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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
- Sprache: Englisch
Understand the coming metaverse--and discover how to look past the hype and harness the future of technology. Metaversed is an insightful discussion and analysis of the next, rapidly approaching technological revolution. The authors deliver a compelling new exploration of how the metaverse and emerging technologies combine to define our collective future. In addition to identifying the business opportunities, the book pulls back the curtain on major safety and privacy issues that will arise and the expected shifts in both our private and social spheres. In the book, you'll understand: * How multiple industries will be changed and challenged in a 3D spatial world and how to navigate the future crypto-ladden business landscape; * Legal and policy considerations necessary to build and maintain safe, shared digital spaces * The economic and social impacts, including the potential for our digital lives to outlive our physical selves * Actionable insights, so you can make the most out of the next digital revolution Metaversed is a can't-miss presentation of the most significant market opportunities and societal challenges posed by the metaverse. It also will empower readers to take positive action that avoids the same online mistakes that happened on social media and create more responsible tech usage habits in our personal and professional lives.
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Seitenzahl: 490
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022
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Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Part 1: Get Ready
Chapter 1: Predictions
Size Matters
The Debate
Working Definition
Forecasts and Theories
Trends
Characteristics
Plan Ahead
Notes
Part 2: Understanding
Chapter 2: Technologies
Web3
The Spatial Web
Digital Twins
Cloud Computing
Headsets and Glasses
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Blockchain
Woven Together
Notes
Chapter 3: The Race Has Begun
Pioneers in Virtual Space
Gaming-Verse
Online Worlds for Sale
Infrastructure
Interface
Big Tech and 3D Content
Applications and Experiences
Conclusion
Notes
Chapter 4: New Rules
Governments
Public Standards Organizations
Creators and Communities
Disruptors and Academia
Notes
Part 3: Opportunities
Chapter 5: A Great Reset
Personal Impact
Interpersonal Impact
SDGs and the Metaverse
Notes
Chapter 6: Doing Business in the Metaverse
Persistent Wallets
Are You Tokenized?
Business Models
Hybrid Experience Economy
New Jobs in the Metaverse
Notes
Chapter 7: Digitalizing Humans
Definitions
Facts
Creation
Embodiment, Presence, and Identity
The Real Influence of Virtual Influencers
Industry Applications
The Issues
Notes
Chapter 8: Metaversed Markets
Industry Applications
New Opportunities
Notes
Part 4: Challenges
Chapter 9: Understanding Reality
Seeking New Frontiers
Post-Truths in the Metaverse
Assumptions
A Protocol and an Engine
Governance and Access
Notes
Chapter 10: Privacy and Safety in the Metaverse
Data Issues
Your Internet of Things
Notes
Chapter 11: New Rights and Regulations
Crypto Scams
New Medium and Platform Risks
Metaverse Dark Web
Challenges and Risks
Trust Across Worlds
New Rules for New Ways
Notes
Chapter 12: The New Humanity
The Impact of Data
Reality, Digital, Technology
Where's the Line?
We Don't Know … Yet
Notes
Part 5: Preparation
Chapter 13: Building the Metaverse
Start Your Immersion
Ethics, Trust, and Risks
First Steps in Each Market
Governments' Immediate Challenges
Notes
Chapter 14: A Toolbox for the Metaverse
Predictions
Technologies
The Race Has Begun
New Rules
A Great Reset
Doing Business in the Metaverse
Digitalizing Humans
Metaverse Markets
Interoperability
Privacy and Safety
Rights and Regulations
New Humanity
Building the Metaverse
Next Steps
Notes
Index
Copyright
Dedication
About the Authors
End User License Agreement
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
About the Authors
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Begin Reading
Index
End User License Agreement
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Metaversed
Luis Bravo Martins
Samantha G. Wolfe
Acknowledgments
Major thanks to Nigel Wyatt for creating the opportunity, and to our team at Wiley—Jim Minatel, Melissa Burlock, Pete Gaughan, Patrick Walsh, and Barath Kumar Rajasekaran—for the trust and patience throughout this process.
