There is a concept that we have heard often lately: Metaverse. So much has been written on this subject that you may have learned a lot about the metaverse. My purpose in this article is to explain how the human being, born on connectivity, can be affected by the metaverse world. Let’s first take a quick look at what the metaverse is.
Titles Included in Content
What is Metaverse?
Metaverse is defined as a digital space where social media resources, augmented reality games and virtual reality online games are brought together on a single platform or where the digital representation of people, places and things live.
So, the metaverse is a virtual reality that will enhance the user’s experience to a whole new level. It is possible to say that Metaverse carries the elements of reality to the fictional virtual world. However, because we are social beings living in a social environment with human interaction and relations, this virtual world has some drawbacks.
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Effects of Metaverse on Humans
Media theorist and author Douglas Rushkoff says in an article he wrote on this subject that the metaverse will have negative effects on people. According to him, there are already criticisms of how much social media influences human interaction; On the other hand, employees in companies are no longer together. The negative impact of the Internet on the life of the human species cannot be denied. All physical interactions are almost reduced to interaction in a virtual space. There are people who spend their lives in front of the cameras. (virtualedge.org)
With the increased number of depression, anxiety and suicide cases throughout the pandemic, we see that the number of people with mental health problems in the world is not low at all. Lack of human interaction, being locked in a room, and feeling of isolation lead to mental problems. Here, Rushkoff says in his article, the metaverse can raise such problems to an unimaginably extraordinary level.
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According to psychology professor Phil Reed, the most striking effect of engaging in virtual interactions is with psychoses, especially delusions and hallucinations. According to him, excessive use of digital technology is associated with many mental health problems, including somatic symptoms, depression, psychoticism, paranoid thinking and other serious mental illnesses. However, psychoses are among the most serious and therefore deserve some consideration, especially if a company like Facebook with close to 2 billion daily users is proposing to transition to a digitally immersive experience (metaverse).
Facebook’s Reality Labs Division has already started working on the outline of its metaverses and how to virtually reproduce the feeling of interacting with others, like in a game. It is thought-provoking that spending too much time in the virtual world causes psychosis (disconnection from reality). The most well-known psychotic disorder, schizophrenia, literally means “split, separate, break up”.
How Does the Human Brain Work?
As the name suggests and neuroimaging results show, psychosis is associated with decreased connectivity and disconnection of the brain. Let’s take a look at how our brain works to understand this connection and connectivity that is very important for the brain.
Of all the things humans have discovered around the world, there is nothing that can rival the complexity of our brains. The human brain consists of eighty-six billion cells called “neurons” (nerve cells). Neurons form tight connections with each other in an intricate forest-like network structure. The number of connections between neurons in your brain reaches hundreds of trillions.
To better understand the situation, you can think of it like this: The number of connections in a cubic millimeter of cerebral cortex tissue is twenty times the number of all humans on earth. But what makes the brain interesting is not the number of its components, but the way those components interact with each other.
In schools and popular culture, the brain is often portrayed as an organ divided into distinct regions, dedicated to specific tasks. It’s a pattern as if that area is activated during seeing, this area is activated by hearing, this area is activated while resisting sugar eating, this area is activated when pondering over a moral dilemma. All brain areas are labeled and classified. But this model is rather inadequate and ignores the most interesting part of the story. Because the brain is a living, dynamic system that constantly changes its circuits in order to adapt to the requirements of environmental conditions and the abilities of the body.
The Development Process of the Human Brain
Human is born as an incomplete being. Humans and some mammals are born immature. In other words, when they are born, they can neither walk nor find food, nor control their body temperature, nor can they defend themselves. Some mammals, such as sheep and giraffes, are developed when they are born. These animals, all born with teeth, fur and open eyes, can regulate their body temperature and feed on solid food.
Humans and animals born under full development also spend a lot of time in REM sleep. This difference is particularly evident in the first month of life, and this gives us an important clue: A brain that is born open to development continues to develop in REM sleep (that is, by dreaming).
The American psychologist William James noticed this developmental feature of the brain, and coined the term “plasticity” (kneadability) based on the concept of a system that could change with the influence of external events – and preserve its new shape. The fact that an object is plastic means that it can be given different shapes and preserved. Plastic bowls, toys and phones that we produce and shape do not melt and return to their former forms.
This also applies to the brain: Experiences change the brain, and these changes are preserved. The term “brain plasticity” or “neuroplasticity” is used in neuroscience for this condition. The word plasticity can give the impression that once it has been molded and shaped, it means to keep it that way forever. But that’s not what the brain does. Because your brain continues to shape itself over and over again throughout your life.
“Neurons that fire together, they connect to each other.”
For example, when you learn something new (the location of your favorite restaurant, a gossip about your boss, that addictive song on the radio) your brain undergoes a physical change. The same thing happens when you have material success, a social event, or an emotional experience. Every time you throw a basketball, get into a dispute with a colleague, come to a new city, look at a nostalgic photo, or hear the sweet voice of a loved one, the huge and intricate forests in your brain are transformed into something a little different than they were a moment ago.
Conclusion
The sum of these changes creates your memories, the output of your life and emotions. These countless changes in the brain accumulate over minutes, months and years to form the entity we call “you”. At least the current “you”. Because yesterday, you were slightly different. Tomorrow you will be another person again.
Finally, I can say that your brain is constantly adjusting itself to reflect its goals and challenges it has to overcome. He constantly shapes his resources and conditions according to his needs, and if he does not have what he needs, he creates it himself.
The reorganization of brain areas replaces the old “predetermined brain areas” paradigm with a more flexible model. Because the brain is very different from a digital computer. Therefore, with the help of neuroscience, we must move away from traditional engineering concepts and look more carefully in order to understand human psychology.
