I recently read Aldous Huxley’s A Brave New World. The book describes a utopian futuristic society - the “world state” - controlled by what is effectively a benevolent dictatorship. All hardships have been removed from daily life, and people exist in a constant state of happiness, ease, and perfection.

Of course, this isn’t exactly the case - one of Huxley’s main conclusions is that “happiness has to be paid for.” Put differently (or at least how I interpret it), happiness can’t be reverse engineered, or experienced instantaneously. People must exert time and effort to extract true value from “things”, experiences, relationships, etc. Similarly, people need to experience the ebbs and flows of life to appreciate moments of positive inflection.

This conclusion is by no means a “hot take.” I find myself well aware of the concept of “paying for happiness” on a regular basis. For example, I appreciate nice restaurants because I vividly remember eating beans and popcorn for my first two years in New York after undergrad. I often debate, with myself, how to sustain this awareness with increased “success”, and distance from reference points (e.g. canned bean dinners). In ten years, when that’s hopefully a distant memory, will I still feel immense joy from a perfect meal out? Does the bar for happiness keep going up, forever?

The intersection of happiness and technology has been researched extensively. From a macro perspective, internet access and happiness are positively correlated (source). That said, many of the social platforms that promised to make us feel more “connected”, and consequently happier, have not delivered. Feelings of loneliness and isolation are positively correlated with Facebook usage, for example (source).

I digress, but, as we enter the age of Web3, and specifically “the metaverse”, this awareness to what underpins, and drives, happiness seems to have newfound importance.

As a quick primer, there are varying ways to think about the metaverse. But, at its core, it’s a virtual world where you (or an avatar representation of you) can live, work, socialize, and play with others. Last year, Facebook famously rebranded to “Meta” in anticipation of our continued migration to existing and interacting in digital, as opposed to IRL, worlds. Zuckerberg’s “founder letter” describing the rebranding notes that in the metaverse, “you will be able to teleport instantly as a hologram to be at the office without a commute, at a concert with friends, or in your parents’ living room to catch up.” He also shares that, “many physical things you have today...could just be holograms in the future.” (source)

In context with the conclusion of A Brave New World, this instantaneousness, both in accessing experiences and physical items, seems potentially problematic. Take the virtual concert referenced, for example. My most memorable IRL concert experience is forever burned in my memory. When I was in 9th grade, me and my two best friends secretly took the train to New York to see the rappers K’naan and Wale. Ziggy Marely and Nas made guest appearances, nbd. (Also, importantly,  I pushed myself to the front row, threw my shoe on stage, Wale signed it, threw it back, and I carried it all the way home.)

There’s a lot about this experience, and ones like it, that we are a ways away from successfully replicating in a digital world. But one concrete “missing element” is the momentum and excitement that results from the journey to and from an experience. Maybe there’s a way these magical “buffer moments” can be accounted for in the metaverse, the somewhat cumbersome incidents that somehow make the actual event more special. But, I worry about how the instantaneousness of digital experiences may water down the happiness they give us. (The same line of thought can be applied to physical items. Even if we hold prices constant, there’s something about waiting several years for your dream home to be built, versus having it just appear.)

Another interpretation of Zuckerberg’s letter is that the instantaneousness of digital experiences enables us to simply have more of them. (e.g. less time commuting equals more time for leisure, friends, etc.). With a few exceptions, such as reallocating time that would be spent commuting to work, I’m not sure this leaves us happier, either. Huxley’s book warns about easy and excessive consumption, of all things, highlighting that neither actually brings people happiness is a sustained way.

In addition to the metaverse’s potential dilution of the happiness derived from physical items and experiences, I also worry about it diminishing the value of our relationships. This concern is rooted, in part, by what I’d describe as a lack of accountability in digital-first interactions. For example, I think it’s easier to drop an “online” friend if they upset you, versus working through the conflict and potentially developing a more meaningful and valuable connection. (I’d  argue that this is also the result of our society becoming generally less patient, and more fickle, regarding social relationships. Cancel culture, anyone?). Even if we get to a place where, technologically speaking, our online interactions feel just as “real” as those in the physical world, I think we need to be intentional about - the norms of digital relationship building and maintenance to ensure they’re positioned to actually bring us happiness.

Importantly, I want to stress that there are clear scenarios in which digital, social experiences provide users with unmatched value, and accordingly happiness. I’d argue that many of these instances involve enabling people to find like minded peers, and form communities, in ways that would be nearly impossible IRL. Put differently, these valuable interactions are only possible because they are digital. (One of my favorite, new companies building in this space is Chill Pill, an online community for young women centered around positive mental health. Hayley, the company’s founder, described that part of what makes the platform so special is user anonymity, which would be difficult to replicate in the real world. The closest comp here is likely AA members only disclosing their first names.)

These thoughts aren’t conclusive. And, there’s likely a way to get this all “right”, if we’re intentional. If you’re also thinking about any of the above, I’d love to connect. And, if you’re a founder building in the metaverse with any of these themes in mind, please shoot me a note: [email protected]