Thanks to all the experts who took the time to contribute their unique insights to this book. Martina Welkhoff and Amy LaMeyer, for your preface and words of encouragement. Thanks to the inspiring members of our amazing metaverse ecosystem who contributed quotes to the book, namely (in alphabetical order): Alan Smithson, Alex Coulombe, Alina Kadblusky, Alon Grinshpoon, Amber Osbourne, Andres Leon-Geyer, Angeli Gianchandani, Anne Ahola Ward, Antonia Forester, Antony Vitillo, Ash Richter, Ben Erwin, Brandon Powers, Brendan Bradley, Carla Gannis, Christina Heller, Cortney Harding, Christy Seville, Chris Valentine, Danilo Castro, David Parisi, Elena Piech, Emily Olman, Gonçalo Prata, Henry Keyser, James Watson, Jan Pflueger, Jason Chung, Jason McDowell, Jesse Alton, Jimmy Vainstein, Joanna Popper, Juliana Loh, Katie Hudson, Kavya Pearlman, Keisha Howard, Kiira Benzing, Linda Jacobson, Manuel Oliveira, Marco Magnano, Mariia Tintul, Marisa Borsboom, Mark Sage, Nuno Folhadela, Mike Pell, Rafael Pavon, Regine Gilbert, Richard Ward, Robin White Owen, Sammy Popat, Sarah Hill, Sonya Haskins, Susan Persky, Susanna Pollock, Tupac Martir, Valentino Megale, Veronica Costa Orvalho, Vince Kadlubek, and Unai Extremo.
Foreword
Like the authors of this book, we have been working in the space that is now called the metaverse long before that term was popularly used. The term was coined by Neal Stephenson back in the ’90s, but only entered the common lexicon recently as it was adopted in corporate circles (one large tech company in particular) to describe a vision for the future of computing and our relationship with technology.
We were both drawn into the space not long after Facebook acquired Oculus and early consumer headsets started to enter the market. After first putting on a headset, we saw the potential for this infinite, immersive digital landscape to transform everything we knew about user experience. The opportunity for technical innovation was obvious, and we also saw an opportunity to innovate on the foundational culture and norms of the industry itself, which is why we started the WXR Fund to invest in women-led companies in the space.
Within hours of announcing our plans for WXR in 2017, we had hundreds of people from all over the industry sign on to support the effort. Talented executives, engineers, creators, and founders raised their hands to be mentors. Several industry luminaries ultimately committed as investors. Soon thereafter, we launched an accelerator program, from which 26 women-led companies graduated in 2018–2019. In late 2019, we began investing in start-ups, many of which are now squarely positioned to take advantage of the tailwinds the metaverse craze has created.
The metaverse is more than hype, yet not easy to explain. In this book, the authors skillfully define a term that is evolving and demonstrate how it is relevant to business professionals across all verticals. All major tech companies have products and R&D efforts in this area—from the newly renamed Meta to Tencent to Verizon. The book clearly details similarities and differences to the Internet age, including tips to apply this knowledge to a forward-thinking strategy.
These are pivotal times as we move into a world where digital and physical realities become more integrated, and 3-dimensional computing gives us skills that 2-dimensional computing could not. With technical advances in wearables, children born today will ask us why we used to use screens. Metaversed outlines the opportunities that exist today and the possibilities of the future across all sectors and then highlights specific areas of current adoption. The authors clarify how the metaverse is different from technologies commonly used today and give tangible examples of how to engage and grow.
The necessity to be physically distant due to the global pandemic has been a catalyst for growth in metaverse-related start-ups as people and businesses look for better ways to connect and do business virtually. Also, within the context of emerging technology, now is a rare opportunity to build a more inclusive foundation for the next wave of computing.
This book covers not only the opportunities of the metaverse, but also how to navigate the challenges faced by this new wave of computing. It encourages all of us to consider these factors as the uses for the metaverse continue to emerge.
As experts in the field, Sam Wolfe and Luis Martins are the perfect guides to make the metaverse accessible and relatable. They gracefully explain the different emerging technologies involved in realizing spatial computing, and how that can be applied across many sectors in a variety of ways.
Enjoy the read. If you see our avatars in the metaverse, say hello!
