Execs Say ‘Metaverse’ Will Replace The Internet With New Digital World
October 18, 2021—Undaunted by criticism by lawmakers and former workers about the company’s policies, Facebook is planning to build a massive virtual-reality platform called “metaverse.” According to the tech giant, the metaverse is “a new phase of interconnected virtual experiences.”
What’s interesting is that even as governments discuss ways to reign in and regulate the 3.5 billion-user platform, the company is growing ever larger and integrating itself deeper into human life.
Meeting the Metaverse
Metaverse is a concept of combining multiple virtual worlds into one that supersedes the internet. Big tech giants like Microsoft and Google and gaming companies like Fortnite have been discussing in recent years.
In essence, metaverse means interconnected virtual worlds that overlap — or perhaps altogether replace — current workplaces, gaming communities, social places, and shopping areas.
“At its heart is the idea that by creating a greater sense of ‘virtual presence,’ interacting online can become much closer to the experience of interacting in person,” wrote Nick Clegg and Javier Olivan, two of Facebook’s vice presidents, in a company announcement.
‘Successor To The Internet’—And Real Life Too!
In a conference call with investors in July, Facebook CEO and Founder Mark Zuckerberg described it in a way that suggests the metaverse will replace the internet, as well as in-person life itself.
“You can kind of think about this as an embodied internet that you’re inside of rather than just looking at. We believe that this is going to be the successor to the mobile internet,” Zuckerberg said. “The defining quality of the metaverse is presence – which is this feeling that you’re really there with another person or in another place. Creation, avatars and digital objects will be central to how we express ourselves, and this is going to lead to entirely new experiences and economic opportunities.”
Bernard Marr, a YouTuber and an advocate for the metaverse, described the metaverse as “shared universes where we can take on whatever personalities we want or work together on collaborative projects.”
A Virtual World Like the Internet But Bigger
The executives said the metaverse is like the internet in that it requires openness and interoperability. Multiple companies could take part in creating it. “Bringing this to life will take collaboration and cooperation across companies, developers, creators and policymakers,” Clegg and Olivan wrote.
The world will include both augmented reality, which is based on real-world settings, and virtual reality, which mimics life.
A previous announcement about the metaverse describes its connection to humanity.
“We develop technology rooted in human connection that brings people together. As we focus on helping to build the next computing platform, our work across augmented and virtual reality and consumer hardware will deepen that human connection regardless of physical distance and without being tied to devices,” Andrew Bosworth and Nick Clegg wrote in September.
Facebook announced plans to invest $50 million in “global research and program partners” to develop the metaverse responsibly. Furthermore, the executives said they would work with experts in government, academia and industry, including human rights and civil rights advocates.
An EU Investment
Also forthcoming about the executives’ announcement about the connected virtual world is the location for the investment. Clegg and Olivan said the company plans to hire 10,000 people in the European Union over the next five years for the metaverse. Europe is an ideal hub for tech investments, according to the executives, because it has a large consumer market, first-class universities and top-quality talent. Also, they added, Facebook is “invested in the success of European companies and the wider economy.”
Previous Facebook investments in Europe include: the company’s European AI research lab, a FAIR accelerator program in France and a Facebook Reality Labs office in Cork.
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