research-led platform testing ideas of humanity through arts, culture and technology.
common future lab prompts objective speculations on the inter-connectedness between human, nature, society. taking a multi-faceted approach, common future lab fosters diversity and human connections through creative expressions. culminating in a commonplace of perspectives, we are a knowledge depository and research initiative exploring alternative pathways for our collective future.
Metaverse, A Utopian Vision
The Meta Lab
Hieronymus Bosch, The exterior panels of ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights’ - a representation of the world during creation, oil on oak panels, Museo del Prado, Madrid.
The Meta Lab is a new series of essays that explores the potentials and ramifications of emerging technology in society. Taking a didactical approach the culmination of varying perspectives leads us to a commonplace of divergence. The first article examines the idea of the metaverse as a utopian vision.
Derived from the Ancient Greek prefix μετά, the word ‘meta’ has a meaning of succession and transformation. It denotes a higher nature, indicating a quest, a pursuit, and a change of condition in time and space. In our present times, the digital realm is increasingly seen as a space for creation, instigation, and postulation. In the negation of utopia in our existing world, many have looked beyond the physical realm in search of alternatives, from John Lennon and Oko Ono’s Nutopia, to Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash, Cao Fei’s RMB City: A Second Life City Planning, and Peter Weibel and Bruno Latour’s concept of “Hypertopia”. Is metaverse the ultimate utopia? Where are we heading and how will the virtual space be shaped?