What if Flat Earth is an alternate reality universe?
For those who do not know there are groups of people who claim to believe the earth is flat. This is called "Flat Earth Theory". In my opinion the power of alternate reality games when in combination with blockchain technology such as Ethereum is dramatically underestimated. There is the potential to harness these technologies to promote wisdom and to reduce ignorance. At the same time there is the potential to take alternate reality technology to a scary place.
In an alternate reality the participants agree to act as if the in game narrative is real. So I use the flat earth theory as an example because it could be a perfect "rabbit hole" into an alternate reality. A rabbit hole is similar to the red pill from The Matrix where those who take that option are led down an alternate reality path. When the potential of blockchain technology is added to alternate reality then we can see that people can be rewarded for promoting any narrative using all artistic forms of expression. A narrative could begin with the rabbit hole that the earth is flat and then expand from here to logical expansions of earth is flat theory.
For instance if we all agree (shared consensus) that the earth is flat in our alternate reality and the blockchain records our shared agreement then we all agreed to accept that narrative. If we have a flat earth then logical comes into play where by deduction we can expand the theory with "if the earth is indeed flat then...".
"In the modern era, pseudoscientific[5] flat Earth theories have been espoused by modern flat Earth societies and, increasingly, by unaffiliated individuals using social media.[6][7]"
What if we are seeing the birth of these alternate reality games right now?
How many of you are aware of a game called: Proof of Craig Grant? On the face of it the concept might seem ridiculous. To build a game around a particular individual? But there is nothing which prevents anyone even now from creating a complete alternate reality around themselves with themselves as the central theme (and using their own persona as the rabbit hole). Proof of Craig Grant could easily evolve into a fully fledged alternate reality universe if for example Craig Grant were to bring philosophical elements from his book and create his own language(s) around it. From there his own narratives could further the game and even reward players who add to the story line in various profitable ways.
At this time Proof of Craig Grant and the Proof of Weak Hands concept is in my opinion benign. The point is that there is no limit to how these games can evolve. Metagaming is ultimately what I refer to and in my opinion we will see a lot of very creative expressions going forward. As a result I hope to trigger a discussion on the merits of metagaming and would like to learn if most of you think it will remain mostly benign or even evolve into something beneficial?