Metaverse, A Marketing Buzzword?
by Sanay Singh Rajawat
--
The Internet is so big, powerful, and pointless that, for some people, it is a complete substitute for life.
~ Andrew Brown
After retweeting a video of David Letterman, Musk remarked that the Metaverse appears to be more of a marketing buzzword than a reality.
The term Metaverse originates from the words: Meta and Verse. Meta comes from Greek and is a prefix that signifies Beyond. The term Metaverse refers to an artificially made universe. The web can be considered a unique version of the Metaverse. It is limited just to our digital screens. However, when we talk about the term Metaverse, it refers to the universe where you can immerse yourself totally in three dimensions, like our physical world. This term gained momentum when Facebook changed its corporate name to Meta and stated that it wanted to enter the Metaverse space. Metaverse first appeared way back in 1992 in Neal Stephenson’s science fiction novel, Snow Crash.
When we talk about Metaverse, Blockchains and cryptocurrencies are hot topics. In modern-day society, where technology is an integral part of our hectic daily lives, the most popular technology is simple and delivers a clear benefit to the user. Now that we have realized, and introduced Metaverse, let us get back to the tweet by Elon Musk. His statement is technically correct as it says the term Metaverse is currently being used as a Marketing Buzzword by many companies to attract technophiles like us who want to explore the Metaverse space.
However, we can’t say that it is confined to that. Imagine going to work and doing your work from anywhere, even if you don’t have your devices because they exist in the Metaverse. Consider how much more enjoyable games may be when played in the Metaverse with real-world experience. The Metaverse is an infinite verse of untapped potential waiting for its discovery. The technology’s use case is spectacular as it improves and advances.
Facebook binds its users to live in a bubble of information and classified data by the Facebook algorithm. You stay in your bubble and are only presented with what you want to see, the root of polarisation. Furthermore, if this virtual environment becomes so fascinating, individuals will lose interest in the real world. It is a dystopian scenario. The word “dystopian” comes from the novel Snow Crash, which is dystopian fiction. It describes how the world dynamics will get disrupted by this manufactured universe.
Many corporate tycoons, in my opinion, see the Metaverse as a more substantial investment with more potential, but do we need to isolate ourselves from the actual world to the point that we forget how to live in it? That we have to live our lives in this fictitious and manufactured universe?
