THE METAVERSE

The future of life as we know it is about to change. From the most normalized things in our daily lives such as social networks, games, activities with acquaintances and friends, shopping; to the functions of companies with their way of communicating and selling their products; even banking is closely related to this new term of the metaverse.

A world of new possibilities is opening before our eyes.

 

WHAT IS THE METAVERSE?

To fully understand what the metaverse is, it is necessary to see the whole past of this word, going through the idea and technology it implies.

The term metaverse (meta- coming from the Greek meaning "beyond" and -verse from "universe").

It is a concept that appeared in 1992 by Neal Stepheson in his science fiction novel "Snow Crash", in which a fictitious virtual world appeared where people could connect to this collective virtual space.

To define it we could say that it is a simulation of a reality, often based on our own, although sometimes it can be totally invented things that have not been seen before, in which we can explore, socialize, and even trade. All this interaction is done through avatars, which is a graphical representation that is associated with a user, can be two-dimensional or three-dimensional.

To connect we will need virtual reality glasses and something to handle our avatar, whether gloves, controls, or a keyboard. In the future it will be possible to take it to machines in which to "immerse" us or entire rooms created for this purpose.

The fundamental characteristics of the metaverses are 3:

·       Interactivity: so that the user can communicate with the rest as well as interact with the virtual world around him.

·       Corporeality: first-person view and physicality within this world.

·       Persistence: it must be available and open 24/7 even if there are no players connected.

TECHNOLOGY AND VIRTUALIZATION OF EVERYDAY LIFE

Although the metaverse is still a little worked idea and has just been presented to us, it used to be just a revolutionary idea. Today, with the evolution of technology, it is getting closer and closer to becoming a reality. This gives it a great economic value and that is why most companies see it as the future and are betting on creating their own metaverses.

Let's see what in my opinion are the most important technologies for the idea to become reality, many of the things we already have others are yet to come or develop.

 

First, we have the clear intelligences, artificial and augmented. The main difference is the isolation, in one we immerse ourselves in a virtual world through devices such as glasses and other peripherals and the AR (augmented reality) through a device such as a smartphone or smart glasses we see information and images superimposed on the real world.

There is a third type called mixed reality, it is a form of virtual world with images of the real world.

 

VIRTUAL REALITY

To enjoy virtual reality, many peripherals are needed, which allow us to immerse ourselves in a 3D environment and experience it in first person. Not to be confused with augmented reality.

This technology has many uses from allowing us to play, train, test products, visit simulations of sites such as museums, psychotherapy and even watch TV in this visual environment.

This last action comes from the hand of Telefónica with Evergine, which during the Mobile World Congress 2018, showed a project that showed us how this idea of "the television of the future" would be.

In order to carry it out, they had to develop a space for users that had public and private rooms, where things like synchronization, voice communication and lighting control could be done through their avatar.

ck, which allows the camera to track movement in space. In addition, it also includes an internal sensor to detect finger flexion. When the user enters the virtual experience with physical force, the control system will adjust the level of inflation, creating pressure on different parts of the opponent.

When the user enters the virtual experience with physical force, the control system will adjust the level of inflation, creating pressure on different parts of the opponent. For example, when we touch an object with our fingertips, we will feel the object pressed against our skin. The development of this glove is not easy, as the Meta team is applying various technologies they have been researching for the past seven years, such as perceptual science, which combines feedback from auditory, visual and tactile stimuli to reconstruct the perception of the object's weight.

 

POSITION SENSORS

These are devices that are placed on the floor of the room, allowing the system to determine the location of the HMD and other peripherals that may be worn by the user, allowing the user to utilize freedom of movement in the virtual space. Some users report problems about obstacles with these systems.

 

5G

The 5G network enables ultra-fast and very low latency connectivity to billions of devices, Internet of Things (IoT) and a fully connected world.

This new connectivity system and those that will come after 5G are key for metaverses to become more than just a trend and hype of the moment.

 

THE FUTURE

In the future we will surely see entire rooms filled with sensors and enabled for virtual world insertion. Even why not things like in science fiction movies where we enter a machine and are connected to those worlds.

I think the sectors that are going to take most advantage of it, besides entertainment, will be tourism and everything that deals with simulations, for example medicine.

 

CONCLUSIONS:

The applications can be an improvement for humanity, in terms of their uses in medicine, entertainment, work and learning.

The cost of maintaining these "virtual worlds" and the economic impact for users who want to enjoy them by acquiring both software and hardware to be able to have a full experience.

A very clear advantage to be able to customize all advertising impacts by having all kinds of data and habits of users.

At the moment what they have achieved is to create a "hype" effect that many companies have been able to take advantage of by launching their own metaverses. Big Data and blockchain technology have also helped to make it a more realistic idea with more applications.

There is still a long way to go to develop and see the real applications, but with companies like Meta we will surely know more news soon.

 

UNCERTAINTIES:

·       Doubts about what socializing will become.

·       The impact on the real world considering for example many of the jobs that may disappear.

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