Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are mainstream. Still, VR pioneer Jaron Lanier predicts that these technologies will soon be overshadowed by the Metaverse, a collective virtual shared space. The idea of a metaverse — roughly meaning “the universe beyond” — was first explored in the 1974 novel Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. In Snow Crash, characters can choose any identity and visit multiple worlds, including the non-virtual real world. Another early mention of the Metaverse comes from the 1992 novel The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. In this version, everyone can upload their consciousness onto a computer and live forever in the Metaverse. Lanier’s vision is more realistic. He says that VR and AR will shortly merge to create something very similar to what he has been promoting for years- a collective virtual shared space that does exist as its own thing.
With the rising popularity of the Metaverse, people are curious about how to access the metaverse. This guide will help you understand the metaverse more closely.
Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR)
Both are mainstream now. Still, VR pioneer Jaron Lanier predicts that these technologies will soon be overshadowed by the Metaverse, a collective virtual shared space. The Metaverse is a collaborative virtual shared space. It’s a place where you can go to meet people and interact with them in ways that don’t require physical presence.
VR and AR are two different technologies that are increasingly popular. Still, they’re not the same thing—VR is an experience that immerses users in their environments. At the same time, AR places elements onto objects or surfaces (for example, letting you see your reflection on a thing). The Metaverse might be even further ahead than these technologies because it doesn’t require hardware or software: you need an internet connection and your imagination!
The idea of a metaverse
Snow Crash is a novel by Neal Stephenson, published in 1992. The novel centers on Hiro Protagonist, who has been living in a virtual reality game called Snow Crash since he was 14. When he reaches 25 years old, he decides to leave his virtual life behind and explore other worlds beyond what’s possible inside of it (hence why we call them metaverses). It was the first book to use the word “metaverse,” and it was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel. Another early mention of the Metaverse comes from the 1992 novel The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. In this version, everyone can upload their consciousness onto a computer and live forever in the Metaverse.
The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling is another early mention of the Metaverse. In this version, everyone can upload their consciousness onto a computer and live forever in the Metaverse.
In this case, it’s not just about accessing all information—it’s also about traveling between realities (the ability to jump into different timelines).
The Metaverse will be fully immersive, like Star Trek’s holodeck from Next Generation: a place you can visit in real life instead of just looking at it on screen. This means that instead of visiting other websites or apps while sitting at your computer or phone screen, you’ll actually go somewhere else entirely–and if there is some resistance between those sites and their physical equivalents (like Facebook), then there’s no reason why they couldn’t merge into one single platform where all those things could exist together under one roof.
How to Get into the Metaverse?
There are many ways to get into the Metaverse, such as virtual and augmented reality. The first and most widely known is VR (Virtual Reality), which requires you to wear a headset that displays all your visual information, creating an immersive environment that can be incredibly realistic or entirely fabricated by the technology. Augmented reality (AR) differs from VR in that AR uses technology such as smartphones or glasses with displays built-in so users can see additional information alongside what they’re currently seeing through their device’s viewfinder.
The first step to accessing a metaverse is through a wearable device. Smart TVs and dreams are also possibilities, but they’re not likely because both require you to get off your chair or leave your cozy bed to use them.
A metaverse would be accessible via some virtual wearable device — glasses, goggles, etc., that could be worn like regular glasses but provide access (and information) about the world around us. This kind of technology isn’t far off: we’ve already seen some examples of augmented reality (AR) glasses with built-in screens that allow users to display live video feeds from drones over their real eyes without requiring them to hold up their phone’s times. Google Glasses were also an early example where people could view live feeds from other people’s smartphones without directly contacting those devices themselves!
Another option is smart TV: These TVs have special software installed on them which allows them to connect directly with certain apps like Facebook Messenger or Skype, so users don’t have to download anything onto their computers before being able to access these same services through their television sets rather than laptops alone.
Conclusion
The idea of being able to live forever in this virtual shared world is fascinating. The Metaverse is a shared space that exists on its own, independent from our physical bodies. We can use it to connect with other people in different parts of the world or even across time and space. And we can’t wait until it becomes a possible reality — because once that happens, all bets are off.
