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  4. The Metaverse as a Virtual Model of Platform Urbanism: Its Converging AIoT, XReality, Neurotech, and Nanobiotech and Their Applications, Challenges, and Risks
 
research article

The Metaverse as a Virtual Model of Platform Urbanism: Its Converging AIoT, XReality, Neurotech, and Nanobiotech and Their Applications, Challenges, and Risks

Bibri, Simon Elias  
June 1, 2023
Smart Cities

With their exponentially rising computational power, digital platforms are heralding a new era of hybrid intelligence. There has recently been much enthusiasm and hype that the Metaverse has the potential to unlock hybrid intelligence. This is premised on the idea that the Metaverse represents an applied convergence of Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) and Extended Reality (XR) that intersects with urbanism in terms of the distinctive features of platform-mediated everyday life experiences in cities. However, social interaction and its resulting social organization in the Metaverse are mediated and governed by algorithms and thus submitted to-a dream of-complete logical ordering. This raises a plethora of concerns related to the systemic collection and algorithmic processing of users' personal, brain, and biometric data, i.e., profound societal-and the hardest to predict ethical-implications. Therefore, this study analyzes and synthesizes a large body of scientific literature on the unfolding convergence of AIoT and XR technologies, neurotechnology, and nanobiotechnology in the realm of the Metaverse in order to derive a novel conceptual framework for the Metaverse as an envisioned virtual model of platform urbanism. Further, it examines the key challenges and risks of these converging technologies in relation to the Metaverse and beyond. This study employs thematic analysis and synthesis to cope with multidisciplinary literature. The analysis identifies seven themes: (1) Platformization, (2) platform urbanism, (3) virtual urbanism, (4) XR technologies, (5) AIoT technologies, (6) neurotechnology, and (7) nanobiotechnology. The synthesized evidence reveals that, while neurotechnology and nanobiotechnology have numerous benefits and promising prospects, they raise contentions and controversies stemming from their potential use to inflict harm to human users-if left unchecked-through the black box of the algorithmic mediation underpinning the Metaverse. The findings serve to steer the Metaverse to contribute to human flourishing and wellbeing by adhering to and upholding ethical principles as well as leveraging its underlying disruptive technologies in meaningful ways. They also aid scholars, practitioners, and policymakers in assessing the pros and cons of these technologies, especially their inevitable ramifications.

  • Details
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Type
research article
DOI
10.3390/smartcities6030065
Web of Science ID

WOS:001017895500001

Author(s)
Bibri, Simon Elias  
Date Issued

2023-06-01

Publisher

MDPI

Published in
Smart Cities
Volume

6

Issue

3

Start page

1345

End page

1384

Subjects

Engineering, Electrical & Electronic

•

Urban Studies

•

Engineering

•

metaverse

•

platform urbanism

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smart urbanism

•

platformization

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artificial intelligence of things

•

xreality

•

neurotechnology

•

nanobiotechnology

•

algorithmic governance

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augmented reality

•

responsible innovation

•

smart cities

•

messenger

•

brain

•

big

•

therapeutics

•

computer

•

perspectives

•

datafication

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
VITA  
Available on Infoscience
July 17, 2023
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/199104
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