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Virtual Assault

Reading this article makes me painfully aware of my lack of understanding of where social media is headed. As it is with such things, people are less likely to engage with what does not make sense and as we get older the number of such things grows.

The events unfold with the person taking action to disable a safety setting in the virtual world:

According to SumOfUs' account, users invited the researcher to a private party on Horizon World earlier this month. Users in the same room then asked her to disable a setting that prevented others from getting within 4 feet of her.

The avatar of this person was then raped in the virtual space. 

Even though it happened in virtual reality, the incident left the researcher "disoriented," she said in the report. The researcher noted her controller vibrated when the male avatars touched her, resulting in a physical sensation that was a result of what she was experiencing online. "One part of my brain was like WTF is happening, the other part was like this isn't a real body, and another part was like, this is important research," she said in the report.

It just so happened that I was re-arranging my book shelf a little before reading this and leafed through my volume of Ramayana before placing it back. So the parallel to Sita's abduction by Ravana came to mind almost at once. A very different place, time, culture and setting but similar outcomes. In a sense not much has changed for women since then. So coming back to metaverse and such, the question is what one worthy problem that this solves in the world.

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