Back in April I was invited onto a social media platform called Clubhouse. I was immediately intrigued by the concept and spent a fair bit of time in the first couple weeks noodling around and orienting myself on the site. It very quickly consumed my attention and I was riveted by the ecosystem in this virtual space. I had some wild experiences in my first week, one of which saw me reciting an original poem at a virtual book launch that boasted in attendance, among others, not other than MC Hammer. I had fashioned myself as a poet in my bio, so I had better show up as one. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Clubhouse it is a social networking app that is based only on voice, where people come together from around the world to connect and learn from one another. It was explained to me as mini podcast rooms that exist only in real time. You have to be there or you miss out. Way to garner immediate fomo Clubhouse, touche. You could walk the halls to see what was being discussed, jump in and out of rooms or start your own conversation. Inside each room was a strict hierarchy with moderators or “mods”, as they were affectionately called, at the top, people who were “connected” to the mods in the middle and the plebs or newbies on the bottom. It is a system totally built on social credit from the invite only entry to the street cred you get by displaying that little green circle with a star indicating that you have deemed yourself worthy to moderate and have a voice in the room.

Clubhouse boasts a strong community and I won’t deny that it has that in spades. I participated in several life-giving conversations that were building common-unity and animating public spirit.

Then there were the conversations that were about the conversations. There were rooms that were solely about Clubhouse commenting on Clubhouse that felt more like a lowbrow reality television show rife with jealousy, gossip and drama than a space to learn and grow from. There were Clubhouse celebrity mods and rooms that honestly felt like a moderator circle jerk bereft of substance. Life imitating art imitating life…or something like that. What blew me away was when I went into a room and heard them boasting that they had been running that room for twelve hours straight!!! Talk about entering the void. I couldn’t help but reflect on Margaret Wheatley’s work studying the decline of complex civilizations; the key marker being an obsession with fame. In Wheatley’s book, “Who do we Choose to Be”, she lays out how we have hit every marker that a complex civilization hits before their ultimate demise. She also suggests that while this demise is inevitable we can find our “Islands of Sanity” and reclaim leadership as a noble profession becoming “Warriors of the Human Spirit”. The Metaverse is not going away, as we have daily proof with the skyrocketing use of social media and other online platforms. This is why I feel it is imperative that our level of self-awareness is incredibly intentional in the online spaces that we occupy. Entrance to the Metaverse feels as inevitable as Wheatley’s theory, so if we are going there anyway might as well make is a vibe.

But…. what even is the Metaverse?

The metaverse is a hypothesized iteration of the internet, supporting persistent online 3-D virtual environments through conventional personal computing, as well as virtual and augmented reality headsets. Metaverses, in some limited form, are already present on platforms like VRChat or video games like Second Life. (Wikipedia)

While this Wiki definition states that it is a “hypothesized” iteration of the internet, I think we can all see that the vast majority of us are literally standing in the foyer of what is sure to be a monolith. During the pandemic when most of our activities were forced online many of us slipped into the virtual avatar skin like a perfectly fitting glove, and it was comfy. While on Clubhouse I kept getting the image of Russian Stacking Dolls. It was as if the experience of this all engrossing virtual community was symbolizing a greater spiritual truth. Many dogmatic materialists believe that this is all there is, the Anna Maya or physical 3D reality. However the ease at which one can become consumed by a virtual space is proof enough for me that there are layers to reality. I believe the Metaverse could take us one more layer into the doll and if we aren’t careful we could lose touch with the outer layers just as we have done the other subtle bodies.

The Seven Subtle bodies:
The anna-maya ("food body", physical body, the grossest level),
The prana-maya (body made of vital breath or prana),
The mano-maya (body made of mind),
The vijñana-maya (body made of consciousness)
The ananda-maya (bliss body, the subtlest level).

And then there are the algorithms…..

There are a lot of super cool and innovative ideas emerging within the sphere of meta. It has opened up a whole new realm of supporting creators that should lead to decentralization, the emergence of blockchain technology and ultimately more sovereignty (here’s hoping). I am absolutely not an expert on this. I have barely scratched the surface here and my comprehension is very limited. I am attempting to learn. My go to inspiration is a gentleman named Brian Fanzo who goes by the instagram handle @isocialFanz https://www.isocialfanz.com/ . Brian was one of the highlights of my sojourn into the Clubhouse arena. He is warm, funny and super genuine. He definitely feels like a trustworthy individual to learn from and is cooking up some exciting projects in the NFT world. However, I can’t help but think about that pesky algorithm. Whenever we enter an online space we are beholden to the rules that command the algorithm into action. We see this already with shadow bans on FB, Instagram and Twitter becoming a regular occurance. I understand the need to keep these spaces as safe as possible, but some of the bans and warnings I’ve seen feel a lot more dangerous than the messages they contain. Who writes those RULES!?? What happens when Ai takes over the algorithms? I’m sure you have already seen the studies that show that Ai can be incredibly biased especially to BIPOC individuals. The writer of the code can have an almost Godlike power over what is allowed and what isn’t, who gets bumped in social status and who doesn’t. The pace at which technology is booming leaves little time to explore ethical nuance in these matters.

In the meantime it behoves us to mind what we feed the algorithm.

I recently came across this meme on Instagram and I think it perfectly articulates what I mean when I say “mind what you feed the algorithm”. The energy that you connect with online is just as real as the energy you connect with in real life. The algorithm is always paying attention. The folx you follow, the posts you like the comments you make and the groups you are part of all contribute to your personal algorithm and that algorithm dictates your social credit score. Since you don’t write those rules it is important to be mindful of your output so you can receive the most empowering input and vice versa. My friend Danica Boyce ,who runs a successful life and business coaching business and has a scintillating social media presence (@danica.boyce), outlined the following Instagram hygiene check in:

What is your highest purpose on the social media platforms that you inhabit?
What are you showing up for?
What are you NOT showing up for? - BOUNDARIES

https://fair-folk-media.mykajabi.com/

Unfortunately most social media platforms play to the lowest common denominator capitalizing on our innate need for attention and a negativity bias that has us in comparison mode most of the time. However, I believe you can actually raise your vibration by actively participating in the content that speaks to your highest values and desires. This means liking, commenting, sharing and saving posts from creators that you enjoy instead of just lurking. It feeds your algorithm and it feeds theirs, because that algorithm is a hungry hungry beast. We all know we should cut the screen time, but that isn’t always the way it goes. Living with intention is a way to combat this. Setting up your own personal practice to connect with your higher guidance will shut out all the noise that makes its way inside. Protect your frequency, energy and vibration. Go outside, smell the ocean, dance in the rain or squish your bare toes in the wet earth. Make sure you remind yourself each and every day that there is a reality beyond the screen and you might just get a glimpse of the reality that is beyond this dream we call life.

“The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice. And because we fail to notice that we fail to notice, there is little we can do to change; until we notice how failing to notice shapes our thoughts and deeds.”
- R.D. Laing

Welcome to the Metaverse: Mind what you feed the Algorithm

Clubhouse boasts a strong community and I won’t deny that it has that in spades. I participated in several life-giving conversations that were building common-unity and animating public spirit.

But…. what even is the Metaverse?

And then there are the algorithms…..

In the meantime it behoves us to mind what we feed the algorithm.

“The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice. And because we fail to notice that we fail to notice, there is little we can do to change; until we notice how failing to notice shapes our thoughts and deeds.”