What It Is – 1
An explainer from CNN: “The metaverse was originally conceived as the setting for dystopian science fiction novels, where virtual universes provide an escape from crumbling societies. Now, the idea has transformed into a moonshot goal for Silicon Valley, and become a favorite talking point among startups, venture capitalists and tech giants. The idea is to create a space similar to the internet, but one that users (via digital avatars) can walk around inside of and where they can interact with one another in real time. In theory, you could, for example, sit around a virtual meeting table with colleagues from around the world — instead of staring at their 2D faces on Zoom — and then walk over to a virtual Starbucks to meet up with your mom, who lives across the country… Much like the internet today, the metaverse won’t be a single technology that gets switched on at once, but rather an ecosystem built over time by many different companies using a variety of technologies … Improvements in mobile device processors, gaming systems, internet infrastructure, virtual reality headsets and cryptocurrency are all crucial building blocks for creating the metaverse and ensuring consumer adoption. What’s more, after the pandemic forced much of the world to work, learn and socialize from home, many people may feel more comfortable interacting virtually than they did two years ago, something tech companies may be trying to capitalize on.”
Forbes: “Imagine walking down the street. Suddenly, you think of a product you need. Immediately next to you, a vending machine appears, filled with the product and variations you were thinking of. You stop, pick an item from the vending machine, it’s shipped to your house, and then continue on your way. Next, imagine a husband and wife. The husband offers to go to the store but the wife can’t remember the name and type of product she needs. Her brain-computer interface device recognizes it for her and transmits a link to her husband’s device, along with what stores and aisles it’s located in. Welcome to the metaverse, alternate digital realities where people work, play, and socialize. You can call it the metaverse, the mirror world, the AR Cloud, the Magicverse, the Spatial internet, or Live Maps, but one thing is for certain, it’s coming and it’s a big deal.”
Eric Elliott: “The metaverse, in a nutshell, is the digital world, where anything we can imagine can exist. Eventually, we’ll be connected to the metaverse all the time, extending our senses of sight, sound, and touch, blending digital items into the physical world, or popping into fully immersive 3D environments whenever we want. That family of technologies is known collectively as eXtended Reality (XR).”
Citibank adds: “Non-Fungible Tokens-based markets for physical real estate, digital art, and Fortnite skins might seem only slightly interconnected, but they are all part of a larger opportunity: the Metaverse. As conceptualized in books and movies beginning in the 1990s, the Metaverse is the virtual alternative to our physical universe and may be the next version of the internet. To envision the potential scale of NFT assets in the Metaverse, imagine a virtual world where every conceivable asset can be bought, sold or traded.”
