Is the Metaverse Here Yet? تاریخ انتشار Jan 18, 2022
Is the Metaverse Here Yet?
Very
few people have not heard of the term Metaverse since it took the tech world by
storm this year. The spark was officially lit when Facebook changed its name to
Meta, declaring itself a forerunner in enabling a Metaverse awakening. The term
Metaverse was first created in 1992 by science fiction author, Neal Stephenson, describing it as a three-dimensional virtual world where
humans not only interact with each other but with virtually constructed
creations through representations known as avatars. The Metaverse is also being
called Web 3.0, the third version of the 1990s - 2000s original Web 1.0, with
Web 2.0 being the internet as we know now.
Let’s further dissect
the term Metaverse: It is a blend of the Greek word meta (meaning beyond) and
universe, loosely translating to “the beyond universe”. As for the viewpoints
on Metaverse and what it represents, there are two different perspectives. Some
simply see it as a virtual environment where people connect, play, work, and
earn money, making much of what we do online today a part of the Metaverse. The
other point of view considers the Metaverse as a decentralized universe fully inhabited
by people as avatars or partially in the form of hybrid realities.
Metaverse allows
for endless creativity, and this is evident by the emergence of many unique
concepts, such as that pertaining to our industry; Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). NFTs,
which are increasing in popularity, are simply cryptographic tokens that exist
on a blockchain and cannot be replicated. They can also be used to represent
real-world items like artwork and real-estate, tokenized to allow them to be
bought, sold, and traded more efficiently with less probability of fraud*.
Now, the second
perspective of the Metaverse Web 3.0 views NFTs as buildups to the Metaverse
and not part of it. Still, both outlooks believe that NFTs play a crucial part
in realizing a fully-fledged Metaverse concept, particularly during times when
the traditional economy no longer offers long-term opportunities. Moreover, NFTs
draw their appeal from the fact that they promise a mechanism to create new
assets unconditionally.
Regardless of the definition
of Metaverse, people are already feeling the effects. According to a
Grayscale report, USD 200 million were spent this year on Metaverse Web 3.0 sales
and is estimated to start generating USD 1 trillion in revenue annually. In
tandem, Bloomberg estimates the virtual world market to grow to USD 800 billion
by 2024.
Many major companies have already recognized
the economic potential of virtual reality, Boeing for example is planning to
build its next plane in the Metaverse, and platforms like MANA, Axie Infinity, and
Sandbox present the opportunity to buy virtual land plots using in-house cryptocurrencies.
Still, some are still skeptical of the whole matter
including the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, who believes that the probability
of humans fully disappearing into the Metaverse is very slim. He rather sees a
chance of it happening in the distant future with the help of Neuralink, his neurotechnology
company that aims to develop brain implants to enhance human physical abilities
and enable them to connect to devices such as computers.
Despite the unlimited possibilities that could
be realized in the Metaverse, along with its numerous positive outcomes – like
generating more flexible global employment and increasing labor wages– the
biggest challenges remain the lack of security over data, ID, property, to name
a few, jeopardized privacy, and the conflict between the different
jurisdictions in varied parts of the world.
*Source: Investopedia.com
