Metaverse: The First Step into A Brave New World

How is the next generation bound to embrace a new reality that will be consistently enriched and likely to be limitless?

Where did the Metaverse Come From?

We make fiction because we are fiction. The term 'Metaverse' originated from Snow Crash, a 1992 dystopian novel by Neil Stephenson. However, Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) — two essential parts of Metaverse — are not unfamiliar concepts at all, even to our grandparents. Best-selling non-fiction books and countless publications, of one iteration or other, have been written on these possible realities of the future for some generations now. Over time, people listened, imagined, generally understood, and even accepted the VR-based future as the most likely outcome of the coming years of human evolution.

A New Version of the World is Emerging — Facebook Rebrands as Meta

For quite some time now, we have been witnessing a very steady creation of Virtual Reality. It was eventually bound to collide with our very own traditional reality that we are used to. Within just two years of COVID-19, global isolation, hard and soft lockdowns, as well as continued fear thereof, societies around the globe have thrust into a much more intimate relationship with technology.

However, there is no evidence to suggest that the global pandemic has introduced any new significant trends in this field. Nevertheless, it has fast-tracked already existing trends. And whilst the most recent post-lockdown statistics might show a mild rejection of the internet and social media platforms (in favour of real-life physical interactions), the problematic precedent, as well as the long-term trajectory, has been both tried and set.

As a result, tech leaders like Mark Zuckerberg (META, since recently) and Satya Nadella (Microsoft) have declared to be ready to push much beyond mere 3D game-world as the next evolution of the internet and communications in general. The renewed promise is the all-encompassing Metaverse, which will comprise linked and shared virtual worlds. We can inhabit these virtual worlds with our friends for personal pleasure or business associates for work — Microsoft is developing a Metaverse Stack for its enterprise package.

At the Facebook Connect AR/VR conference in October 2021, Facebook announced to change its company name to Meta, matching its growing ambitions beyond social media. Facebook would be investing $10 billion into its Reality Labs segment in 2021 — the metaverse division tasked with creating AR/VR hardware, software, and content.

For those who think that this is just another upgrade to the existing infrastructure of the internet (i.e., an advanced VR add-on to your social media platform or a new AR tool to Microsoft Enterprise), we say — get ready to be amazed!

Faster, Better, and Lower Cost

It is reasonable to believe that from this point onwards, Metaverse-based VR and the related Augmented and mixed reality technologies will come in a snowball effect over the next few years. Much like with the early internet itself, the upcoming Metaverse version will, too, serve as an opportunity to overcome multiple financial barriers of entry for most of the developing world. Virtual Reality will soon enough allow you to connect on an actual human level, regardless of where you are in the world. It will break down not only communications barriers but also, at least in part, physical ones.

Since we cannot change reality, we will change the way we see it. Once generally accepted, Virtual Reality will be perfected and eventually, we will be able to simulate everything that a human can experience or imagine. VR will be one of the core tools for informing people’s experiences and actions in the years to follow.

Keep Up, and You Will be Kept Up

It is much like the famous mantra from kundalini yoga: keep up, and you will be kept up. It will act as a reminder for the industries that:

● The route to mastery requires persistence.

● It is prime time for most industries to be alert that the next wave of technological disruption is just around the corner underway.

This is quite serious since only businesses that stay at the forefront of developing and integrating these new tech trends will reap the rewards in the next generation.

For better or worse, technology is the secret to the next step. Virtual Reality is bound to change the world as we know it. Not only this, but it will also change how businesses are shaped and interact with consumers.

And as its usability increases, functionality will improve, and technology will continue to become cheaper. The new Metaverse experience will be intertwined entirely between social and work life, education, and shopping. With real-life being fully interlinked, there is every reason to believe that over time, not only will Metaverse offer all the same human experiences as real-world communication but even the chance to eventually suspend the laws of physics. We will get whatever we want, whenever we want.

Conclusion

Whilst the new technological wave is underway, the best way to communicate with someone is still face-to-face. Initially, most things are unlikely to work in VR and might be in another more accepted medium. Like with Blockchain, we must be ready for several years of the up and down cycle of Metaverse adoption and acceptance.

But looking at how far the telephonic advancements have come — it became a virtual reality of its time, allowing you to meet someone as if you are together, even if via audio-only — implementation of Metaverse seems feasible.

Today, we have immersive and advanced sound and visual technology that will lead the future, bringing us closer to the new way of living and interacting in a manner previously described in science fiction books. It will take some time, but as fiction turns into reality, we better be ready for the brave new world.