Martina Welkhoff and Amy LaMeyer
Managing Partners, WXR Fund
Part 1Get Ready
Notes
1
. “‘What is internet?’ Katie Couric, Bryant Gumbel are puzzled.”
Today
, June 20, 2019.
www.today.com/video/-what-is-internet-katie-couric-bryant-gumbel-are-puzzled-62308421624
2
. CNBC, “Jim Cramer explains the ‘metaverse’ and what it means for Facebook.”
Squawk on the Street
, July 29, 2021.
www.cnbc.com/video/2021/07/29/jim-cramer-explains-the-metaverse-and-what-it-means-for-facebook.html
3
. Matthew Kanterman and Nathan Naidu, “Metaverse may be $800 billion market, next tech platform.”
Bloomberg Intelligence
(blog),
Bloomberg Professional Services
, December 1, 2021.
www.bloomberg.com/professional/blog/metaverse-may-be-800-billion-market-next-tech-platform
4
. Christine May and Adit Gadgil,
Opportunities in the metaverse
, (JPMorgan Chase, 2022).
www.jpmorgan.com/content/dam/jpm/treasury-services/documents/opportunities-in-the-metaverse.pdf
5
. Morgan Stanley Research, “Metaverse: more evolutionary than revolutionary?”
Morganstanley.com
, February 23, 2022.
www.morganstanley.com/ideas/metaverse-investing
6
. Kathleen Boyle, “Metaverse and money: Decrypting the future.”
City GPS: Global Perspectives and Solutions
, March, 2022.
https://ir.citi.com/gps/x5%2BFQJT3BoHXVu9MsqVRoMdiws3RhL4yhF6Fr8us8oHaOe1W9smOy1%2B8aaAgT3SPuQVtwC5B2%2Fc%3D
7
. Trish Novicio, “5 biggest industries in the world.”
Lists - News
(blog),
Insider Monkey
, March 24, 2021.
www.insidermonkey.com/blog/5-biggest-industries-in-the-world-in-2021-925230/5
8
. John Cook, “We asked seven venture capitalists if the metaverse is the next big thing or just a lot of hype.”
GeekWire
, November 23, 2021.
www.geekwire.com/2021/we-asked-seven-venture-capitalists-if-the-metaverse-is-the-next-big-thing-or-just-a-lot-of-hype
9
. Klaus Schwab, “The Fourth Industrial Revolution: what it means, how to respond.”
World Economic Forum Global Agenda
, January 14, 2016.
www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/the-fourth-industrial-revolution-what-it-means-and-how-to-respond
10
. Business Roundtable, “Business roundtable redefines the purpose of a corporation to promote ‘an economy that serves all Americans.’”
Business Roundtable
, August 19, 2019.
www.businessroundtable.org/business-roundtable-redefines-the-purpose-of-a-corporation-to-promote-an-economy-that-serves-all-americans
11
. John Cook, “We asked seven venture capitalists if the metaverse is the next big thing or just a lot of hype.”
GeekWire
, November 23, 2021.
www.geekwire.com/2021/we-asked-seven-venture-capitalists-if-the-metaverse-is-the-next-big-thing-or-just-a-lot-of-hype
12
. Paige Leskin, “American kids want to be famous on YouTube, and kids in China want to go to space: survey.”
Business Insider
, July 17, 2019.
www.businessinsider.com/american-kids-youtube-star-astronauts-survey-2019-7
13
. John Cook, “We asked seven venture capitalists if the metaverse is the next big thing or just a lot of hype.”
GeekWire
, November 23, 2021.
www.geekwire.com/2021/we-asked-seven-venture-capitalists-if-the-metaverse-is-the-next-big-thing-or-just-a-lot-of-hype
14
. Brian Cooley, “The metaverse isn't what you think it is, because we don't know what it is.”
CNET
, January 2, 2022.
www.cnet.com/tech/computing/the-metaverse-isnt-what-you-think-it-is-because-we-dont-know-what-it-is
Part 2Understanding
Chapter 2Technologies
Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation.
