Metaverse

 Metaverse Contemporary Development

Literary Origin

The term of Metaverse was invented and first appeared in Neal Stephenson's science fiction novel Snow Crash published in 1992. It represented a parallel virtual reality universe created from computer graphics, where users from around the world can access and connect through goggle and earphones. The backbone of the Meta-verse is protocol called the Street, which links different virtual neighborhoods and locations analog concept t the information superhighway. Users materialize in the Meta-verse in configurable digital bodies called avatars. Although Stevenson's Meta-verse is digital and synthetic, experience in it can have a real impact on the physical self. A literary precursor to the Meta-verse is William Gibson's VR cyberspace called Matrix in the 1984 science  fiction novel Neuromancer.

A modern literary reincarnation of the Meta-verse is the OASIS, illustrated in the 2011 science fiction novel Ready Player One authored by Ernest Cline. OASIS is a massively multiuser online VR game the evolved into the predominant online destination for work, education and entertainment. It is an open game world, a constellation of virtual planets. Users connect to OASIS with headset, haptic gloves and suits. Regarding education, OASIS is much more than a public library containing all the World's bools freely and openly accessible to citizens. It present a techno-utopic vision of virtual online education. Hundreds of luxurious public-school campuses are arranged in the surface of planet dedicated exclusively to k-12 education. Online school classes are superior in comparison to the grass-and-mortar schools as they resemble holodecks: Teachers take students for virtual field trips to ancient civilizations, foreign countries, elite museums, other planet inside the human body. As a result, students pay attention, are engaged and interested.

Metaverse Implementations

In the field of VR, the Meta-verse was conceived as the 3D Internet or Web 3.0. Its first iteration was conceived as a web of virtual worlds where avatars would we able to travel seamlessly among them. This vision was realized in Opensim's Hypergrid. Different social and stand-alone virtual worlds based on the open-source software Opensimulator were-and still are-reachable through the Hypergrid network that allows the movement of digital agents and their inventory across different platforms through hyperlinks. However, Hypergrid was and is still not compatible with other popular proprietary virtual worlds such as second life.
Currently, the second MR iteration of the Meta-verse under construction where social. immersive VT platforms will be compatible with massive multiplayer online video games, open games world and AR collaborative spaces. According to the vision, users can meet, socialize and interact without restrictions in an embodied form as 3D holograms or avatars in physical or virtual spaces. Currently, this is possible with several limitations within the same platform. Cross-platform and Cross-technology meetings and interactions, where some users are in VR and others in AR environments, are the next frontier. Common principles of the Meta-verse include software interconnection and user teleportation between worlds. This necessitates the interoperability of avatar personalization and the portability of accessories, props and inventory based on common standards. The seven rules of the Meta-verse comprise a high-level manifesto, a proposal for future development based on previously accumulated experience with the development of the internet and the World Wide Web. According to this proposal, there should be only one Meta-verse and not many Meta-verse or Multiverses as the next iteration of the internet .As such, the Meta-verse should be for everyone open Hardware agnostic networked and collectively controlled.

Metaverse Challenges

The  Metaverse faces a number of challenges related to the underlying AR and VR technologies are persuasive and can influence users cognitions, emotions and behaviors. The high cost of equipment is a barrier to mass adoption that is expected to be mitigated in the long run. Risks related to AR can be classified into four categories related to (i) physical well-being, health and safety,(ii) psychology, (iii) morality and ethics and (iv) data privacy. On the physical level, the attention distraction of users in location based AR applications has led to harmful accidents. Information overload is psychological challenges that needs to be prevented. Moral issues include unauthorized augmentation and fact manipulation towards biased views. Data collection and sharing with other parties constitutes the risk with the widest implications in regards to privacy. The additional data layer can emerge as a possible cybersecurity threat. Volumetric capturing and spatial doxing can lead to privacy violations. More importantly, Meta-verse actors can be tempted to compile users biometric psychography based on user data emotions. These profiles could be used for unintended behavioral inferences that fuel algorithmic bias.

Related to VR, motion sickness, nausea and dizziness are among the most commonly reported health concerns. Head and neck fatigue is also a  limitation for longer use sessions due to VR headset weight. Extended VR use could lead to addiction, social isolation and abstinence from real, physical life, often combined with body neglect. Another known drawback of open social worlds is toxic, antisocial behavior, e.g., griefing, cyber-bullying and harassment. High-fidelity VR environments and violent representation can trigger traumatic experiences. Related to data ethics, artificial intelligence algorithms and deep learning techniques can be utilized to create VR deep fake avatars and identity theft.

Meta-Education

Pertaining to Metaverse potential for educational radical innovation, laboratory simulations (e.g., safety training), procedural skills development (e.g., surgery), and STEM education are among the first application areas with spectacular results in terms of training speed, performance and retention with AR and VR-supported instructions. Thanks to the ability to capture 360 degree panoramic photos and videos the Meta-verse can enable immersive journalism to accurately and objectively educate mass audience on unfamiliar circumstances and events in remote locations. Moreover, new models of Meta-verse-powered distance education can emerge to break the limitations of 2D platforms. Meta-education can allow rich hybrid formal and informal active learning experiences in prepetual, alternative, online 3D virtual campuses where students are co-owners of the virtual spaces and co-creators of liquid, personalized curricula.