You may have seen the movies Avatar or Ready Player One, which describe worlds dictated by virtual reality, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence. If you have, you already understand the basic concept of the metaverse - one of the hottest tech topics today. Ever since Mark Zuckerberg's presentation of the metaverse at Facebook Connect 2021, everyone has been talking about it. Facebook has even changed its name to “Meta” just to take credit for some of this stuff. But what exactly is the metaverse, and is it here to replace the Internet?
 
The hype around the metaverse is like the speculations of the Internet in the 1970s and 1980s. As the foundations for this new method of communication were being constructed, conjectures arose about what it would look like and how it would be used. Everyone was talking about it, but few people actually understood what it meant or how it would function. In retrospect, things did not come out quite as some had predicted. Today, many big tech companies – Meta, Apple, Google, Microsoft - are investing huge sums of money into creating the metaverse.
 
Many analysts consider the metaverse to be a three-dimensional version of the internet. In a nutshell, it's a place where you live your digital life that exists in parallel to the physical world. A location where you and other individuals each have an avatar and interact with each other through it. Essentially, it's a shared virtual realm that's interactive, immersive, and hyper-realistic. It would also include digital assets, which would most likely be stored on a blockchain.
 
In some ways, the gaming industry has already been using the basic idea of the metaverse. Take, for example, the popular game Fortnite (I know, lame example…), in which players create their own avatar and interact with the avatars of other players while also earning virtual currency to unlock costumes for their avatar. The metaverse will take virtual reality to the next level, allowing users to utilise digital avatars to accomplish everything from buying land and hosting parties to getting married.
 
So, now on to business. What are some applications of the metaverse for the future? As of now, most of us use computers or phones to go on the Internet every day. Whatever it is that you do, whether it’s shopping online on Amazon, watching videos on YouTube, or doing last-minute exam revision on savemyexams, you see a 2D static web page in front of you; you use your mouse to click on buttons and you can scroll up and down, but what you can’t do is be a part of that experience. Oftentimes, the simple web page may not be enough to meet your needs. An example of this is when you’re shopping on a website, you only get to see pictures of clothes, but you don’t know if they look good on you, or if they fit you at all.
 
In the metaverse with the help of a VR headset, though, you would be able to physically walk through a 3D version of an e-commerce site as if you were in a real shopping centre. Instead of just looking at clothes, you can try them on to see if they fit. You can visit any virtual stores anytime and anywhere you like. You will have a truly personalized experience, receiving relevant product and service recommendations and having one-to-one interactions with staff. There is no doubt that the metaverse is the future of e-commerce. Moving forward, more and more companies – like Amazon, Shopify, and eBay – will experiment with metaverse technology to scale their shopping experience to the next level.
 
Another application of the metaverse is for an interactive and engaging education. Imagine, if you will, being able travel back in time to the Roman Empire to study Roman culture, or performing scientific experiments with Albert Einstein as your instructor instead of staring at a boring textbook all day long. Why study dissection when you can perform it yourself? The metaverse transforms education into something fun for the student and creates an immersive learning experience.
 
Data privacy and protection is a very big topic these days. Companies like Google and Facebook/Meta are constantly being investigated for data breaches and misuses. Big tech companies now have a plethora of servers keeping your personal information such as age, hobbies, credit cards, dietary preferences, and so on. These data aren't just collected to improve their services; they're sold to advertisers and marketers who pay billions of dollars each year for them. The metaverse directly addresses this issue, with the integration of a new and decentralised Internet built on blockchain technology, known as Web 3.0. Users will reclaim entire ownership and control of their data while also benefiting from encryption security. Only with their agreement and on a case-by-case basis might their information be shared. In short, the new Internet would be owned by the users, and not by the corporations.
 
Needless to say, the metaverse is still in very early stages right now. It is mostly not open to the public and is only available as a concept. However, all great things start out as concepts – the Internet (the current one!), AI, computers – and the metaverse are no different. With the rise of cryptocurrency and NFTs, Web 3.0 technology (the bedrock of the metaverse) will only get more popular. Perhaps 10 years from now, we’ll all be interacting through VR headsets! Enjoy the Internet while it lasts, it will be replaced sooner or later.