The Metaverse, Real World and Its Correlation

Ahead of the mass production of HMDs I’m pleased to see the consolidation of old terms (AR, VR, AR Cloud, XR, virtual games etc.) into one — Metaverse. It was difficult to explain to third parties the differences and similarities between all these industries earlier, but semantic integration into one universal sphere should now increase the capitalization of all players.

I would like to draw your attention to one aspect, ignoring which could lead the Metaverse industry to big problems in the near future.

In essence, in the Metaverse, the sphere of 3D games and virtual reality undoubtedly has the main weight, while augmented reality influence is still small. Therefore, the development of basic standards, approaches and AI algorithms of the Metaverse will be based on data from “fictional worlds” far from the real world — in physical laws, real human behaviour, laws, ethics and moral standards. At the same time, the AR share of the Metaverse will increase over time and, in theory, become dominant in the next 10–15 years.

It means that if we don’t bring the ready infrastructure, rules and laws of the Virtual Metaverse to the physical world now, then in the future this may lead to big expenses for merging the knowledge and solutions of the Virtual and Real Metaverse based on augmented-reality HMDs.

I didn’t even begin to think about what systematic problems people will have in the real world if they spend more and more time in the virtual world, teaching their “neural networks” in worlds where physical and social laws do not operate. In terms of harm to society, it will remind us of harm from religious sects.

Is there a recipe for solving this problem?

I think there’s no universal decision; in any case, the virtual world will always be more dynamic and progressive compared to the real one. The more the Metaverse occupies part of the real life of humanity, the more it will have to correspond and correlate with the real world — physical, social and ethical laws, the requirements of educational systems. The political responsibility of the creators of Metaverse worlds will grow as well; the Chinese restriction limiting online video-game playing for young people to three hours a week is one example.

Best regards,
Vitaliy Goncharuk
LinkedIn