The semantics surrounding the Metaverse can be hard to navigate. Marc D’Souza, Head of our Metaverse Advisory Department, explains how we see it at UNIT9.
Some say that the Metaverse is here. Others say we have a way to go. While opinion may be split, what is certain is that multiple influential parties are betting big on the Metaverse today — and the shift is inevitable, whenever it fully happens.
But how do we navigate a space when we don’t even have a consensus on what that space really is? How do we refrain from getting embroiled in the hype without suffering from FOMO? On the other hand, how do we ensure we are not too late to the party?
We believe that the Metaverse is more than a buzzword. More than a gold rush. Although in its infancy, what we are beginning to refer to as the Metaverse is developing at significant pace.
Are we there yet?
There will probably never be a definitive inflexion point that will indicate the arrival of the Metaverse, but rather a continuous transformation over time. Indeed the technological shift that will help usher in this new era has been years in the making.
The Metaverse isn’t conceptually new; we’ve just coined a new term to describe the experience layer that sits on top of a continuously evolving communication technology stack. Like the telephone, the television and the World Wide Web before it, the Metaverse will offer us a new way to exchange and consume information. But its exact definition is up for debate.
Our Metaverse Vision
In order to have constructive discussions about the Metaverse, we must try to avoid semantic misalignment by defining the term upfront. This definition may or may not be validated in the future.
Taken literally, the Metaverse is a portmanteau, i.e. a word made by blending two words: ‘meta’ (from the Greek μετά, ‘meta’, meaning “after” or “beyond”) and ‘universe’. Adopted from Neal Stephenson’s novel Snow Crash, it has gained traction in recent times to indicate the future form and function of the internet.
We believe the Metaverse evolves, extends and augments the internet as we know it. But we must look at the internet through various lenses to hypothesise what may lie ahead.
Much like in the past (the waves of the Information Age), the future will be defined by the introduction of new technology and its subsequent adoption.
Following the rise of the personal computer and the internet protocol (internet 1.0) and mass adoption of the internet accelerated by mobile and cloud technologies (internet 2.0), the Metaverse (or internet 3.0) promises to transform how we access and manipulate information on the web, bringing interaction into a 3-dimensional space.
“The Metaverse is not just transforming how we see the world, it’s changing how all of us actively participate in it.” — Satya Nadella
The critical takeaway here, therefore, is the transformation of the human-machine interface, i.e. how we interact using technology. And we think that this transformation in user experience will be brought about by a number of enabling technologies, including but not limited to AI and machine learning, real-time simulation (including 3D rendering) and blockchain (or distributed ledgers).
When trying to define the Metaverse, we often merge the underlying tech with the user experience. Let’s make a distinction between them:
Web3 (or a subset of it) as well as other emerging technologies will form the infrastructure on which the Metaverse (the interface or user experience layer) will be built. Not all of these converging technologies are ‘must-haves’. But blockchain, real-time rendering, machine learning and geospatial are all Metaverse-enabling technologies. The experiences (or experience components) they facilitate are avatars, immersive worlds, intelligent bots, smart contracts etc.
This hypothesis of the Metaverse and its component parts is not static. It’s a bundle of potential unfolding before us, waiting to be realised. What it becomes depends on the adoption of the underlying technology, and that adoption depends on the experiences built on top of it. People don’t care about technology per se. But they do care about the experiences that technology can provide them with. When technology is working well, it should be invisible — a means to an end.
Suppose we were to offer a shorthand definition of the Metaverse as it stands today — it might be something along the lines of:
The Metaverse is the evolution of digital communication, primarily characterised by a shift from 2D to 3D interaction. It can be seen as a merging of virtual, augmented and physical realities that blurs the line between our online and real-life interactions.
Ready to continue the discussion? — m.a.d@unit9.com
