The metaverse is expected to manifest itself primarily through virtual reality over the next few years - an alternate, digital world that can be used for a variety of personal and business purposes. Recent high-profile announcements by Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook), Microsoft, and Sony all suggest that consumer choices for navigating interactive and social 3D environments will be headsets like Meta Quest or Sony PSVR.
Virtual reality is centered on creating a digital sense of presence, which many experts believe will be critical to creating an appealing experience and retaining users. Mark Zuckerberg claims that the metaverse has already arrived in the form of popular video games. Following Microsoft's $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard and Sony's $3.6 billion acquisition of Bungie, many tech experts anticipate Meta acquiring a major gaming franchise in 2022. This holiday season, the company's Oculus app (soon to be rebranded Meta Quest) led the app store, and Meta may have sold up to two million VR headsets.
This vision preserves the distinction between our digital and physical selves. Virtual reality will never completely replace the human experience. Critics argue that relying on a few VR devices and content manufacturers to build the metaverse will replicate, or even reinforce, the internet's current "walled gardens": distinct, closed ecosystems controlled by the operator.
This is in stark contrast to the future envisioned by Web 3 supporters, who believe that the metaverse should serve as a check on the power of large technology companies. It should be a chance to decentralize the internet's experience, control, and monetization in favor of its users (or citizens) and content creators.
Brain-computer interfaces are possibly the most far-reaching vision for the metaverse (BCIs). Even though some devices have worked with the senses of touch and smell, all XR models today rely on screens and traditional control systems. BCIs aims to completely replace screens and physical hardware. Neuralink technology requires neurosurgery to implant devices in the brain, which both intrigues and discourages many potential customers. Researchers have also used neural interfaces to help people who have lost their ability to speak and write.
Valve, the gaming and technology company, announced last year exploration of BCIs in collaboration with OpenBCI, the developers of the non-invasive Galea headset, in the context of the metaverse. Gaming and healthcare will be among the applications. OpenBCI recently raised funding to build an "operating system of the mind" after expanding their partnership to include MIT Media Lab and Tobii. Success would be a significant step toward realizing a vision that truly integrates technology into the human experience.
The metaverse could evolve in a number of ways, all of which are dependent on research, innovation, investment, and policy ecosystem. Predicting who will win is notoriously unreliable. If the metaverse exists, it will most likely expand into experiences we cannot predict, and anyone who claims to know what will happen with certainty is most likely lacking in the flexibility of curious optimism.
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