what is meteavse?

 

On October 29, 2021, the famous American Internet technology company Facebook officially changed its name to "meta", which comes from the English word metaverse metauniverse. Since then, giants such as Google, Microsoft, Byte Dancing, and Tencent have cut into the track by means of investment or self-research. This article starts with three parts to help ordinary people understand the whole picture of the metaverse world.

Part I: what kind of world is the metaverse

Part II: what technical support does the metaverse need and how is the current construction progress

Part three: what do people need to think about facing the metaverse

Part I: what kind of world is the metaverse and what is its uniqueness compared with the real world

"Meta universe" is a virtual space that maps the real world. People can truly perceive the sound, color, and smell in it, and use various objects to interact with it. Even objects in the virtual world can appear in the real world through 3D printing.

Academic circles generally divide the development of the metaverse into five stages: the initial stage, the exploration stage, the great development stage of infrastructure, the big bang of content, and the symbiosis stage of virtual and real. At present, the metaverse is in the middle and late stage of exploration, that is, the highly intelligent form of metaverse with "decentralized" games as the carrier.

The metauniverse is unique in five ways:

1. Immersive experience The moment you put on VR glasses, you seem to be in another time and space, and everything around you disappears from the scope of perception. As shown in the movie Avatar, you can clearly feel that you have another identity. Even if everything around you is against common sense, you feel that it is really happening.

2. Free creation In the metauniverse, you can create with the help of simple and easily available tools. For example, in the game "my world", what players initially have is just cubes, just like the most basic Lego blocks, but they can build a busy city and even a computer that can calculate mathematical problems.

3. Have an economic system that is very different from the real world  There is only the creation, exchange, and consumption of digital products in the metaverse, so the traditional economics with physical goods as the core is not applicable. With virtual goods as the core, the metaverse economy is the most active and revolutionary part of the digital economy.

4. Social networks are extremely powerful. A perfect social network is the standard configuration of the metaverse. The core of metaverse social communication is immersion. Especially in the stage of virtual reality symbiosis, it is a dimension reduction blow to social products such as WeChat and QQ.

5. It has different forms of civilization, which is often called virtual identity. It is said that civilization is the sum of human social behavior and natural behavior. Everyone is multifaceted. In different meta universes, you can have different identities and express different desires in your heart.

The second part analyzes the development of metaverse from the perspective of technology

Just as the Internet economy is based on its technology, the rise of the metaverse is inseparable from the support of many cutting-edge technologies,  these technologies are mainly divided into six parts.

1. Blockchain technology 

It is the most important foundation to support the meta cosmic economic system. In essence, blockchain is a special shared database. The data or information stored in it has the characteristics of unforgeability, whole process trace, traceability, openness and transparency, collective maintenance, and so on. It is also a global, secure, and point-to-point network.

2. Interactive technology 

The metaverse immersive experience is mainly realized by it. Interactive technology is divided into output technology and input technology. Input technology includes a micro camera, position sensor, force sensor, speed sensor, etc. output technology is represented by a headset display.

3. Video game technology 

Game is one of the most important ways to present the metaverse. The social function in the game can quickly gather users and provide a content creation platform to realize content interaction.

4. Network and computing technology. 

This refers not only to the traditional broadband Internet and high-speed communication network but also to the comprehensive intelligent network platform including artificial intelligence, edge computing, distributed computing, etc. The large-scale network with high efficiency, low delay, high computing power, and high artificial intelligence is not only the basis of the smooth experience of users in the metaverse but also the infrastructure at the bottom of the metaverse.

5. Artificial intelligence technology

 In all levels and scenes of the metaverse, artificial intelligence technology is everywhere. For example, computer vision technology can digitize the images of the real world and provide the sensory basis of the combination of virtual and real for the metaverse.

6. Internet of things technology

 The first layer is the perception layer, which provides technical support for the metaverse to perceive the signals of the physical world. Many sensors are in this layer. The second layer is the network layer, which is used to transmit signals. The third layer is the application layer, which links the metaverse with all things in reality and manages them orderly.

The third part, combined with the industrial ecology of the metaverse, talks about what people should think in the face of the metaverse.

In the metauniverse, all industries are divided into four levels: application layer, platform layer, network layer, and perceptual display layer. The six technologies mentioned earlier belong to different levels.

The first layer is the application layer. It is mainly a variety of virtual digital products, such as VR games, VR movies, and so on.

The second layer is the platform. This layer is equivalent to Apple's IOS system, Microsoft's Windows system, and Huawei's HarmonyOS system. All application layer products need to run on the platform layer.

The third layer is the network layer. The most basic layer is the communication network. China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom are the most familiar communication companies.

The fourth layer is display and perception. In this layer, there are mainly various devices in contact with users, including AR / VR / MR devices, mobile phones, computers, cameras, voice recognition devices, etc. it is worth noting that the research and development of brain-computer interface and somatosensory devices are also in full swing.

With the manufacturing of more and more powerful terminal equipment, the operation of high bandwidth networks and the breakthrough of network computing power, the gap from concept to implementation will be crossed, and the concept of metaverse will gradually become a reality.

For ordinary people, passive acceptance is better than active understanding. Meta universe means endless space and infinite possibilities. Combined with the industrial ecology of the metaverse, think more about where your existing majors and skills are in the metaverse world and what role you can play? What kind of contribution do you make and how much return do you get? Then make up your mind to readjust your time, energy, and career planning, and accept and embrace the upcoming change.