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Neal Stephenson proposed the concept of a metaverse in 1992. His science fiction novel Snow Crash imagined an online universe where people may explore and escape the real world using digital avatars. Decades later, major technological companies have begun to develop their own futuristic metaverses. What is the metaverse, and how are major corporations handling it technologically?
The metaverse is a virtual universe with virtual land and items that exists online in a 3D digital reality. Imagine working from home, visiting virtual museums to see the latest artworks, or attending a virtual performance with your fellow rock band fans.
Axie Infinity, The Sandbox, and Decentraland have already used components of the metaverse to bring many areas of our lives into virtual environments. The metaverse, on the other hand, is still evolving. Nobody knows if there will be a single, all-encompassing metaverse or if there will be several metaverses to explore.
The concept is likely to transcend beyond video games and social media platforms as it develops. Remote labor, decentralized governance, and digital identification are just a few of the possibilities for the metaverse. It can also become more multi-dimensional with the usage of connected VR headsets and glasses, allowing users to literally walk around and explore 3D worlds.
The metaverse became the new catchphrase after Facebook changed its name to Meta in October 2021. To fund its makeover, Facebook invested $10 billion in a new business named Reality Labs, which will be operational by 2021. The plan is to create metaverse content, software, and AR and VR devices, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg believes will become as common as smartphones in the future.
The pandemic of COVID-19 has heightened interest in metaverse development. As more people begin to work remotely, there is a growing demand for more interactive ways to communicate with others. Coworkers are increasingly using virtual 3D spaces to attend meetings, catch up on work, and cooperate. A good example is Microsoft Mesh, which was announced in November 2021. Users can socialize and communicate using their avatars in immersive surroundings, making remote team meetings more engaging and enjoyable.
The metaverse is also being embraced by several online games. Pokémon Go, an augmented reality mobile game, was one of the first to use the concept, allowing players to hunt virtual Pokémon in the real world with the help of a smartphone app. Another famous game, Fortnite, has expanded its product to include other activities such as organizing brand events and concerts within its digital realm.
Technology companies like Nvidia have opened up new possibilities in virtual worlds, in addition to social media and gaming platforms. Nvidia Omniverse is an open platform that unites 3D places into a shared reality, allowing engineers, designers, and creators to virtually collaborate. It is now used in a range of sectors. The BMW Group, for example, is using the Omniverse to improve product quality and minimize production time.
BLOCKCHAIN & CRYPTOCURRENCY
Blockchain technology provides a decentralized and transparent solution for digital evidence of ownership, digital collectibility, value transfer, governance, accessibility, and interoperability. Cryptocurrencies enable people to transfer wealth while working and socializing in a 3D digital environment.
Crypto can be used to buy virtual lands in Decentraland, for example. Players can purchase 16x16 meter land parcels in the form of non-fungible tokens using MANA, the game's cryptocurrency (NFTs). Blockchain technology can be used to establish and secure ownership of these virtual areas.
Crypto may motivate people to labor in the metaverse in the future. As more businesses move their offices online for remote work, metaverse-related occupations may become available.
ARGUMENTED & VIRTUAL REALITY
We can have an immersive and engaging 3D experience with augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). But what's the difference between augmented reality and virtual reality?
The real environment is morphed using digital graphic components and characters. It's more user-friendly than virtual reality and can be used on practically any smartphone or digital device with a camera. Users can view their environment with interactive digital visuals with AR applications, similar to what we see in the mobile game Pokémon GO. Players can view Pokémons in the real world when they open the camera on their phones.
Virtual reality is a unique experience. It creates a completely computer-generated virtual environment, similar to the metaverse concept. VR headsets, gloves, and sensors can then be used to explore it.
The way AR and VR operate demonstrates an early metaverse concept. Virtual reality is already transforming the digital world into a place where fictional visual content can be found. VR can broaden the metaverse experience to include physical simulations with VR equipment as its technology matures. Users will be able to interact with people from all over the world by feeling, hearing, and feeling them. We may expect more metaverse enterprises to invest in the development of AR and VR technology in the near future, given the buzz surrounding the metaverse.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been increasingly prevalent in our daily lives in recent years, with applications ranging from business strategy planning to decision-making to facial recognition to quicker computing. AI experts have recently begun researching the potential of using AI to create immersive metaverses.
AI has the ability to process large amounts of data very quickly. AI algorithms, when combined with machine learning approaches, can learn from past iterations while taking historical data into consideration to produce unique outputs and insights.
AI can be deployed to non-player characters (NPCs) in various settings inside the metaverse. NPCs may be found in practically every game; they are a part of the gaming environment that reacts to and responds to the activities of the players. NPCs can be placed in 3D locations to promote lifelike conversations with users or complete other specified activities, thanks to AI's processing skills. An AI NPC, unlike a human user, can run independently and be utilized by millions of players at the same time. It can also be used in a variety of languages.
The production of metaverse avatars is another possible application for AI. AI algorithms can analyze 2D photos or 3D scans to create more realistic and accurate avatars. AI may be utilized to develop varied face expressions, haircuts, outfits, and traits for the digital individuals we create, making the process more dynamic.
3D RECONSTRUCTION
While 3D reconstruction is not a new technique, it has grown in popularity during the epidemic, particularly in the real estate industry, where lockdowns prohibited potential purchasers from viewing houses in person. As a result, several agencies have turned to 3D reconstruction technology to create virtual tours of properties. Buyers might view around potential new homes from anywhere, just like in the metaverse we imagined, and make purchases without ever setting foot inside.
One of the metaverse's problems is to build a digital environment that looks as real as feasible. It is possible to create realistic and natural-looking settings using 3D reconstruction. We can take our environment online by producing accurate 3D photorealistic models of buildings, physical locations, and things using sophisticated 3D cameras. The 3D spatial data and 4K HD pictures are then sent to computers, which process them and create a virtual replica for users to see in the metaverse. Digital twins are virtual duplicates of real-world objects.
INTERNET OF THINGS (IoT)
The Internet of Things (IoT) idea was initially proposed in 1999. Simply described, the Internet of Things (IoT) is a system that uses sensors and gadgets to connect everything in our physical world to the Internet. These gadgets will have a unique identifier and the capacity to automatically send and receive data after connecting to the Internet. Today, the Internet of Things connects thermostats, voice-activated speakers, medical gadgets, and other devices to a variety of data.
Collecting and disseminating data from the physical world is one of the metaverse's IoT applications. As a result, the computer models would be more accurate. For example, IoT data feeds could change the behavior of some metaverse objects dependent on the current weather or other circumstances.
The Internet of Things (IoT) allows the 3D environment to seamlessly link to a large number of real-world devices. Real-time simulations can be created in the metaverse as a result of this. To further improve the metaverse environment, IoT might use AI and machine learning to process the data it collects.
The metaverse is in its infancy. Authentication of identities and privacy control are two issues that must be addressed. It is generally simple to recognize someone in the actual world. However, it will be difficult to tell or prove who the other person is as people travel the digital world in their avatars. Malicious actors or bots, for example, could enter the metaverse as someone else. They could then use this to smear their name or defraud other people.
Privacy is still another issue. To provide an immersive experience, the metaverse uses AR and VR technologies. These technologies, which include cameras and unique IDs, may eventually result in personal data dumps that are unwelcome.
The metaverse is still yet to be widely adopted but even at that, many notable companies such as Facebook and Microsoft have already started adopting it and the ideas behind it and it will only be a matter of time before it spreads like a wild fire.
reference
https://academy.binance.com/en/articles/top-7-technologies-that-power-the-metaverse