It’s probable that the 2D internet that we all use now will seem absurdly antiquated in 50 years.
Not only won’t the internet reside behind a screen, but we’ll probably interact with it differently as well.
We’ll explore virtual reality (VR) environments, use augmented reality (AR) to manipulate real-world items, and blend the physical and digital worlds in novel ways.
What will that entail for the workplace, specifically? We are already moving away from the daily commute and rejecting the conventional workplace environment. This is due to a newfound fondness for, or tolerance for, virtual meetings, as well as two years of pandemic lockdowns.
Working in the metaverse, a futuristic virtual world where everyone will be represented in cartoon-like 3D and able to move about, communicate, and interact with one another, will thus be the obvious next step.
It’s critical to remember that the word “metaverse” has been overused and is not yet real. Even believers in the idea disagree on the specifics of what it will be.
Will competing virtual worlds link in a way that is now impossible between competing technologies? There, instead of in the actual world, will we spend more time? Will these new places require whole new regulations?
Although none of these issues have a solution as of yet, there hasn’t been a lack of interest or exaggeration as businesses recognise a potential new source of revenue.
From Roblox and Fortnite to Sandbox and Decentraland, as well as Meta’s Horizon Realms, we have observed companies forming in emerging metaverse worlds.
Conversely, HSBC has property in Sandbox, Coca-Cola, Louis Vuitton, and Sotheby’s have locations in Decentraland, and Nike now offers virtual running shoes.
Author Neal Stephenson first used the phrase “metaverse” about thirty years ago. The protagonist of Snow Crash discovers a better life for himself in a virtual reality setting.
In October 2021, perhaps the most audacious step toward turning that fiction become reality occurred. At that time, Facebook announced that it was changing its name to Meta and had begun to invest billions of dollars to become a company that specialised in the metaverse, a concept that was strongly influenced by its founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
However, this significant expenditure has sparked questions from shareholders, some of whom recently voiced worry that the company was overspending on VR.
Furthermore, according to a report published by The Verge website in October, which claimed to have seen internal Meta documents, the Horizon Worlds platform had a lot of issues and wasn’t well used by staff.
Zuckerberg’s idea has not won over Herman Narula, chief executive of Improbable, a company that creates the software to create metaverse regions, and author of the book Virtual Society.
Why would we want a metaverse office that resembles our actual office, he asks. “The entire purpose of creative spaces in new realities is to broaden our experiences rather than merely duplicate those we previously experienced in the existing world.
“However, I do believe that there will be a large number of occupations in the metaverse; for instance, we’ll need moderators.”
In addition to being technically challenging to keep track of possibly billions of avatars participating in live discussions throughout a virtual world, the regulating or policing portion of the metaverse is also contentious due to the potential for those avatars to generate enormous amounts of data.
A lot of thinking needs to go into the architecture of the metaverse, according to Alex Rice, co-founder of the internet security startup HackerOne, before any organisation ever considers setting their staff loose in it.
He suggests that you “imagine something innocent like a water-cooler talk in a workplace.” “Consider that it’s taking place in a completely supervised metaverse setting; that will undoubtedly have profound effects.
“People might be dismissed immediately for stating something they believe to be in a casual, private chat with a coworker that is suddenly under huge corporate observation.”
The editor of the tech publication Immersive Wire, Tom Ffiske, believes it is much too early to consider a career in the metaverse