—William Gibson, Neuromancer
A large number of technologies are involved in creating the metaverse. Among the most important, consider technologies that allow seeing and mapping the world, the ones that calculate relative distances and adjust perspectives in real time, ones that integrate different services together, and others that manage real time data updates. These technologies are today coming together, connecting and converging to allow persistent and synchronous 3D virtual worlds for all of us. These are the building blocks of the metaverse.
When you're in the metaverse, you won't see any of these technologies the same way when you start up apps on your smartphone—you will just experience them.
Web3
To begin, let's set the basic concepts straight and separate Internet from web. These two are often confused. For the former, we're referring to the telecommunications infrastructure that connects computers in the biggest network of all time. It is all about connecting machines. The World Wide Web is much more about connecting humans and refers specifically to the largest information network available on the Internet. We can navigate it thanks to a novelty created in 1989 by scientist Tim Berners-Lee: the link. Suddenly, we could place a mouse cursor over a blue, underlined word or an image to be directed to another page of information.
Berners-Lee created the first web version when he decided to exchange information from his employer organization, CERN (stands for the European Organization for Nuclear Research), with other scientists and universities. He created the first web server in 1990, a computer that continuously connected to the Internet and enabled outside users to access its files, like the world's first website. That site is still live at info.cern.ch. By 1994 there were already 10,000 websites available, which ultimately became known as Web 1.0.1
This first version of the web was essentially read only. Sites on the information superhighway existed to convey just that—information—and users mainly interacted by sending out messages via email software clients or forms. Don't forget, we're talking about a network created by scientists and researchers, so it's only natural they also accounted for the largest number of web users at that time. There wasn't a social community as we know it in the 21st century in the same way, with e-commerce stores or online marketplaces. Of course, there were a few advertisement formats available, but they were in the very early stages of development.2
In 1999, the web started moving beyond this read-only version and the distinction became clear when the Web 2.0 concept appeared in 2004. Social media and search engines suddenly allowed us not only to read web content, but to become creators or curators as well. Everyone gained the power to push a button and publish texts, photos, videos, and what we today define as user-generated content (UGC) to an audience of millions, who could like, share, and comment on each post.3
This unparalleled reach at our fingertips brought in the advertising business as we know it today. Platforms were created around the opportunities to profile and communicate to the users of these services. Knowingly or not, we started sharing our own data in exchange for free use of services such as email, photo sharing, discussion groups, free hard drive space for backups, search engines, GPS services, or dating services. This data collection grew even more when smartphones allowed us to use these services wherever and whenever we wanted, collecting our location and travels, thus enabling ads to become more targeted and relevant.
At the same time, this brought a number of security issues and social problems, unforeseen by most. Free speech, privacy, and safety started being halved, as companies, countries, and hackers gained access to this data for their own personal gains. This prompted the current public discussions around this topic, led by organizations like the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C, w3.org), founded by Berners-Lee himself.
So, next comes Web 3.0. This is the web we're now building, also known as the intelligent web or semantic web. Berners-Lee, the original creator of the web, described it as “the Web [in which computers] become capable of analyzing all the data on the Web—the content, links, and transactions between people and computers, (…) [where] day-to-day mechanisms of trade, bureaucracy, and our daily lives will be handled by machines talking to machines. The ‘intelligent agents’ tech thought leaders have touted for ages will finally materialize.”4 It's a vision that elevates the concept of the web to a level where artificial intelligence can use the data to enable automated tasks and help us in our everyday lives, that fits with the vision of the metaverse. However, this version of the web doesn't necessarily include blockchain or cryptocurrencies.5
It's important for you to realize that Web 3.0 is separate from the term Web3, a difference that is not intuitive. Web3, along with the Spatial Web, are two alternative visions for our future web that have been rising in interest and that previewed several of the discussion topics brought in by the metaverse. When you say or write Web3, you're talking about a model for a decentralized web. Its concept was coined by Gavin Wood back in 2014 and is built around the idea that users can become co-owners of the web and free from corporate or government oversight to make the best version of the web. Most, if not all, of the interactions, would become peer-to-peer without gatekeepers in between to intermediate.
