L’iperrealismo tecnologico tra identità, poteri pubblici e privati. Il caso del Metaverso

Emerging immersive technologies are progressively expanding within the global socio-economic landscape, becoming an integral part of daily life. Among these, the Metaverse stands out as an ideological and causal evolution of the internet and platform economy. It emerges as one of the most significant manifestations of the new industrial revolution, to the extent that it has been deemed the “successor of the Internet,” aspiring to integrate and harmonize the real and digital environments. This is achieved through the use of numerous enabling technologies such as Big Data, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, the Internet of Things, and cloud computing. The Metaverse marks a departure from the narrative imagination that has been prevalent in literature since the second half of the 20th century, which often depicted parallel universes as places of escape and antitheses to reality. Conversely, the Metaverse reveals a general ontological indifference between the physical and digital realms, proposing a new model of interaction between the real and virtual worlds. In this sense, the Metaverse transcends the dialectical need and antagonism between the physical and digital spheres, presenting itself as a monistic ecosystem and inaugurating the era of phygital monism. In this context, the atopic nature and phenomenology of the Metaverse undoubtedly stimulate numerous reflections. This contribution aims to reflect on the identity dimension of the individual within the current virtual ecosystem, exploring the Metaverse’s potential to expand the identity and personality trajectories of the individual-user. This reflection includes further aspects that stem from the technical-functional recognition of the Metaverse as well as the dynamics of individual metaverses. In particular, it seeks to understand the actual “state of affairs” within and regarding the Metaverse to assess the concrete possibilities for identity enhancement. This inquiry brings with it multiple consequential reflections that intersect primary aspects such as the mechanics of the Metaverse, the dialectic between public authorities and private entities, and regulatory tensions.