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Blog

As may be expected of a blog, it is an ongoing affair. For the moment, we publish here three types of texts that suit the definition of a blog.

  • in English: texts that Touché and Guy post with a certain regularity at LinkedIn.
  • in Portuguese: contributions of Touché to our company website on LinkedIn, and some of her older posts on Brasil com Z, a blog by expat Brazilians about the countries they emigrated to. The cooperation stopped some time ago, but Touché's texts are still interesting.
  • in Portuguese, Dutch, English and even French: whenever we travel, we send newsletters to friends in several countries. At first, these messages appeared only in Portuguese, later a Dutch version was added, and in 2016 we were crazy enough to add a French and an English newsletter during our stays in New Zealand/Australia and Costa Rica. We will progressively post some of these travelogues, going back in time.

Here we present ind of a special treat: a travelogue that is at the same time astudyote: the latest post is at the top. Use the menu at left or scroll down for older messages.

Note: the latest post is at the top. Use the menu at left or scroll down for older messages.

Travelogues from Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia and the Khmer culture

When did we become aware of the creation of the metaverse? For many this concept remains unknown, but probably, this state of innocence won’t last long. Even if it started as a burglar that planned an assault on somebody’s home, it now seems inevitable that this horrific idea invades minds and existential needs and takes hold of our human capacity to interact and live real facts and emotions transforming us into zombies produced by high technology and unlimited greed.

The term – a nice combination of two beautiful words 'meta' – from the Greek: 'beyond' – and 'verse' - extracted from 'universe' (Wikipedia-Wiktionary) has a strong marketing appeal and points to big financial growth and profits.

Who needs virtual reality?

Who needs virtual reality?

However the concept, maybe designed behind doors and in top secret by to those enterprises that gathered to discuss new possibilities of making still more money even if their owners are already billionaires, does not seem to be so nice and surely not at all beautiful as the ancient words used to designate it.

We are talking about forging a non-real reality – if this makes linguistic sense. Providing people with an escape from their lives through the illusion of the possibility of meeting with anyone anywhere anytime puts at risk our human condition to be and share. When fiction becomes 'livable' then there is no point in thinking, searching, struggling, just because being together and looking for personal development stops making sense. Just set some devices on your body and you stop being a body that has different types of limitations. Giving up our human nature to hide ourselves behind lenses that show us an imaginary world certainly leads our humanity to be irreversible damaged.

For many years this state of alienation and denial of reality has been called schizophrenia. Well, changing the designation does not change the fact. Persons are not avatars, metaverses are not reality, imagination is imagination, reality is reality. These basic truths remain true.

Giant enterprises are investing in all sorts of devices to make 'the metaverse experience' as pleasant as possible but what is really in question – the danger it means to our minds, emotions, actions – is mostly put aside because it is 'The' big hit of modernity and high-tech and we are not supposed to oppose progress, right?

Well, this is an alert. Not from a scientist, not from a historian, not from an expert in any fancy subject but from a down to earth common person who loves life and values the human condition. Be aware of fake universes! Ours is exciting and we have a wonderful planet to live in with other real people. Maybe we are not so developed. But we are real and so are our experiences.

Touché Guimarães, published on Linked In on January 18, 2022.
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