Isolation vs. Connection: Metaverse from the Perspective of Structure of Feeling in the Post-Pandemic Era

Bi Weile

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art ›› 2023, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (1) : 61-69.

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Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art ›› 2023, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (1) : 61-69.
Issue in Focus: Metaverse and the Creation of Advanced Culture in Contemporary China

Isolation vs. Connection: Metaverse from the Perspective of Structure of Feeling in the Post-Pandemic Era

  • Bi Weile
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Abstract

The metaverse fever at the end of 2021 reflects both the development of virtual reality technology and the structures of feeling in the post-pandemic era. Metaverse is a fictional digital utopia in Neal Stephenson's post-cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, which, together with another original concept, “avatar,” has a paradoxical characteristic. Stephenson's cyber imagination deconstructs the cyberpunk dystopian narrative and demonstrates the transformative power of techno-optimism. In the post-pandemic era, the business elite reinterprets this constructive utopian concept as “metaverse” to counter the fear and loneliness in the paradox of “isolation-connection.” Emphasizing the emotional compensation despite physical barriers, the revivalists of metaverse have transformed an escapist utopia of the pre-pandemic era into a reconstructive utopia of the post-pandemic era. However, a utopia created through the lens of fear and loneliness shows the manipulation of human vulnerability. As the feeling economy rises, we should be wary of technological controls over people.

Key words

metaverse;  / isolation;  / social connection;  / post-pandemic era;  / emotional compensation

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Bi Weile. Isolation vs. Connection: Metaverse from the Perspective of Structure of Feeling in the Post-Pandemic Era[J]. Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art, 2023, 43(1): 61-69

Funding

Bi Weile is a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Philosophy at Renmin University of China and a visiting scholar in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research areas cover modern Western aesthetics and philosophy of emotion.
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