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In future episodes of this podcast will be talking to industry leaders in the metaverse space about their vision for the metaverse.
Before we get into the meat and bones of it however I’d like to set the stage. There's a lot of confusion about what the metaverse even is, especially as products the world over are presenting themselves as the metaverse.
So what really is the metaverse?
Where did the idea begin?
And what sort of potential does the space have?
Second Life
With all the hype around today's virtual worlds it's easy to think that the Metaverse is a brand new concept, however, it’s been the dream of passionate enthusiasts for decades.
Most people are unaware that second life took a really good stab at the concept more than 19 years ago.
The platform was used for education, government embassies, religious events, scientific research and data visualization but was never adopted by the masses.
Facebook
In my opinion today's metaverse hype has its roots in the fact that Facebook has changed its name to Meta.
Blockchain:
Doubling down on this trend, crypto and blockchain virtual worlds have taken the opportunity to claim they are the Metaverse.
Definition:
What a lot of people fail to understand is that the metaverse is not a particular virtual world, but rather a term which refers to an interoperable series of virtual worlds, which together make up the “Metaverse.”
It’s a term for a new sort of internet in which people from around the world will present themselves as virtual avatars in virtual space.
It's an idea that's captivated the imagination of technologists for decades now but, by-and-large, it has failed to take hold with the public.
Back in the early days of second life, there was the same sort of hype, that this will be the future of how humans will communicate. Sweden for example opened an embassy in second life 15 years ago and it’s since been closed.
With the metaverse having a long history of failed starts, what makes technologists believe that time, things will be different.
Crypto is not the answer:
First and foremost I need to mention that I'm not a big believer that many of these crypto world's provide any real value that second life did not provide. It's not like the public was direly hoping for more complexity in the technology. Many of these virtual worlds have gained notoriety as they've claimed to be the metaverse itself. They are even selling so-called metaverse-land for exorbitant prices. However, just like any webpage does not represent the whole world wide web, these worlds are just one node in an infinite series of potential worlds.
Extended reality:
It's unfortunate that so much hype has come just before the real revolution takes place.
There's a very subtle revolution happening and it's happening a lot slower than people anticipated.
With extended reality technology having had the same “hype cycle” issue the metaverse is currently having, it may even sneak up on many by surprise.
As many of us have dismissed virtual reality headsets as being a tool only geeks and nerds many fundamental breakthroughs are happening that will enable a new era of spatial computing.
It's my personal belief that the masses will not put a shoe box on their head to enter some Metaverse. However, I believe we're on the verge of major breakthroughs concerning augmented reality technology which will serve as the foundation for a metaverse which augments ordinary life.
Where is virtual reality headsets occlude your vision, augmented reality allows you to overlay your physical space with digital information.
Imagine looking at any person and object and being able to tell every feature and facet of that object or person. Augmented reality will overlay our physical reality with a plethora of detailed information.
Powered by ingenious artificial intelligence, the technology will empower you to understand the physical world in a whole new way.
People will play interactive games online using their hands which are tracked by cameras on their augmented reality glasses.
With a single gesture, we will be in a movie theater or a concert or a fitness session or a workplace, interacting with our hands and facial expressions just as we do in physical life.
It's my belief that this revolution will be so transformational, so quickly, that it up-end changing how human beings organize themselves from the ground up within 20-25 years.
It's not only going to be a new industry…
it's going to be a new way of thinking about what's real.
Children will grow up with some of their best friends being artificially intelligent bots in the form of fluffy toys. People will invest more in their digital home then they will in their physical home.
I sincerely believe that, as the industrial revolution moved us from the countryside to cities in a few generations,
extended reality will move us from the physical to the virtual within a much shorter period of time.
The problem:
There's so much to be said about the potential of the space but there's something you need to understand about the metaverse and how it's going to impact your life and your children's lives in a very immediate way that I can best describe through an analogy.
Many years ago when I was far outside any city I looked up to the sky and I saw the Milky Way in all of its glory. It's exhilarating to think about all of the indescribable, unexplored worlds we may one day venture upon. There's this sense of incredible freedom with so much possibility, and so much to be discovered! However, I then imagined all of lights of the sky being satellites looking down on me and watching everything I did. A frightening and stifling feeling overcame me as I imagined never having the freedom to be myself without fear of being watched.
If any individual corporation is responsible for our communications in the future, it will be forced to track us and use our data to ensure no unwanted communications take place on their platform.
Just imagine a world where every single word you speak, and person you associate with, is added to a profile to understand the possibilities of your potential behavior.
In today's world we can have truly private conversations that will be forgotten and not held against us. In the metaverse, even what we say outside the metaverse will be tracked by another person’s AR glasses and we stand to lose a truly fundamental part of being human. True, genine, freedom.
Not only that, as the metaverse takes hold the established powers will realize that they need to control the space as power migrates from the physical to the virtual.
In a desperate bid to maintain control in the old physical space, the power players of the physical space may reach into the virtual in order to use the available data against those who would seek to undermine their power.
But it doesn't have to be this way, we can see the future coming and we can work together to make sure that the metaverse is a space that leaves us freer than we ever were.
That’s why I started OCEM. We're an organization dedicated to making sure the metaverse is a positive, people-first experience that empower us to be free of fear, in control of our own lives and data.
We are big believers in innovation, and we are researching through the creation of virtual world experiences. We are determined to be at the cutting-edge, rather than being purely engaged in ideas or philosophy. If you want to join us as we innovate, and even if you don’t already have a virtual-world skillset, check out ocem.cc/learnmore that is ocem.cc/learnmore.
Visit: OCEM.cc
Not financial advise.
I'll see you next time!
