The The Metaverse and the Common Source Tragedy; An Essay on Possibilities and Impossibilities

Abstract

Nowadays, where technological developments push the limits of dreams, extraordinary transformations are experienced in terms of the interaction of virtual reality and physical reality. In this transformation process, there are radical changes that go beyond the understanding of physical existence that humanity has known and experienced so far. This new layered technology, which digitizes unusual forms of life and interaction and brings them to a virtual space, is called "the metaverse". Metaverse creates a virtual twin of the world based on augmented reality technology, enables the development of new virtual economic systems with blockchain technology, enables the creation of new identities and organization of social networks through powerful communication and avatar identification technologies, and enables the production of content that enables connection with the real world. It is a dimensional technological architecture.

The breadth of Metaverse's technological architecture and its unlimited development potential also cause it to attract attention as a new and profitable investment area in business, education, health, entertainment, trade and military fields. The breadth of opportunities and possibilities offered by Metaverse, along with the possibilities of high earnings and profits, lead to large investments in this field and the emergence of a strong competitive environment. In this context, it is clear that technological investments and industrial production will require significant amounts of raw materials and energy. Uncontrolled and uncontrolled technological development on world resources brings about the problem of extinction of natural resources such as water, atmosphere, electromagnetic spectrum and soil, which are called common goods and directly affect the lives of all people living in the world.

In this study, the process of overconsumption of natural resources that occurs with the increase in investments that support the development of metaverse technology and the widespread use of its applications will be discussed in the context of the tragedy of common resource use theory. Here, it will be noted that the current solutions put forward to overcome this consumption cycle that may result in the destruction of natural resources are generally created with a technocratic approach, but the proposed solutions cannot be solved with a technical understanding, and alternative suggestions for solving the problems that may arise with the uncontrolled use of natural resources will be discussed together with the metaverse.