I suspect many people will find this title mystifying. I won’t completely explain it here but I will point to a few other places where this idea is elaborated. I will lean heavily on the concept so I wanted to give people some background.
The primary thinker who popularized this concept was John Searle in his book of 1997 titled The Construction of Social Reality. It introduces the idea that our social reality depends very little on physical reality and that no one of us can change society. I think it is the easiest introduction to some thoughts that permeate post-modern philosophy.
With that as a starting point I intend to make the argument that we inhabit two realities that interweave each other, the physical reality that our body needs but also the symbolic reality that forms our society. As social creates we need both and I will argue that what is suggested by metaverse is an acknowledgement of that fact.
For the autodidact I think YouTube videos can be a fast way to absorb new concepts. Here is a video by John Searle laying out his explanation of his thesis.
Besides Searle’s book and video, there are other people who have similar views. Here is the Wikipedia entry for The Social Construction of Reality which you might enjoy. I have not read the works of Bergman and Luckmann although I feel I should.
Since social reality is non-corporeal but present in cyberspace and especially in social networks, a firm foundation in how this other reality is built, maintained or destroyed is important for me to fully understand.
Want more? Try this video for a concept dump! Berger and Luckmann theory of social construction of reality.
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