First steps in the Metaverse

The Metaverse is estimated to reach over $1.53 trillion by 2030 (source: Cointelegraph, PwC) and will grow to include communication and trust from one blockchain to another, expanding over multiple cross-chain-related technologies and virtual world platforms. These will multiply the experiences available to us in our daily lives, which have only ever existed so far in sci-fi movies like Blade Runner, Star Wars, or Star Trek.

What experiences, specifically? These can range from meeting a friend in the Metaverse who lives across the world; to increasingly interactive virtual work calls that transport you into the office without you having to leave the house; taking up a sport from the comfort of your own home and without having to pay a gym membership, or even visiting a new country through immersive online travel. The Metaverse will make all these possible.

This is especially important for the creator community. As Mark van Rijmenam, Metaverse speaker and Tech expert mentioned in a recent interview with Dinis Guarda, it is time that we move to a system of value creation where if someone is putting an effort to create something, they should be rewarded for that content.

“That’s where NFTs are so important. Because they allow us to have a different perspective and monetize whatever we create in ways that we want. It’s a lot of hard work in an open metaverse to create a fan following, build a community, and market yourself to create a brand. But at least in the open metaverse, those efforts are fully rewarded, instead of handing over 50-70% of the money that you make”, he added.

The goal: embodied the Internet?

In a more futuristic vision of a global, “real” Metaverse, this could be called an “embodied Internet” where we would experience a continuous sense of presence within the digital realm. We would be able to hop seamlessly from one activity to another, and from online environments to offline ones. We could embody a whole new persona online, and demonstrate our creativity and originality through our avatar. Furthermore, we would be able to interact with other people, play music, chat, and buy virtual goods, while inside the virtual space. Additionally, we will be able to interact with other avatars or colleagues as if we are in the same room, and seamlessly shift back to the physical world.

Despite reservations from sceptics, it is not far-fetched to prefigure the Metaverse as an embodied internet. Indeed, the Metaverse will just be a part of our physical world, as real as anything else. We will soon be living, working, laughing, exercising, building relationships, and playing games in this simulated reality.

Digital twins in the embodied Internet of the future

One company, DXC Technology is at the forefront of this movement.  They recently hosted their annual sales conference – with 1000 staff, together with customers and motivational speakers – in DXC Virtual World, one of the most advanced business Metaverse environments. DXCVirtualWorld is one of the most advanced business Metaverse environments. The campus is set on an island and has exposition halls, auditoriums, classrooms, meeting spaces and even a soccer field, theatre, music venue and beach. Participants moved around, visited project stalls, seminars, and keynote speeches, and interacted socially, much as they would in real life, all without leaving home.  This area of the Metaverse will only grow as it progresses.

The dangers

Rijmenam also warned about the dangers that come with the Metaverse still being in its infancy. We have the responsibility to develop it in an accessible, responsible, open way.

“With the Metaverse, we sort of have this unique opportunity, this one shot, to create an Internet which is there for us, for you, for you and me, for us as humans, and not there for the Big Tech controlling us.

So my book is really meant as a blueprint on how to create this Open Metaverse. What do we need to do to achieve that? And we have to be really careful when we build the Metaverse because don’t forget, when the Internet first arrived, it was very much an Open Internet. When we talk about Web1, the early, early days of the Internet.”

Further, Dinis Guarda has echoed the sentiment that the new Metaverse really needs to work for all.

“An Open Metaverse is where your identity is protected so it can’t be deleted, it’s private it’s about you, it’s specific and persistent, community-driven, it’s portable, you can take it from one platform to another, and has a self-sovereign identity. I think those are the crucial elements of how you can create an open metaverse.

With the Internet and other technologies still inaccessible to quite a large proportion of global populations. This is the challenge: how are we going to achieve this? We need to make that next shift, the next iteration to make it accessible for everyone.”

