The 0rigin of Species

In the Metaverse

By means of Natural Growth Algorithms

for the

Preservation of Nature in virtual worlds.

By divinSHΞ

Through 3.8 billion years of research and development on planet Earth, nature is able to produce remarkable designs. Each species on Earth is born with the ability to make physical and behavioral adaptions aimed at survival and propagation within the environment. It is within this environment in which the human species evolved.

Now, in the early 21st Century, the human species is evolving past the confines of natural environments and into synthetic environments. These synthetic environments are commonly referred to as the Metaverse.

The term Metaverse originates from Neal Stephenson’s 1992 sci-fi novel Snow Crash, defining the 3D environment where part of the story takes place. Nearly two decades later, the term is used by many to describe an interconnected virtual space where digital representations of humans can interact and experience.

To enter the Metaverse, one must brute force their biological input and outputs methods to manipulate their sense of reality. The laws governing the Metaverse are arbitrary, and they need not bare any resemblance to the laws of the natural world. In the confines of these new laws, humans will continue to make physical and behavioral adaptations aimed at survival.

The evolutionary consequences of this immersion in virtual spaces are unknown.

After being birthed in a natural world inhabited by millions of diverse species, humans are designing the Metaverse for one species. This design is a form of human survival, a temporary escape from an ecological emergency—the harshest of realities—human-assisted climate change.

Human activity has pushed millions of species past the threshold of tolerance to the point where there is now an unprecedented decline in biodiversity. While humans can design a Metaverse to adapt to survive, many organisms will no longer have the minimum amount of habitat they need to reproduce and persist in the natural environment.

While humans have an inane tendency to interact or be closely associated with other forms of natural life, in the design of the Metaverse, nature and its organisms are excluded. Natural inspired designs are present in small corners of the Metaverse, however, their natural appearance is designed by humans for humans. This momentary illusion won’t fool the human brain for long. The uncanny valley applies to all natural forms.

Even if it is too soon to tell if humans can reverse the ecological collapse they accelerated in the natural environment, there are novel ways to spur ecological growth within the Metaverse. In order to continue to evolve effectively in a synthetic environment, humans must bring other lifeforms into the Metaverse—not just snapshots of natural forms, but through an evolutionary process, modeling the elements of natures evolution algorithmically. This is known as a natural growth algorithm.

A natural growth algorithm is a series of processes derived from nature and combined into a digital code that allows replaceable growth. The famous Fibonacci sequence is an example of a natural growth algorithm, which is represented in the growth of a shell or the center of a sunflower. Differential growth is another example, where a form like a mushroom or plant leaf grows at different rates causing it to naturally grow in on itself.

Natural growth algorithms will not only just benefit human evolution inside the Metaverse; it will be our best chance to preserve the elements of the natural world before it is too late. The environment of the Metaverse must be truly alive, just like the avatars that exist within it. In short, nature in the Metaverse, must be grown, not made.

The author hopes to make one point with this writing: Humans cannot evolve without nature, which is why humans must bring nature with it into the Metaverse, or risk a sixth mass extinction.

First published on July 30th, 2021