Wagner James Au / New World Notes

Virtual world experience from Wild Palms starts around 45 minutes in

I asked readers for favorite depictions of the Metaverse/virtual worlds in movies and TV besides Ready Player One, and they delivered — starting with this oddball post-Twin Peaks TV classic from the 90s recommended by Ariane Barnes:

Back in the 90's when VR was still science fiction, some strange VR TV shows were released. The best was a mini-series called Wild Palms (1993) which I haven't seen in years, but available on You Tube in beautiful 4:3 ratio 480p video. The premise is that in 2007 a technology involving VR goggles and designer drugs would allow a person to travel anywhere experience it in all 5 senses. Virtual sex was the primary motivation of course.

Of course!  Watch episode 1 above. I vaguely remember the show, mostly for Kathryn Bigelow directing a later episode, and William Gibson doing a cameo appearance somewhere in there. Anyway, pretty amazing there was buzz around VR literally 30 years ago.

Speaking of Gibson, Soda Sullivan recommends a much more recent example based on a novel by him:

I have really enjoyed The Peripheral both for its dazzling portrayal of the issues involved in dealing with a travelling into a new world while having one foot firmly planted in another. While the worlds in The Peripheral are not exactly virtual and more more jumps in time, all the basic dilemma's and fascinations are there and still apply.

One thing I did like about Ready Player One the Movie is that it did show the classism that will be involved in how we enter virtual worlds, with the rich having access to the latest and greatest technology and the working class having to hack and trade their way in.

Good points! In Snow Crash, the class distinctions are: The wealthy own high-end VR rigs, while everyone else has to make to do with phonebooth-type public VR appliances. Whereas in real life right now, most popular metaverse platforms are mostly accessed through affordable Android phones.

Keep the suggestions coming!