Hype? Hope? Hell? Perhaps it’s all three. Experts are divided on the likelihood of the creation of a fully immersive metaverse. They anticipate that mixed- and augmented reality enhancements will become more valuable for everyday use. Many fear that the present issues with online communication could be exacerbated when Web3 development is overseen by the people who developed the most popular web platforms of today.
The interest in the metaverse was a huge increase between 2021 and 2022 and 2021-2022, which was triggered partly by the decision of Facebook to redesign its brand by the name “Meta.” It is believed that the term was invented by the sci-fi author Neal Stephenson in 1992 in his novel ” Snow Crash.” In modern terms, the metaverse is the domain of computer-generated extended reality that is networked, also known as XR, which encompasses all aspects of mixed reality, augmented reality, and VR (AR, VR, and MR). In the present, the metaverse is composed of somewhat immersive XR worlds that allow for interactions between human beings and automatized entities. There are some that involve daily interactions with AR apps available on their phones and computers. There are also interactions that take place in more immersive realms, like the realm of fantasy or gaming. There are also “mirror worlds” which replicate real-world environments.
While extended-reality games and social networks have existed for decades, in the early 2020s, technological advancements, as well as societal changes brought about by the COVID-19 epidemic, have brought the creation of the metaverse into the spotlight, prompting hundreds of billions of dollars in new investments, and leading to speculation that the metaverse could be “the future of the internet” or ” the next battlefield for the internet.”
The advocates of XR and the creation of more immersive and advanced 3Donline worlds claim that its rapid development will be beneficial to everyone in society – healthcare, education as well as entertainment and gaming and the arts, as well as civic and social life, and other areas. They believe that the introduction of more data into users’ experiences, advancements with Artificial Intelligence (AI) assistive technology and the development of completely new experiences and spaces for people who use technology can enrich and broaden their lives. As with any technology that is digital, there are issues with the safety, health security, privacy, and economic consequences of these new environments. This has prompted a number of discussions about the future of XR, what the metaverse might be like and how it impacts society.
The increased interest and enthusiasm in extended reality led Pew Research Center and Elon University imagines the Internet Center to request hundreds of tech experts to provide their perspectives regarding the subject. In total, 624 technology creators, innovators, leaders in business and politics and activists offered an open-ended response to a survey for their predictions on the direction and implications of the metaverse in 2040. The outcomes of this non-scientific polling include:
- 54 per cent of these specialists claimed they believe that in 2040 the metaverse will be a more refined and fully-immersive, functional element of the daily lives of at least a half billion people across the globe.
- 46 per cent reported that they believe that in 2040 the metaverse will not be as refined and fully immersive part of everyday life for at least a half billion people around the world.
The experts were asked to expand on their multi-choice responses in an open-ended query that sought their opinions on each aspect of the digital age to be. Two major themes emerged from these written statements. The first is that a significant portion of these experts believed the adoption of expanded reality into people’s daily lives by 2040 will revolve around mixed-reality, augmented reality and other tools, not the immersive virtual reality environments, which many define as”the metaverse. “the metaverse.” They also cautioned that these new environments could dramatically enhance each human characteristic and behaviour that is both bad as well as positive. They specifically concentrated their attention on the capability of those who are in charge of these systems to reorient and thwart humans’ agency and limit their capability to achieve self-actualization through the exercise of their own free will and also questioned the potential for humans to be able to develop their own capabilities.
The major themes they addressed through their writing responses can be described in the following three tables. The first table gives additional information related to the two main themes discussed above. The second table outlines the top five reasons why it is likely that the world of metaphysics will be expected to become more sophisticated and widely accepted in 2040. The third section explains the top five reasons why it is likely never to be.
This is not a scientific canvassing that is based on a random sample. The results reflect only the views of the people who responded to the questionnaires and cannot be compared to any other group of people.
The most expansive responses provided by respondents were based on the long perspective. They wrote that “virtual” spaces have been around for millennia and have been created in the minds of people, and they don’t require any specific technological devices or features to create vivid environments that transcend “real reality.” However, at, however, others suggested that even extreme versions of virtual realities would remain anchored to our basic sensorimotor “interfaces” that include eyes hearing, ears, taste, scent, motion and balance, as well as speech.
Yet no one of these experts thinks that major changes are coming in the way that reality is enhanced with technology or even reimagined using technology-enabled methods. For instance, XR founder Avi Bar-Zeev who was co-creator behind Google Earth, HoloLens and other devices, wrote, “VR is fundamentally removing the fundamental constraints of reality: location, travel, physics and occasionally timing, where the hours of a day can appear as if they were minutes. We can travel back in time to the past or imagine futures.”