This decentralization rethinks how user data is gathered and handled. On Web3, every user has their own wallet that can identify them and enable payment across all services on the web; users can replace corporations and government in roles to make services on the web work; they can also own digital assets and digital currency without relying on notaries; they can own their data while navigating the web and performing transactions that are transparently available on the blockchain, for everyone to check.
As data is also decentralized, Web3's business principles are built around alternative means of monetization outside of using and selling personal data (which is the fuel for today's Internet advertising). Instead, it enables new business models that may contribute to the upcoming metaverse. Web3 then aims to create a more private, safer, and user-oriented version of the web based on blockchain.
Still, critics state Web3 isn't yet ready for primetime. Some refer to the need to massively transform the current infrastructure of the web to make Web3's final vision possible. Others say it depends too much on the processing power of servers to scale, since registering transactions on the blockchain is having an increasingly disconcerting ecological impact. Many highlight how wealthy users and venture capital investors, are slowly owning the ecosystem, subverting the cry for user participation and the decentralization principle of it all. Finally, others warn against the decentralization effect and how taking mediators and public officials out of the picture can create fertile ground for fraudsters and all kinds of crime. “(Decentralization) is a matter of culture over tech,” explains Danilo Castro, Head of XR and Metaverse strategist at the Brazilian UOL Group. Regardless of all these issues, several online platforms and communities have announced themselves as being Web3 and are actively promoting its principles.
The Spatial Web
In 2019, Gabriel René and Dan Mapes published a book, The Spatial Web, outlining their vision for a third version of the web. In it, they discuss how the physical and digital are merging, and that this symbiosis will bring together the biological, digital, and physical sides of reality in a truly interoperable way. They envision a move from a text-and-image web into a full 3D explorable experience, where services and applications will be made available in physical spaces, be aware of each of these space's characteristics, and allow for seamless interactions with both digital and physical objects using gestures, voice, gaze, and our binocular vision the same way. Goodbye, mouse pointer and keyboard and other peripheral equipment. They state we are destined to interact more and more within the Spatial Web as we do biologically within the physical world.
Because it's such a foundational approach, René and Mapes propose a new system where:
All web elements are available on top of a persistent digital twin of the world, available to every user via a new kind of spatial browser (web navigation software that is aware of the physical world).
Every physical space, object, and person has a digital counterpart (digital twin) with its own ID, which can then be used for private or public purposes.
Everything in the physical and digital world can interact seamlessly. This means a button pressed in virtual reality can turn on a machine in a physical showroom, and vice versa.
New standards, rules, rights, and permissions will need to be set in order to interact spatially, namely by standards organizations like W3C.
Do these look familiar? By anchoring digital information to physical spaces and objects, the Spatial Web foresees us interacting with the world in a fully contextualized manner. For instance, if you're a parent entering the school of your children, you could have access to their schedules, their grades, their works for each one of their classes, and directions to their classroom. All of these could be seen hovering digitally where needed through your augmented reality glasses, headset, or plain old smartphone. However, if you are a member of the school's maintenance team and a pipe just blew up in the ceiling of the science lab, you'd be able to see a much different set of information overlaid, such as a digital representation of the pipe scheme over the walls and you'd find instructions available exactly where the problem is. This would be possible because the information on the Spatial Web and physical reality would be in sync, so you could recognize places, objects, and people anywhere.
As with Web3, there are critics of this model. The huge number of servers and processing power necessary to make it possible is a major problem, due to the toll it takes on the environment.
Both of these proposed alternative models of a future web (Web3 and the Spatial Web) were, as you saw, very influential in bringing together the concept of the metaverse and they are enabled by the same convergence of technologies and platforms.
Because there are several technological building blocks of the metaverse, it's worth going through them to help you understand in later chapters some of the new concepts and strategies we're sharing.
5G, IoT, and Edge Computing
For any of us to enjoy digital services, we first need to get connected and then stay connected to the Internet. This allows us to transfer data at the speeds necessary for our services (e.g., streaming apps) to run smoothly. An Internet connection is and will always be a bottleneck for digital services. Making sure the connection is available at all times and across a geography is as important as speed. The faster we move data from one place to another, the more waiting times are reduced for users needing it.
