What is the Metaverse? Just like metaphysics is concepts beyond real physics, the metaverse is a world beyond the physical universe. The world “metaverse” was coined about 30 years ago, by sci-fi author Neal Stephenson in his 1992 novel Snow Crash, where he used the term to describe a three dimensional virtual world. It means a virtual world. It’s an extension of the real universe. It’s a place you can be virtually, either through some kind of avatar, which is computer representation of yourself, or simply have a point-of-view or POV access to this virtual world, all the while physically being anywhere you want, such as your living room.

And just like in sci-fi movies, which rely more and more on computer generated imagery or CGI, if you can imagine it, it will be possible in the metaverse. We are allowed to bend the rules of physics there. The platform second life which debuted in 2003 is considered the first metaverse. In many ways it’s a simple video game. What companies are envisioning today for the metaverse is something similar but on steroids.

The gaming world has played an outsized role in creating a framework for metaverse technology. One way they achieve maximum immersion is through virtual reality or VR. There are some handheld controllers that can track the movement of your arms and hands, with some buttons that allow you to interact with objects on the screen. These are combined with sensors in the room so the VR system can track your actual movements relative to virtual objects on your headset screen. By wearing the VR headset, you can be completely immersed in the virtual reality world on your screen. The sensors around you translate your actual movement into the VR.

Another more educational use would be in virtual lab lessons. One can virtually create a chemistry or physics lab and try to explore science in a safe environment. If something explodes, no problem because it’s just an explosion on your screen, not in real life. This should make learning safer, more engaging, more accessible and less expensive, since constructing real labs and acquiring chemicals can be very expensive. This could be particularly impactful in poorer countries or less privileged school districts. For medical education it’s already proving useful as aspiring doctors can get experience by performing virtual surgery before trying it in the real world on a real person. This is already helping to improve healthcare.

Now in order to give you the full picture of the VR industry, we can’t avoid talking about pornography. The porn industry has been a major driving force and source of income for companies selling VR technology. The porn industry has served as early adopters that not only pushed innovation, but helped the technology become cheaper and more reliable. Not only did the adult industry find early consumers to broaden the Internet, but it also pioneered technologies such as streaming video and online credit card transactions. Similarly, there are likely to be metaverse technologies driven by the porn industry.

There is perhaps an even more high-tech way we can combine the fantasy world with the real world. I’m talking about augmented reality or AR. What is AR? It’s like a combination of the real and virtual worlds. It’s a seamless integration of the two. The latter is something like the game Pokemon Go, where players tried to locate a CGI character by pointing their cameras to certain real world locations. The character would show if the camera was in predetermined GPS coordinates.

What are the negative impacts of the Metaverse? Lots of hardware is need which consumes energy. We need to be prepared for the profound societal, economic and psychological impacts that this technology will likely have. There are just as many or more lonely people today than there were 20 years ago when social media was not here. Suicide rates have increased among younger people who tend to be the most voracious consumers of social media. There coiuld be increased nefarious social activities such as bullying and threats. Another big issue with the metaverse is privacy. These technologies could also be magnets for scammers.

Is this really all worth is? Society tends to adopt any technology that has allowed us to communicate more widely, save us time, or give us pleasure.

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