The metaverse has ignited widespread interest, with companies from various industries rushing to participate. But we have been here before with a similar virtual world called Second Life that eventually failed because of a lack of understanding of what it would take to foster virtual engagement. The success of the metaverse will depend on community.
The cutting edge of innovation in NFTs is taking place in the gaming space. Most NFT based games use non-fungible tokens to attest the title of in-game digital assets. If we start to use the metaverse for more and more real world activities, we will need some way to assert title over digital assets. NFT’s could become the future of title in the metaverse.
The technology to create the metaverse is at the stage where it could well become a reality. However, unlike the internet that was created by patient capital, the metaverse will be created by big tech. We need to develop open standards and regulations so that we can ensure that there are no walled gardens in the metaverse. India has already built interoperable infrastructure to address essential aspects of the metaverse like payments. It has the opportunity to be a leader in its development.
Kevin Kelly predicts the dawn of a third platform age, following the World Wide Web and social media, which will digitize the physical world. This new platform involves a network of cameras capturing and uploading visual data to create a multi-dimensional digital representation of the world. Interaction with this digital world will be through connected glasses, blending augmented reality with the physical world, transforming education and entertainment. To avoid repeating history where U.S. corporations dominated previous platforms, proactive involvement in developing this technology and setting standards, particularly in AI and digitization, is crucial.
Augmented Reality (AR) is poised to transform our interaction with the world, from aiding emergency services and simplifying navigation to enriching personal experiences with real-time information overlays. However, when combined with facial recognition, AR could profoundly impact social interactions and privacy, offering real-time behavioral insights and emotional transparency, necessitating a reevaluation of privacy norms.
