Hey everyone, today i would like to talk about metaverse and ask you for some feedback!
I’ve followed the metaverse idea for years now, from the early inklings in virtual worlds like Second Life to the grand vision of companies—Meta, in particular—chasing it now. It has always kept me interested yet at the same time cautious with skepticism in every step of the way for its impacts and practicality. Remember Second Life? The site that once touted itself to be the future of online interaction showed people a peek into how digital lives could be.
Fast forward to today, the term “metaverse” has re-emerged a few years back, this time driven into the spotlight by none other than Meta (the company formerly known as Facebook) and its complete rebranding to a future interwoven with virtual and augmented realities .
Searching into a few articles i found the World Economic Forum article about a very old and nostalgic game: Where does Second Life belong in history? A precursor, perhaps not a direct ancestor to the visions of virtual spaces that exist.
Meanwhile, googling and gpting I found the Pew Research Center Article that includes insight on how the metaverse might evolve with the pandemic from tech luminaries, who suggest that in the future, augmented reality (AR) may come to play a larger role than virtual reality (VR) in augmenting our digital interactions.
Meta’s 2021 Founder’s Letter is an affirmation and commitment to this future. The metaverse is defined within as the next iteration of digital interaction going far beyond what we know at this point and into creating an immersive environment where reality—both physical and virtual—collides. Connectivity, creativity, and commerce meet and finally become met, but never heard of.
And yet, standing at this crossroads of digital potential and the tangible impact it could have, I found myself asking some of the very same questions that have abided for years: Will it only reinvent our digital and physical lives, or does the metaverse always have to remain a niche, a ‘future’ perennially held just out of reach? I’ve watched this journey right from its early days and, well, the value of the metaverse or what meaningful impact it may have does not convince me still. I would appreciate your thoughts and experience.
In your view, is the metaverse the next frontier for our digital lives, or are we looking at yet another cycle of hype without substantial follow-through?
Let’s discuss.
World Economic Forum on Second Life’s Legacy
Pew Research Center on Metaverses During the Pandemic
Mark Zuckerberg’s Founder’s Letter, 2021 Meta’s Vision for the Metaverse
