/The metaverse sweeps in with a seductive, populist promise: "Here, you can become whoever you wish to be." It dangles the allure of boundless freedom, yet conceals nothing more than a cage with wider walls. The bars of identity are not formed by the limits of the physically possible or the socially permissible. Identity’s trap does not reside in the material world, and so, fleeing to a digital realm will not dismantle it.

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We must reclaim the shaping of identity as a realm untethered from capitalist influence. Let the act of “being” transcend the compulsions of consumption. Let our existence in the world not be chained to the construction of avatars—a distillation of our essence into digestible labels, crafted so others might instantly judge our worthiness to be consumed.

Our sense of self has become a battleground, colonized by institutions that profit from our inner conflicts. The true victory lies in ceasing to fight at all.

Redefining identity: If freedom is our true aim, we will not find it in any appearance—whether human or mythical. Freedom will emerge only when we abandon the need to build our identities through surfaces, through all the projections we cast to satisfy the world’s unyielding demands.