There is a big difference in the speeds available between cable access and mobile access. Depending on where you live and which services you have, cable networks can already deliver high-speed service for our computers and home appliances. However, throughout the day, many of us access the Internet through mobile devices like smartphones or tablets.
Let's start with a brief overview of the generations of mobile Internet access. That's actually what the “G” in 4G or 5G stands for: generation. Each one of these Gs is technically a new generation of mobile communications technology that provides better, faster connection performance. Also, each G is a standard, which means you should be able to use that kind of access the same way in any country that supports it.
1G began in 1970 and every G since has, one after another, lasted around a decade. 3G rolled out at the beginning of this century, as that was also the decade where GPS devices and smartphones hit the market. So, companies started to promote 3G as a distinguishing factor. The first 4G services came online around 2010, and those quickly became instrumental in the rise of the social media revolution. Services like Apple's Facetime, Uber, and TikTok appeared. This wouldn't be possible with the previous Gs' access speeds.
Transitioning from one generation to another does not work like a software update on your computer. Not only does infrastructure need to be replaced and sometimes rebuilt and tested, but new hardware and software also must be built, adapted, and distributed. This works the same for 5G and for the next generation that is called (you guessed it): 6G.
Since 2020, you might have noticed the millions of dollars of advertising and sponsorship at work touting 5G. The largest telecommunications companies are really trying to convince us to switch to this new Internet service. But what difference does it really make?
Indeed, it is a shift in how we experience mobile computing. It can supply up to 20 times the speed of a 4G connection, meaning that every app or platform you use can become much more powerful and many will be able to provide services in real time. Forget lengthy downloads and updates that overwhelm the memory in our devices and slow them down. You no longer need to worry at all about downloads. 5G is able to plug your mobile experience into the cloud and stream what you need directly to your device.
Minimal latency is another key benefit of 5G. We've all experienced latency, such as when you press play to see a movie on a streaming service and you have to wait an instant or two before it starts. 5G means immediate access and close to real-time information. Latency has also been an issue with Virtual Reality (VR) experiences, as they incorporate and use so much high-resolution external data. So, the switch to 5G is making VR developers very happy.
Edge computing boosts this opportunity for real-time information. In simplified terms, it draws the processing power closer to the source of the data, so that it reduces even more the time it takes to send, process, and receive it. This has a big impact on the Internet of Things (IoT) and its manufacturing version, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). These are networks of objects and devices that have embedded sensors, from which data is gathered and then used for different applications. For example, IoT data allows families to know which devices are consuming more electrical power and need to be optimized, while IIoT data allows teams of engineers to keep track of the performance in a factory's production line.
5G is already rolled out in several countries, and the list of potentially disruptive services built on it is multiplying, which includes new home automation systems, autonomous cars, and new equipment in smart cities. So why are these Gs and mobile Internet so important to the metaverse?
It starts with the number of simultaneous connections. Today, the Internet connects more than 4.32 billion smartphones6; 13.1 billion IoT sensor-enabled devices, like alarms, thermostats, lights, or refrigerators7; and likely billions of computers. However, these numbers are not even remotely near the ones that will result from connecting all people, all objects, and all spaces in a continuously synced, hybrid, and symbiotic version of reality. The amount of data will be unlike what we've experienced before.
Every device will need to send and receive data continuously just to satisfy the minimum goals of the metaverse. Add on top of that all real-time interactions and transactions for every user, and you begin to understand the kind of infrastructure and connection speeds we'll need.
The next generation of mobile Internet, 6G, is aimed at connecting physical and digital at 100–1,000 times the speed of 5G. Although 6G standard specification is still undergoing heavy work and far from finished, it's generally assumed that it will be less latent and more ecological, enabling maritime and airspace Internet access as well. “The primary function of 5G (as was the case for all previous ‘Gs’) is communications,” shared Walid Saad, a Virginia Tech professor8 and researcher in this field.9 “6G, instead, will be able to deliver additional services to users, such as sensing, control, imaging/mapping, and localization. These functions will be needed to support autonomous systems.”
