🤖 A whole new world of Metaverse.
Transforming our daily lives with the glory of parallel universes... or so we thought.
These past few months, the online space has been shaken up by the new vision outlined by one of the world’s leading innovators, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. By changing its name to ‘Meta’, Facebook introduced a future of social media and the internet that exists within the Metaverse.
But what is it exactly? How will it affect the future of work and society in general?
Presenting the future
The term “metaverse” first appeared in the 1992 science fiction novel “Snow Crash” written by Neal Stephenson. It represents the author’s vision of what the internet would look like in the future based on virtual reality technology. Just under 30 years later, this Sci-Fi is now the present norm.
In short, the metaverse is the tech world’s parallel to the real world. It’s a virtual-reality space where users interact with a computer-generated environment with other users. This space creates a new world with its own new economy, new methods of social interaction, and new levels of entertainment.
Cryptocurrencies and NFTs
Recent market analysis has estimated that the metaverse market opportunity could reach around $800 billion by 2024. A new class of economy has started to surface with the advancement of Metaverse in the form of cryptocurrencies
and NFTs (non-fungible tokens).Artificial Intelligence
Before the rise of Metaverse, the concept of AI has long been implemented in many technologies. As hardware design is starting to transition with the advancement of Neuromorphic computing, the Metaverse might be the first place where AI agents can exhibit a quasi-human behavior.
Virtual Reality / Gaming Universe
The gaming industry—one of the biggest utilizers of VR, is moving ahead at full steam within the metaverse frontier. It provides an environment that allows the Metaverse to become a practical concept, connecting VR concerts, 3D gatherings, and digital assets with gamification.
A bit complex, ‘innit? You can go to the full article to understand the depths of Metaverse and what lies ahead for the future of Tech.
Easing workloads with AI
Not only a great tool for elevating social interactions, AI has improved many other areas of life. Here are some notable AI utilizations and the base of what we can expect in the (near) future:
Machine Storytelling. Natural disaster reports are now being written by robots. If an earthquake is detected at 3:00 AM, they will be able to digest the information and write a report within 3 minutes with an expected template.
Interface Optimization: Eye-tracking is another important aspect of immersive interface. AI is being used to predict where your eye will look next, even through blinking, to help prepare the best rendering in advance.
Fusion of Language and Vision: Ilya Sutskever, the chief scientist for OpenAI, has stated that the next generation of models will be capable of editing and generating images in response to text input.
Read more on how Metaverse will build on AI innovations and other technology layers of the Metaverse itself in the Medium article here.
The dark side
Technology and its advancements have always delivered an underlying eerie mood. With the great innovations, also come the (debatably) greater downfall. Many critiques have stated their concerns regarding the Metaverse. The most notable ones include:
Alienation due to disparity. Building the Metaverse requires next-generation digital communication tools or gadgetries, which are not readily accessible for many communities. This will alienate several people from the promised benefits of the metaverse.
Connect to disconnect. Metaverse is all about living in worlds that are more satisfying than the current world. And as a ‘more immersive way to interact and socialize’ with people online, it can actually create unhealthy para-social relationships.
Privacy and security. Elements in the Metaverse have been criticized to be way too intrusive. The data collected from its users could be sold and used for intrusive online advertisements, as well as identity theft and other cyber-related crimes.
Learn more about the pros and cons of Metaverse before you get your head in the game here.
As we walk towards the future, the Metaverse and various machine learning parameters will be walking along us. Be sure to not fall behind from these rapid changes and stay curious for the next emergent!
Comment down below for other Metaverse innovations that excite you!