I know I talk about the Universe quite often. But. Now it seems the “Metaverse” is coming around the bend. Or so the pundits claim.
Everyone now is asking, “What exactly IS the Metaverse?”
If you have heard those techy CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg or Satya Nadella talk about it, the Metaverse is the future of the internet.
But what is it really? Truly? It is hard to say.
It has been all over the news lately, with people doing “spots” on the emerging Metaverse. To me, it looks more like nothing more than a virtual reality video game, or worse yet, some sort of horrible zoom call where VR headsets are involved instead of computer screens.
They say we will be able to do unimaginable things in the Metaverse, like talk to friends. Or talk to strangers. We’ll be able to order a pizza or pay a bill or go to a meeting.
But wait. I’m pretty sure we do all those things already. Imaginably.
If you ask me, the thing is going to be a bust.
I know, I know. People said the same thing about the internet when it was emerging in the 1990s. But not me. I knew the internet would rock our world. I knew from the minute I saw that black text on the gray background that it was going to take us to unimaginable places.
Only because of the network. It had the capability of connecting every single computer in the world. And that was monumental.
But. We are connected now. The Metaverse is just some gimmicky comic strip version of us, where we walk around in an emoticon of ourselves and do the things we already do online.
Like ordering a pizza. Now, you go to your favorite pizza restaurant via a www.myfavoritepizza.com address. You click on your toppings, crust, cheese, etc., and send your order right to the restaurant kitchen after typing in your credit card number.
In the meta, you would put on your clunky headset, and then you could see your cartoon character self going up to a cartoon pizza window, where a fake pizza person took your order and your credit card number. Oh, it is cute, alright, especially since you can make “you” look like any “you” you want.
It may catch on if they start targeting five-year-olds. They will think it is extremely cool and want to be on the Metaverse all the time. They can go to real cartoon businesses, like Disney, or Rugrats, or Paw Patrol, and meet the characters. They’ll be able to talk to them in real-time, or at least, little cartoon versions of themselves will do this. By the time they are 25, the Metaverse will be second nature to them. Actually, by that time, the real world will be completely different.
I think the Metaverse is a money-making gimmick that may or may not catch on in time, depending on its targets. The Metaverse is pegged to become an $800 billion market by 2024. Yes, those tech giants like Facebook, aka Meta, Microsoft, Apple, and Google are investing big money in making it a reality. And big returns.
You will have to buy an expensive headset to play. Among other things. I’m sure there will be emoticon upgrades for a price, along with meta-nail salons, meta-clothes, and meta-sports arenas.
And on.
A world based on allusions.
So, that is my two cents on the deal. Take it for what it is worth.
I once met a guy I didn’t trust.
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“In the future, instead of just doing this over a phone call, you’ll be able to sit as a hologram on my couch, or I’ll be able to sit as a hologram on your couch, and it’ll actually feel like we’re in the same place, even if we’re in different states or hundreds of miles apart.” ~Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO.
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“The technology will be so good it will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for them.” ~Eric Schmidt, Google Chairman.
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“The metaverse is here, and it’s not only transforming how we see the world but how we participate in it – from the factory floor to the meeting room.” ~Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO.
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“Some are born weird, some achieve it, others have weirdness thrust upon them.”
― Dick Francis, To the Hilt
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Metaverse. Giving verse a bad name.
