These days, with the announcement of the renaming of Facebook inc to Meta, the concept of the Metaverse has emerged from the cyberpunk sphere in which it arose to affect everyday life.
The Metaverse we are approaching stands as an evolution of the Internet, but not as a substitute for it, but already doubts are being raised about the risks it might pose on sociality, mental health and physical well-being.
At the moment we do not even know what it will be and what features it will possess, but we are probably looking forward to a virtual reality full of avatars intersected with the material world. It is therefore a new way of experiencing one’s identity and interacting with people, products and services fully immersed in new technologies.
What is the metaverse
The metaverse-since its creation by writer Neal Stephenson in 1992 for the novel “Snow Crash”-has been a concept used in science fiction works, particularly in a negative sense, which see a humanity alienated from material reality to live in the virtual one. Traditionally, the Metaverse is seen as an immersive virtual reality in which everyone can interact with the elements of this world through three-dimensional avatars.
A version of this concept appears in Ernest Cline’s novel “Ready Player One” in which participants in the virtual Oasis system can interact via virtual helmets in a three-dimensional digital environment.
The Metaverse is proposed as a direct evolution of the Internet. A virtual world in which one can perform virtually any kind of action: watch movies, attend concerts, play games, hold business meetings, play sports, attend trade shows and meet with friends.
The concept is back in the limelight with Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to rename his holding company Facebook to Meta, a new project in which to make it possible to play games, play sports, and work without moving from your living room at home. The world of the metaverse thus accommodates every need for interaction that one might seek in the real world, from work interactions to college education via games.
Large companies such as Facebook, precisely, are investing in this new reality, betting on it becoming a standard within everyone’s reach within the next few years. A real new way of life!
Of course, everyone’s concerns are directed at whether such a lifestyle will eventually swallow us completely and make material life lose its attractiveness
How the Metaverse works
In the original version of “Snow Crash,” the Metaverse was depicted as a black sphere interrupted in the middle by a road where people could accomplish whatever they wished via 3d avatars, the resolution of which reflected the class differences of the respective human subjects.
Today the idea of the Metaverse, as this concept is commonly understood, is that a subject, wearing a visor, can enter the virtual universe in which he or she can do virtually anything he or she wants, just as we decide what to do in front of a computer. For example, one can choose what clothes to wear, watch movies, play games or sports, admire works of art, as well as buy virtual objects. This is precisely what many major companies are aiming for; already sales of products are being initiated via blockchain and NFT.
While we are currently used to navigating through a screen that separates us from digital functions, the evolution of this state of affairs in the Metaverse will lead to total immersion through the wearable visor.
Of course, the success of this project will depend on the affordability of devices to enter the virtual world, to expand its use. But the possibilities in the air are many: from business meetings, to surfing, to engaging in fitness as well as playing games or attending a concert.
How to access the Metaverse
The phenomenon is yet to be defined. First of all, it needs to be understood whether an entity will be set up to manage access to the Metaverse, or whether it will all be in the hands of private individuals who will each initiate their own version of the virtual world. Indeed, it is not yet certain that all companies will agree to cooperate in creating a single shared Metaverse that users can access differently.
The time is beginning to be ripe. New wearable technologies and the cloud make all information available, computer graphics are so advanced that they can simulate a world with its own rules about light, sound and perspective. The idea, however, is not to replace the Internet or material life with its equivalent made of bits, but to integrate the two types of reality to pursue a natural evolution of the lifestyle that began with the massive takeover of the Internet in our lives.
At the Facebook Connect 2021 convention, Zuckerberg unveiled Horizon Home, which seems to be the first step for his Metaverse. Apple, Samsung, Sony are just some of the companies that are following this trend in their new devices.
Zuckerberg’s company is already working on a viewer that can be worn all day long more comfortably than the traditional ones we are used to.
How the metaverse will change the world
Many large companies such as Microsoft, Alibaba, Tencent, and Epic Games are investing considerable amounts of money in this project.The evolution of the internet into its meta version seems like a stage that is not only certain, but even imminent. And the possibilities for profit from the sale of virtual goods existing only in the digital world seem just around the corner.
Microsoft, for example, has developed technology to participate in video meetings in avatar format. Such an innovation is within everyone’s reach since you don’t even need a visor to make use of it, but it is prepared by Microsoft’s own cloud.
Epic Games already plans to set itself up to enjoy games, virtual events and movies. ByteDance (the one from TikTok) is studying how to convert videos to 3D format.
Facebook, according to the words of its CEO, has already begun the path that will lead the company to evolve from a social network to a metaverse, developing an immersive life experience in virtual reality.
Apparently, therefore, big brands are already working on creating a virtual world in which it is possible to perform all the actions we are familiar with: talking, dancing, working, shopping, wearing clothes, buying items to show off. But all while experiencing it with one’s senses through an immersive experience, rather than with a screen standing between us and the content.
Of course, obviously the process is still ongoing and millions of viewers will be needed to make the metaverse usable on a large scale.
Current estimates suggest that within 5 years part of the population will be living a virtual existence parallel to their material one. And at that point new questions will open up about the safety, privacy and lawfulness of actions that can be performed in this virtual universe. We will be ready to face them!
+ There are no comments
Add yours