When Mark Zuckerberg renamed his Facebook company to META, giving it an infinity badge, many wondered, “What exactly does that mean?”
The word “meta” is derived from the Greek. μετά- “between, after, through”. And Zuckerberg’s ambitions indicate that his offspring will be endless, eternal, sweeping through the years. But what lies behind this if you dig deeper?
The idea became popular in the second half of 2021 at the suggestion of Mark Zuckerberg and his company Facebook. In July, he announced the start of work on the metaverse, which will bring together different digital platforms based on augmented and virtual reality technologies. The metaverse should become a digital space where users can work, play and communicate.
On October 28, Facebook announced the renaming to Meta. So the company decided to emphasize the focus on the development of the metaverse (μετασύμπαν).
Mark Zuckerberg noted that in the new virtual reality, users will receive realistic avatars that will look like their owner. The company is already working to ensure that users can place digital objects in the real world in the form of holograms and interact with them, the billionaire added.
Meta’s actions sparked a wave of hype on this topic. Microsoft soon announced the creation of its own metaverse, Nike decided to sell digital clothing for the metauniverses, and large IT companies began to invest in real estate in the gaming Decentraland and other venues. Several investors have purchased virtual land plots in Decentraland for more than $ 5.5 million. Previously, a virtual mega-yacht was sold in the Sandbox metaverse for $ 650,000.
Although, it should be noted that the exact definition of the metaverse does not yet exist. But generally accepted is the expanded concept of metaverse (the novel was released in 1992. Written by Neil Stevenson, “Avalanche”). In his work, the writer spoke about the combination of conventional, augmented and virtual reality in a common online space.
Already existing projects can be called similar: OpenWorld-games. The most popular is Second Life, in which the player is literally waiting for a “second world”. The game was created in 2003 and has over 1 million active users.
Zuckerberg himself said that people “will live their lives in the metaverse” – they will work, watch shows, travel. According to experts, this future is not so far away. “At the Berlin Tourism Fair, there was also a stand dedicated to the tourism of the future,” says Mr Deligiannis, Associate Professor at the Department of Τμήμα Τεχνών, Ήχου και Εικόνας (Ιονίου Πανεπιστημίου). “There is a forecast that in thirty years we will have virtual tourism. You will not leave your home, you simply purchase a travel package and go on a “journey” without leaving the couch. Despite the fact that it will be completely real, with sensations (wind, sun, sounds and smells).
All this, of course, can be considered a “conspiracy of globalists” (anti-scientific theory), but, as we see, in Greece, for example, the digitalization of everything and everyone is already in full swing. But what will happen next, we will see, because opinions are divided: some see the creation of the metaverse as a promise to build communism, others – an upcoming breakthrough in VR technologies, comparable to the introduction of smartphones.
Yannis Varoufakis, head of the MERA25 party, also expressed his competent opinion on Zuckerberg, cryptocurrency and the metaverse in Twtter.
Κοντά τα χέρια κ. Zuckerberg από το όνομα του mέta, του Κέντρου Μετακαπιταλιστικού Πολιτισμού (https://t.co/2FzQ18HAf4). Εσείς μπορεί, πράγματι, να δουλεύετε για να γίνει πραγματικότητα ο δυστοπικός μετακαπιταλισμός. Τον Πολιτισμό όμως δεν θα τον αναγνωρίζατε ούτε στο ένα μέτρο
– Yanis Varoufakis (@yanisvaroufakis) October 28, 2021
(The opinion of the author may not coincide with the opinion of the editorial board – approx.)
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