Do you remember that song in the Disney movie Aladdin, called “a whole new world”?
Personally I think that song came at the perfect time, because the Aladdin animation was released by Disney in the same year a man called Neal Stephenson invented the word “metaverse”-- the year 1992.
Think about it. Disney drops a banger animated movie about Prince Ali of Ababwa and in the same year Neal Stephenson in his novel Snow Crash, invents the word metaverse. Contextually speaking both instances were referring to the same concept--a whole new world.
Be it physically, virtually or both.
Frankly if you look a bit closer it now seems like one of those “the Simpsons predicted it” moments. You won’t be wrong. Though now that we are here, let’s examine the elephant in the room.
What is the metaverse?
The earliest example of this may be our mother’s handbags. Stay with me here. They had everything in those bags; guns, a first aid box, glue, a shovel, makeup kit, a mirror, tissue and for kids like me who were stubborn there was always the trusty “ass whooper 2000”. Very effective disciplinary device, second only to the almighty all-reaching and all-defeating slipper.
A complete weapons artillery in one woman’s purse.
That’s how the metaverse is: on the outside it's a small easily accessible place but from the inside the possibilities grow so exponentially it’s overwhelming. Think of it like layers of onions only this time, the onion grows bigger with the more layers you peel off.
The metaverse is a world of its own
In almost thirty years since the word was invented, technology has made sure that this thing called the metaverse becomes a reality. This is a tech joke. You’ll get it in a bit.
Early pioneers of the journey into the metaverse were games. Tetris made you build your own blocks, Contra took you to a jungle to fight wars, Super Mario showed you what it’s like when you eat mushrooms (haha) and Winning Eleven took you to the football field without you even leaving your room.
The metaverse is a world in our world
Further down the line, we started seeing a really impressive type of tech surface called reality-tech. Where software engineers and developers created what is called Virtual Reality (VR) and made us be in it using headsets. Remember Google glass? Haha yeah, I guess not. That was Google’s attempt to join the race but the product failed.
After Virtual Reality was figured out, it opened doors to a completely new range of possibilities such as:
Augmented reality (AR) (virtual reality + your surroundings)
Mixed reality (XR) (virtual + your surroundings + the senses like touch and smell)
These are the portals you can access the metaverse from, using these realities. If you don’t get the joke now, I really can’t help your sense of humour.
The metaverse is a world connected to our world
Here’s a closer example to help you understand the metaverse. Marvel and DC have different characters in different worlds. Sometimes these characters enter worlds that are not theirs, universes that are different from each other by little or a lot. The theory both Marvel and DC have given us is that these worlds are connected and they are collectively called “The Multiverse”.
For us, meta means to transcend. It means an upgrade to something existing, building upon it to create an entirely new one. If you have a pair of white Air Force 1 sneakers and I add wings to the sides and a red sole to the bottom, it is now a meta-sneaker.
We access the metaverse using technology that act as portals taking us to these worlds, giving us varying experiences. While some are complex and can only be entered using gear like VR headsets, others are so simple all we need to use them the tap of a button on our phone screens.
How do I enter the metaverse?
Truth is you already have been in the metaverse before. As far as you play video games, you have been in the metaverse at some time in your life. Bonus points if you use a VR headset, triple points if you use AR.
The metaverse is social
If you have used any filters on Snapchat I have to break it to you that you have been using AR tech all along and you probably didn’t even realise it. Ever scanned a QR code before? Haha, that’s the metaverse in play--offline to online.
The metaverse will take over
In subsequent additions to this article thread, I will show you the possibilities the metaverse has to offer in industries like real estate, healthcare, gaming, advertising, fashion, art and even conferences or meetings. You see, very few things are becoming less and less achievable in the metaverse with tech advancing so quickly.
So ask your mother to teach you “The way of the purse” so that you may become a true master and understand the way of the metaverse.
Cheers!