The
Metaverse –
The idea of a
centralized virtual world, a ‘place’ parallel to the physical
world, careened into the mainstream this year. It has been a year
since the hype around the emerging concept
of the ‘metaverse’
took off. What follows is a
high level overview
of the ‘metaverse’ based on a wide range of collected articles
published over the past year.
The
term ‘metaverse’
has
seen considerable use as a buzzword for public relations purposes
over
the past few years, describing
the
development
and
implementation
of
various emerging
and converging technologies such as virtual
and
augmented reality,
blockchain and
cryptocurrencies, artificial intelligence, wearable
headsets
and glasses,
holograms, implantable technology, and
much more.
Apparently,
the
term ‘metaverse’
first
appeared in the
Neal
Stephenson’s 1992 sci-fi novel ‘Snow Crash’, a book that would
later influence the likes of Amazon’s
Jeff
Bezos, Google’s
Sergey
Brin, Microsoft’s
Satya Nadella, Apple’s Tim Cook, and
Facebook’s
Mark
Zuckerberg in their quest to build futuristic
linkages between the virtual and physical
worlds.
The
following are a
collection of brief
definitions of the term
‘metaverse’ from varying perspectives:
- The
‘metaverse’ appears
to be slowly evolving
into a decentralized collective of virtual worlds.
- The
term is often described as a hypothetical iteration of the Internet
as a single, universal virtual world that is facilitated by the use
of virtual and augmented reality headsets.
- Technologists
say the metaverse is the next
iteration
of the internet. It's a virtual reality platform where people
can play games, connect with friends, attend business meetings, and
even go to virtual concerts.
- The
metaverse is essentially a merging
of virtual, augmented, and physical reality, and will blur
the line between your interactions online and in real life.
Innovation
abounds in the decentralized metaverse, including the financial
technology (FinTech) world, where fungible and non-fungible tokens
are already being readily exchanged between participants in the
emerging ‘metaverse’. These tokens are being used to purchase
assets like virtual land, digital artworks, and a wide range
of other products in both the physical and digital worlds.
Many
major companies—including Nvidia, Roblox, Facebook, Microsoft,
Google, Apple, and Snap—are all working on building the
infrastructure and refining the wide variety of emerging technologies
that will eventually make up the ‘metaverse’.
The
following are some selected articles you really ought to take the
time to read:
Many
young people are growing up with the expectation that a large part of
their future will exist in the ‘metaverse’. Hybrid offices,
video-based education and training, gaming and entertainment,
eCommerce and financial interactions, personalized healthcare, and
online social communities are just a few of the ways in which
people’s lives will interact with the ‘metaverse’ in the
future—for better or worse.
It
is apparent that the ‘Metaverse’ is much more than simply a
public relations buzzword. Forward thinking managers need to read up
on the topic and begin to figure out how their organization should
proceed in embracing this future reality over the coming years. Maybe its time to more closely look at the definition of the universe vs. metaverse vs. omniverse vs.multiverse...
