$600 billion by 2032. That’s how big they expect the industrial metaverse to be. We’re promised that it’s going to revolutionize manufacturing, transport … even the oil & gas industry. Realistic, high-quality simulations conserving capital, AR/VR headsets revolutionizing industries. Sounds utopian, right? Hold on. Before we all run out and buy our charging stations, let’s imagine a few hard questions.

Whose Metaverse Is It Anyway?

The hype machine is running full throttle. Instead, we’re inundated with promises of flawless coordination, supercharged processes, and mesmerizing efficiency. But who really benefits? Are we truly on a path to a decentralized, empowering future, or merely creating a new gilded cage dominated by a few large technology companies?

Look at the AR/VR headset market. Meta, with a 50.8% market share, dominates. That's a problem. We've seen this movie before. The internet could decentralize everything, it said, returning control to the masses. Instead, a handful of corporate monopolies currently decide what we see, what we say, and more and more every day, what we do.

Will the industrial metaverse be any different? Or will it be more of the same walled garden, where corporations mine our data and dictate our experience? Will workers be genuinely empowered or will they be a new kind of digital serfs, surveilled, tracked and managed by algorithms.

NFTs: Freedom Or Digital Chains?

NFTs have become synonymous with speculation, making it hard to imagine them bringing true ownership to the metaverse. Verifiable credentials for workers, blockchain ownership of digital assets – it all sounds like a dream come true. Let's not be naive. NFTs can just as easily be employed to create false scarcity, limit access, and even promote shady labor practices.

Imagine a future where your ability to work in the industrial metaverse is tied to an NFT controlled by your employer. Miss a deadline? Your NFT gets revoked. Try speaking out of turn? Your NFT gets instantly frozen. All of a sudden, the hopeful promise of digital ownership turns to a means of exerting control.

This isn't just hypothetical. What’s happening now In the nascent “play-to-earn” gaming sector, we’re already seeing these dynamics play out to alarming extremes. Players are often exploited for their labor and don’t truly own their in-game assets. The upshot is that the industrial metaverse could very quickly devolve into a more advanced version of this, with even greater consequences.

The Surveillance Panopticon Beckons

The industrial metaverse, as you might expect, will produce huge amounts of data. Every shaking hand, every trembling quaver, every refreshing sip will be studied and cataloged. This information can be utilized to streamline operations, increase worker safety and boost outputs. At what cost?

Now imagine that workplace and every single thing you do gets tracked in real time and recorded forever. And algorithms are parsing your facial cues, voice modulation, and kinesics. They judge your engagement and productivity through the lens of these signals. Where your bathroom breaks are monitored and timed.

This isn't science fiction. But we’re already starting to see these technologies deployed in warehouses, factories, and logistics centers across the world. The industrial metaverse will significantly accelerate these trends. It will forcibly supercharge a surveillance panopticon, putting workers in the perpetual control of their corporate overlords.

This is the anxiety talking. We must not let this happen.

From Open Source to Open Society

The solution? Decentralization. If we want to avoid a corporate-controlled industrial metaverse, we have to advocate for its development to be on open, transparent, and permissionless protocols. We ought to make sure that workers are the ones who decide what happens with their data and with their digital identities. We need to resist the siren song of corporate control and embrace the principles of the original internet: freedom, autonomy, and collaboration.

Imagine that underground tech culture concomitant with the early days of the internet. Her focus was always on empowering the people, not the companies. We need to recapture that spirit. It’s imperative that we build the industrial metaverse to reflect our values, and not the almighty dollar.

The growth potential of the AR/VR/MR market, with a CAGR of 38.6% between 2025-2029, is mind-boggling. Growth unchecked by any sense of morality is perilous. Let's not sleepwalk into a corporate dystopia. If we’re going to build an industrial metaverse, let’s make it one that empowers workers, protects privacy and promotes freedom. The future is not predetermined. It's up to us to shape it.