Mark Zuckerberg has changed the name of the holding company from ‘Facebook’ to ‘Meta’, though the individual platforms – Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram – retain their brands. The change is prompted by Zuckerberg’s plans to align the company more with the technology that is guiding the internet to the next stage of its evolution: Metaverse.

The term was coined by science-fiction writer Neal Stephenson in his 1992 novel ‘Snow Crash.’: https://www.newsweek.com/what-snow-crash-twitter-compares-facebooks-metaverse-announcement-90s-dystopian-sci-fi-1643690 In short, it envisions a confluence of virtual reality and the internet. It’s a digital universe, but unlike video games this alternative 3D reality will be created together by people linked via the internet. Zuckerberg says it would be a “virtual environment” shared by networks of virtual communities. The screen, instead of remaining static, (as if) comes to life and you can (sort of) enter alternative worlds. Imagine friends coming together to build their own little worlds, and sharing time inside there.

Just as you can watch a live-streaming of a concert, what if you can virtually attend it, in three dimensions, after wearing various devices? Before buying something, can I try it out virtually? This need not be just a fun thing. For business as well as for a host of areas like healthcare, ‘metaverse’ can open up immense possibilities. The work-from-home model can be upgraded to a virtual office – almost like the actual office – in which one can work without leave home.

Some elements of the proposed technology are already around, and the rest are under works. When this new kind of reality takes shape around us, we would be able to lead ‘virtual life’, just as today many spend hours in their digital life. What’s out there in metaverse is just one of the many avatars a user can have; and they can switch from one set of reality to another by teleporting them, say, from the office to a concert.

Facebook is one of the many firms exploring various aspects of metaverse. Obviously, there are going to be serious ethical questions too, from data security to privacy to the ‘responsibility’ of the multiple selves of the users.

Explainers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uvufun6xer8

https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-connect-metaverse/

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-58749529

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/10/style/metaverse-virtual-worlds.html

https://theconversation.com/facebook-relaunches-itself-as-meta-in-a-clear-bid-to-dominate-the-metaverse-170543