About this Research Topic

Background

Mixed reality is emerging as the next phase of personal computing where 3D worlds are collectively forming a meta-universe of virtual or mixed reality domains -the ‘Metaverse’. Mixed reality as a metaverse is potentially where affordances of the digital and analogue worlds could work together to create new interactive learning and social-economic opportunities.

What is the Metaverse? The metaverse is commonly perceived as a virtual world where users can interact with each other and participate in various activities such as gaming, socializing, learning and business. It is a compound term, “meta”, meaning "after”, "beyond” or "transcending" and “verse” meaning “universe”, “the world as an interface” or “a digitized earth accessed through smartphones and the internet”. The term was first coined by Neal Stephenson in his science fiction novel ‘Snow Crash’ (1992), although the concept can be found already in William Gibson’s Neuromancer (1984). And whereas Gibson portrays a rather dark world, Stephenson envisioned an online universe which closely resembled reality and people could use avatars to escape from real-world problems.

In this call, different concepts of the metaverse and associated ethical issues are to be explored. The metaverse may include virtual worlds and other virtual spaces including augmented reality. That is,
the metaverse may include elements of a real-world with digitally augmented content that are live, changing, perceptible and interactive to human users.

Ethical challenges arise as the physical world will itself become an interface making reality even more machine-readable, click-able, searchable, and personalisable. By wearing a mixed reality device, users may by default be generating profound 3D models of everything they view in their actual physical locations, and capturing a range of real-world content which may include both the individual and other people. This information can be used to enhance user experiences, but also capture technologies combined with machine learning can open up multiple paths for advertising and manipulation. For example, using big data about where millions of people are looking and their facial expressions, eye movements, and body movements, in response to that, can be of ethical concern, because then models can be built of user reactions, both at the mass and the individual level - which then can be used for targeted advertising and political manipulation.

Presently many mobile devices have inbuilt lidar technology and can create a 3D point cloud of any environment or object. Depth sensors are being built into different devices, but mechanisms for protecting one’s body image and possessions have not been well established, neither have procedures for mitigating risks of bias against individuals or groups or tracking personal preferences as a result of data obtained by the field in view. This has a direct impact on our privacy and security, including ethical implications, e.g., our well-being and autonomy. We have already experienced the exploitation of images being translated into large societal concerns over deep fake broadcasting through existing technologies; however, these new mixed-reality devices generate further concerns in this area.

How can ethical design approaches for an open metaverse counteract such concerns? What does ethical design mean and entail in the global context of the metaverse? What will the metaverse mean for our identities, relationships, and the human condition? What will it mean to our businesses, society, and way of life? How do we enable access and prevent current concerns regarding digital divides from continuing to translate into mixed reality contexts? How do we reduce the potential of mixed reality experiences to reduce our own personal freedoms? What regulation might be required to counteract the potential for harm in metaverse spaces?

Research topics of interest:
- Ethical design frameworks, methodologies, and case studies for the design of Metaverse technologies (including Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and Artificial Intelligence) with human well-being in focus
- Ethics by Design – what does it mean and how do we achieve it?
- Ethics and sustainability in the metaverse – what does it entail?
- Perspectives on responsible solutions (ethical, legal, and secure), including the protection of human ethical rights of privacy, integrity, and autonomy; protections for persons identifying with marginalized and/or vulnerable groups; while still fostering user agency through experiences that are safe, empowering, educational and entertaining, and make the experience worthwhile for the users
- Equitable access to content created with the Metaverse, for example in the arts, education, and governance.
- Technical approaches for the development of a fair and equitable metaverse such as case studies of data privacy and encryption, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and blockchain frameworks. Currently, XR can be used for producing biases against people or groups, immersive fake news, and more.

Keywords: Mixed Reality, ethical design, virtual rights, human autonomy, humanism, ethical responsibility, dignity, digital rights, transhumanism

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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