US, China race to militarize the metaverse

In yet another realm of US-China rivalry, both superpowers are treating the emerging metaverse as a contested military domain.

The metaverse is a digital, parallel world created thanks to developments in the internet, virtual reality, networking technologies and augmented reality, to name but a few of its technological enablers. Currently, there is no single unified metaverse but rather fragmentation of multiple metaverses created by various companies and programmers.

While the concept and technologies are still in their infancy, the metaverse has many diverse and significant defense applications ranging from training, mission planning and simulation, weapons design and even combat operations. That potential is already putting the US and China on a virtual world collision course.

In an article published last month in the Military Cyber Professionals Association, Josh Baughman from the National Defense University wrote that China views the metaverse as providing a “parallel cognitive space that digitally twins real combat scenarios, where cognitive warfare can be advanced efficiently and enhanced at a fast pace.”

He added that an attack on an adversary’s metaverse can “affect the opponent’s thinking, cognition, and action decision making.” Baughman opined that China views the US as far ahead in metaverse technology but that it views itself as superior from a cultural and substantive viewpoint.

I think that a key objective would be to have the population of your opponent be engaged in multiple, fantastical, imaginary worlds such that their thinking becomes adversarial and maladapted to dealing with reality.

1 posted on 04/21/2022 4:19:12 AM PDT by FarCenter

the plan was to keep everyone LOCKED IN, afraid and
forced to use the metaverse: VR-locked eloi.

hence:
“You will own nothing, and be happy”.

2 posted on 04/21/2022 4:21:23 AM PDT by Diogenesis (Si vis pacem, para bellum)

Yeah. Well I’m Galactus in the Metaverse, chicom bitchez.

Wars will be fought the Zuckerberg universe!? Hysterical.

3 posted on 04/21/2022 4:28:54 AM PDT by HYPOCRACY (This is the dystopian future we've been waiting for!)

The metaverse is the future of prisons.

4 posted on 04/21/2022 4:42:35 AM PDT by TimSkalaBim

Just think...we’d have none of this if Al Gore hadn’t invented the internet.

Thanks Al.

5 posted on 04/21/2022 5:25:03 AM PDT by moovova

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