Metaverse bridges the gap between the real and the digital

Magical world

In the beginning, man lived in his real world and could only come out of it to his dreams and imagination, and with the development of technology and the emergence of the Internet, he was flying in a digital world through computer screens and smart phones. But today, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg suggests to us the world of metavirs, which is a virtual third world that takes something from reality, and from the Internet and smart technologies, things and other characteristics.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg seeks, through metaverses, to create a virtual world that bridges the gap between the real and digital worlds, thus creating a third world in which individuals can create a life for themselves across different areas of the Internet, allowing them to meet, work, educate and entertain within it, while providing an experience It allows them not only to watch remotely through smart devices, as is currently happening, but to enter this world in a three-dimensional form through virtual reality technologies.

The world is in your house

Humans can travel far without leaving their living room seats by using virtual and augmented reality goggles, wearing sensory jumps and jumps.

In the world of metaverses, things look similar to their real forms as we know them, but we can touch and feel them real thanks to the haptic simulation technology, and there each of us can design his own “avatar” and choose the hair, clothes and even the style that resembles us in reality, Let's enter the world of "VR Chat" and find ourselves in the digital room that we designed ourselves.

We may be surprised at first, and one may even get dizzy in this new world in which we see bodies other than ours roaming in a place different from the place in which we actually exist, but this anxiety will not last long as one will adapt and get used to the movement to indulge for a long time without feeling the time, as Everything will look more real, even real worlds.

The so-called metaverse results from the convergence of virtual reality technology “VR” with the technology of shared play via the Internet, a new world planned by Mark Zuckerberg, instead of human interactions being realistic and tangible through physical convergence or being immaterial and imperceptible through digital convergence through Smartphone and computer screens, there will be a third way that bridges the gap between these two worlds (real and digital), so that a virtual third world appears that takes something from reality, and from the Internet and smart technologies other things and characteristics.

Although the worlds of the currently existing metaverses are still under development, but this does not mean that we cannot go through the experience by passing through a group of applications that are currently in the available virtual reality environment.

Through one of the available portals, we can go, for example, to a world called “Midnight House” and there we can meet people in the Metaverse, some of whom eat a meal, some of them take a break, and some of them discuss incendiary topics with their friends.

You can go to work through the Workplace application, which targets companies and organizations, accomplish required tasks and participate in meetings all without leaving home

Although the time is fixed in this place and the time in it is always midnight, but we can control the rainfall, for example, among the present, we can meet other friends we have known in another world of metaphysics, and we can talk to them and play with them and go out with them to stay up late.

In this alternative world, we make friends from all over the world and we play with them table tennis “Eleven” through the “Oculus Home” application, so we put the virtual ball on the virtual court, but the magic in this game is that we feel the weight of the ball in our hands as in the real world, and we can also play sports Futuristic where we fly in a zero-gravity environment in a game called “Echo”.

Many activities through different applications we do without leaving our rooms, for example, we roam the real world, on recreational trips to places, tourist cities, museums, fishing and group photos, as if we are in a science fiction movie, but people in the world of metaverse merge with each other and develop the digital sense of touch that they touch their avatars as if they were their real world.

Metaverse devices

Some may think that the world of metaverse is a waste of real time in entertaining activities only, but Zuckerberg divided this world into 3 worlds or horizons as he called them, which are “home horizons”, “work horizons” and “world horizons”.

Within the “Home Horizons”, the user can create a virtual copy that matches his original home, and can roam in it by simply wearing virtual reality glasses, and then he can invite his colleagues in the world of Metaverse to spend time together inside the house, or watch a soccer match, or even review lessons and do with homework.

The experience of the world of metaphysics goes beyond education to be richer, for example, it provides students interested in studying space, oceans, geology or history, an opportunity to simulate these worlds in a three-dimensional image, and thus they can go to the moon, one of the solar planets, or even the sun itself, and also they can go to The depths of the oceans or the interior of the earth, or even going back to one of the historical times and simulating the ways of living in it.

With the entry of artificial intelligence systems into programming the characters of these factors, the user can actually live an almost real experience.

Co-workers can create their own space within the Metaverse, so they can go to work only through the Workplace app, which targets companies and organizations, accomplish required tasks, participate in meetings and even take a mid-day break with work friends, all without even leaving home.

