To begin this post let’s back up a bit to; The Information Age, also known as the Digital Age, is a period in human history which begins in the mid-to-late 20th century ( 1950’s) and lasts to the present day, representing the current time period we are now in. A defining event during the early Information Age was the invention of the Internet by 1990, which opened the door for digital transformation.
What Metaverse?
The Imagination Age is the period beyond the Information Age where creativity and imagination become the primary creators of economic value. A key concept is that the rise of an immersive virtual reality-the metaverse or the cyberspace will raise the value of imagination work done by designers, artists, etc. over rational thinking as a foundation of culture and economics. Wow.
I like the sound of transitioning to the Imagination Age, valuing imagination over rationality as a “foundation of culture and economics.” We will see how this plays out in the not-too-distant future.
So, imagination and creativity are important for the Metaverse to operate, what more specifically is the Metaverse?
Metaverse is a word that is a big part of the tech buzz these days, pivoting on the announcement in 2021 by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, introducing his companies new name Meta, and mission “which brings together our apps and technologies under one new company brand. Meta’s focus will be to bring the metaverse to life and help people connect, find communities and grow businesses.”
The required technologies are not advanced enough to make a full version of the metaverse, but Meta Platforms predicts this achievement within 5 to 15 years . A completed metaverse could therefore arrive between 2025 and 2035.
Because it is still being developed there is no commonly accepted definition. Several suggested definitions of what the Metaverse is follow.
- One could define the “Metaverse” as a digital universe full of many online worlds, which will be ideal for working, studying, having fun, playing, doing business and interacting with others, through 3D avatars using virtual and augmented reality.
- The Metaverse is a new technological field, technology or multipurpose platform. The metaverse is “an integrated network of 3D virtual worlds.”
- The metaverse isn’t about escaping reality, says futurist Cathy Hackl. Instead, it’s about “embracing and augmenting it with virtual content and experiences that can make things more fulfilling and make us feel more connected to our loved ones, more productive at work, and happier.”
Important pre-cursors to the Metaverse being born include the technologies of; Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cloud Computing with 5G / 6G the unsung hero.
“In less than two years Apple vastly improved its chips with the M2. The new in-house offering has 50% more bandwidth and a 40% faster neural engine compared to the M1, released in 2020. Today, networks powered by 5G are 25 times faster than those with 4G LTE. Sophia the robot has gone from demo to international film star in a matter of years, and the metaverse is in its infancy.
Massive data management in real time and online; quantum computing are also essential for the operation of the Metaverse.
Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain technology
Metaverse uses artificial intelligence and blockchain technology to create a digital virtual world where you can safely and freely engage in social and economic activities that transcend the limits of the real world, and the application of these latest technologies will be accelerated. Artificial intelligence and blockchain technology are expected to play an essential role in the ever-expanding world of the Metaverse.
Cryptocurrency is still recovering major corrections and time will tell when the market recovers,
To keep this post brief, I will wrap up this exciting topic and leave off with a video starring Mr. Zuckerberg, who has a lot invested in successfully completing a version of the Metaverse!
Brian
