METAVERSE

3. Understanding the Metaverse

• Facebook has been talking about the metaverse for a while, stating in a press release dated October 17, 2021, that the metaverse is "coming soon". "A new era of interconnected virtual experiences enabled by the technologies such as virtual and augmented reality at its core is the idea that by enhancing one's 'virtual presence', interacting online can become much more similar to interacting in person."
• The proponents of the metaverse see it as the next step in the evolution of the Internet. Facebook, for example, has already made significant investments in AR and VR, developing hardware such as its Oculus VR headsets, and AR glasses and wristband technologies are in development.
• According to Zuckerberg, who believes AR glasses will one day be as common as smartphones, Facebook will "effectively transition from people seeing us as primarily begin a social media company to begin a metaverse company" over the next several years.

4. Origin of Metaverse

The term "metaverse" that was first used in Neal Stephenson's 1992 science fiction novel "snow Crash". The Novel is set in a dystopian world where governments have ceded power to private corporations and contain references to many modern-day aspects of life such as virtual reality, digital currency, and so on. Many films, including 'The Matrix,' 'Ready Player One, and The Tron Legacy,' have explored this concept.

5. What is the Facebook Metaverse?

There is no single creator of the metaverse, it is not something that Facebook owns or is solely responsible for developing. Nonetheless, Facebook has already made significant investments in the metaverse through its Oculus VR headsets, and it is working on AR glasses and wristband technologies. The company announced a $50 million investment in global research and program partners in September 2021 to ensure that metaverse technology is developed responsibly.

6. Metaverse Potential

• Hardware sales: According to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg, augmented reality glasses will eventually be as common as smartphones. If this is true, this will be a massive market.
• Software sales: There is a lot of room for growth in the development of software applications to support the metaverse ecosystem.
• Gaming: Facebook's Oculus VR gaming platform is expected to be the portal into the metaverse.
• Physical Sales: In the future, physical goods and services will be linked to virtual ecosystems.

• Immersive Learning: Immersive learning is a training methodology that employs Virtual reality (VR) to simulate real-world scenarios and train students in a safe and engaging immersive training environment.
• Decentralized Commerce: Peer-to-peer transactions in the real world.

7. Expensive Transition

In June, Zuckerberg briefly spoke about the challenges in building a VR headset as it required addressing retinal projection, depth perception, and high dynamic range (HDR) imaging. He moved on to note that Meta would soon roll out a headset capable of projecting holographic images. Three months later, on October 11, he unveiled a $1,500 VR headset that was nowhere close to his idea of a virtual world-seeing gadget.

8. A solution waiting for the Problem

• Meta investors are unhappy as they see the company's boss diving deeper and deeper into the metaverse without a clear path for return on investments. This has already sent the stock down by over 60% this year. The company's market value has collapsed by a whopping $676 billion, removing it from the ranks of the 20 largest U.S. companies.
• The real challenge with Zuckerberg's idea of the metaverse is that it remains a niche offering, unlike his foray into social media, which was a problem waiting to be solved.
• With the metaverse, it feels like a solution looking for a problem. In parallel to the dail-up modern days, the metaverse is buffering, and it is unclear in what shape or size the page will load.

For Prelims & Mains

 Source: The Hindu