Evernote Founder Says Metaverse Is Like Communist Propaganda

Facebook, now known as Meta, is betting all on one card: the Metaverse. This is the omnipresent virtual world that has long been a theme in cyberpunk and science fiction. But not everyone is convinced that the metaverse has what it takes to become part of our everyday lives. Facebook is on the decline. The economic figures don’t really show that yet, but the company leaves no doubt that its salvation lies in a change of course.

And accordingly, Mark Zuckerberg’s company is also working hard in this direction, developing solutions for augmented and virtual reality at full speed. But not everyone is convinced that this is a good idea. On the contrary, many believe that the whole thing is nothing more than hot air. This includes Phil Libin, founder of the note-taking app Evernote and current CEO of the video conferencing provider Mmhmm. Because how Business Insider reported, Libin said on a podcast that talking about the metaverse reminded him of his childhood in the Soviet Union.

Similar to Soviet propaganda

Libin: “I went to first grade in the Soviet Union. I was exposed to a lot of Soviet propaganda, and as a little kid I was told over and over again, ‘Communism doesn’t exist yet. We haven’t built Communism yet. We’re building Communism.

But it’s not Communism yet. What you see around you, this horrible, horrible place, isn’t Communism. We’re building on it. It’s going to be great when it’s there’.” And that reminds him a lot of the current Metaverse talk: “You know, you can smell a bad idea before it’s fully implemented. So I don’t want to hear, ‘Oh yeah, the Metaverse doesn’t exist yet. No, no, no, all this stuff, all this stupid, useless, shitty stuff that’s already in existence, that’s not the Metaverse. The Metaverse is coming – it’s coming’.”

VR headsets: part of the problem

Libin called the talk of Metaverse a “cloak” that uncreative people and corporations put over a lack of ideas. But the main problem is also a technical one: “VR is the thing that guarantees that none of this will ever catch on because nobody wants to spend time with a plastic thing strapped to their face.”