Matthew Ball: belief

Transcript context

…But take email — email is fairly interoperable. You can send all sorts of people emails. If you shouted to the clouds, “Delete all the emails I’ve sent,” nothing’s really going to happen. Maybe the EU would delete the emails you sent to the EU, but it’s out there. Why won’t most of a fairly interoperable metaverse be like email, where there is no right to be forgotten, which by the way, I’m fine with, but the law is the law in the EU. And aren’t they now hindering attempts to build a workable metaverse? I wouldn’t say that they’re hindering. I think we’re coming up against the challenges of what’s a desired outcome and what’s a technically realizable outcome. For example, the EU is mandating interoperability of messaging services. They’re saying, “iMessage, and WhatsApp, you have to interoperate.” That’s actually good. The government’s doing exactly what they’re doing with electrical ports — standardizing outlets. They’re now forcing Apple and others to use USB-C instead of Lightning — same thing. Good. Common languages for exchange of information. The flip side of that is, the EU is also requiring it to meet the same level of encryption and security as your own self-managed system. Most technologists come to the strict answer, which is these two things are not compatible. You fundamentally can’t exchange information, least of all to multiple other parties whose servers you don’t own, with the same level of security. So, we’re seeing some of these tensions right now. Now, I’ve known a few people who don’t have email and don’t have any plausible social media substitute, but it’s really very few people at this point, especially in wealthier countries. What do you think is the most likely year where the same will be true for the metaverse? Like, yeah, some people aren’t in it, but you more or less have to be in it to be doing things. What’s your point estimate?…

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