Facebook has revealed that there are more than 30,000 organizations currently using this application, which ensures business owners that employees will not be distracted by talking to their friends outside the company or browsing social networking sites during working hours.

Not only that, but it is also possible to shop inside the metaverse, choose food goods from inside the supermarket and pay for them via credit card in a three-dimensional experience, as if the user is already inside a store, and the clothes can be measured and ensured that they are suitable for the user, by designing an “avatar” with the same User metrics and simulation of the wearing experience.

controversy and ambiguity

This life that Zuckerberg promised in his new project, which will be completed in five years from now, raises many questions and resistance from the traditional humanist current, which used to reject this exaggerated speed of development.

Metaverse provides students interested in studying space, geology or history, for example, an opportunity to simulate these worlds in a three-dimensional image

David Reed, Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Spatial Computing at Liverpool Hope University, believes that the Metaverse project comes with a lot of great expectations and advantages, but there are also frightening risks.

That's why he believes that a high-control system should be established to monitor the project, adding that people were afraid of "Twitter's impact on politics, but the effect on their opinion will differ greatly when you can move someone into a war zone, for example, and show them what's really happening."

Among the issues that Reed tackled, cyberbullying stands out, which he believes will become more influential on the mental health of individuals, as bullies are likely to become more extremist, and believes that this technological development will blur the lines between virtual reality and real reality, and allow the control of the This fact is that he has access to an unprecedented amount of data, and thus a huge amount of leverage.

 Reed explains that many metaverse prototypes have face, eye, body and hand tracking technologies, and most of them contain advanced cameras, and some even incorporate electroencephalography technology in order to capture brain wave patterns, meaning that everything you say, look, or even think If it can be monitored in the virtual world, it will generate a huge database of individuals. That is why he believes that it is dangerous for only one company to control this information.

Some believe that Zuckerberg has accelerated the new project in an attempt to cover up the recent scandals that his company has been exposed to, according to the IFL Science website.

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen said she feared the impact of metaverses in the future virtual reality world forcing individuals to reveal more personal information, addicting the social networking site and giving the company a new monopoly in the world of the Internet.

In an environment like this, you do not expect to have any privacy of any kind. Virtual reality data is biometric data, and every movement of humans within this environment will be recorded, which is similar to the global harvest of all personal and behavioral characteristics of humans, which will make people vulnerable to a lot of Cybercrime, and much more than what currently exists, and it is a new and exciting world to come, and it is also a world completely naked without even the shade of a fig leaf.

"Facebook needs to have a transparency plan for metaverses before we start building all of this stuff, because they can hide behind a wall, they keep making unintended mistakes, and they keep making things that prioritize their profits over safety," Haugen said.

Waiting for companies to compete

When Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg finally renamed the company "Meta", he also announced what he plans to do within metaverses, and this in no way means that he wants to own metaverses, simply because he can't.

"There's a good chance we'll have multiple metaverses with lots of immersive experiences available in lots of places," said Nicholas Rivett, BearingPoint Communications Partner.

He added, "The point of this is not that there is only one face of metavirus that carries with it all the experiences. We do not think that anyone alone can hold the keys to this world.”

Giant American technology groups, led by Facebook, have launched huge projects in this field, and on the occasion of its annual conference dedicated to professionals, Microsoft announced the launch of “Mesh”, a new feature in the “Times” program that will allow users to appear, as of 2022, in the form of an image. An avatar adapted to the user's appearance instead of playing the video.

In the same field, "Nvidia", a leading manufacturer of processors, launched its "Omniverse" platform, which aims to allow international 3D design teams working on multiple software suites to collaborate in real time in a shared virtual space.

“Roblox”, “Minecraft” or “Fortnite” has become more than just free video games on the Internet, especially since the start of the Corona pandemic, as it has turned into entertainment platforms that enable players to live a parallel social life, and this has even led to the destabilization of the dominance of well-known social networks, as well as Reinforced its ambition to build its own metaverse, and the company "Epic Games" developer of the game Fortnite indicated that part of the amount of one billion dollars raised this year from investors will be allocated to develop this new field.