Conclusion

We have become the subjects in the great ongoing experiment of virtual society.  Across Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, to more niche platforms like Fortnite, Second Life, Decentraland and countless others, we are readily communicating and stimulating each other remotely, through interactions that are, for the most part, emotionally indistinguishable from experiences in the ‘real’ physical world. What we need to do next, is to make sure this new Metaverse works for us, as humans. Not for the Big Tech companies.

The post The New Metaverse Should Work For All, And Businesses Should Lead The Change appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

Dr. Mark van Rijmenam is a speaker and best-selling author on the future of work and technology. He has deep expertise in how AI, big data, blockchain, the Internet of Things, and other digital technologies disrupt your business, government, and society.

At the beginning of the interview, Van Rijmenam told Dinis that starting his career in the hospitality sector after his Bachelor’s in Hospitality Management, he landed up in banking and finance after a Master of Science in Marketing Management. However, his apprehension to work in the corporates led him to leave the job. During this time, he went on a big adventure to cycle around Australia, covering 14,000 Km in exactly 100 days.

After taking his life into his own hands, Mark told Dinis, he launched Datafloq, the one-stop source for big data, offering information, insights, knowledge, and opportunities to drive innovation with data.

“I did not have much time to learn before launching it, but I knew it was going to be a hot topic, and I’m going to learn while being at it.”, he recalled.

A month later, Mark said, he was invited as a keynote speaker at a conference on Big Data. He learned the technology and wrote enough content about it to be published in the form of his first book, Think Bigger. “From then on, I went down to explore the technology, and I found out that I really enjoy exploring emergent technologies about how these technologies have been changing the society.”, he said.

Grabbing an opportunity to pursue Ph.D., Mark spent his initial time researching Big Data and Design Thinking, when he came across the blockchain. “I thought it is such a fundamental technology that is going to change society, and I thought of incorporating it into my thesis, and restarted my Ph.D. I wrote my second book during this time, Blockchain. It is all about how blockchain can be used for social good with Dr. Philippa Ryan.”, he mentioned.

After finishing his Ph.D., he converted his thesis into the third book, The Organisation of Tomorrow. He took up the path of a keynote speaker. But when the pandemic happened, he re-invented himself and founded The Digital Speaker. He made an avatar of himself and created a podcast with it. And that’s when he wrote his latest book, Stepping Into The Metaverse.

More Interviews

James Zhang, CEO The Concept Art House – Games, Art And NFTs

Adam Hollander, Serial Entrepreneur, Pack Leader at Hungry Wolves – NFT, Gamification

Interview with Rishi Kapoor, Founder & CEO of paus.tv – The Revolutionary Streaming Platform For Independent Creators

Interview Kireet Khurana, Filmmaker & Creator Of Animation Film “Toonpur Ka Superhero” – Homelessness In India: The “Invisible Visible”

Pedro Gadanho – Architecture, Arts, Cities & Society – Former MoMA & MAAT Curator, Architect

Susan Oh, Future of AI, Blockchain; Blockchain For Impact Global Summit @ UN HQ, Top 10 Frontier Women in Digital

Exploring the foundations of an open metaverse

Being an expert himself, Dinis facilitated Mark to peel the layers that form the open metaverse for all. Explaining the basic features that he has mentioned in an entire chapter dedicated to this in his book, Mark said, “An open metaverse is where your identity is protected so it can’t be deleted, it’s private it’s about you, it’s specific and persistent, community-driven, it’s portable, you can take it from one platform to another, and has a self-sovereign identity. I think those are the crucial elements of how you can create an open metaverse.”

Both the experts agreed that this is very difficult to achieve all these characteristics as they need a shift in behaviour and perspective, Gestalt shift, as Dr. Mark named it. With the internet and other technologies still inaccessible to quite a large proportion of global populations, he said, “This is the challenge how are we going to achieve this? We need to make that next shift, next iteration to make it accessible for everyone.”

An open metaverse is a utopian reality for the creator community

Referring to his book, Dinis asked Mark about the ways in which an open metaverse can be beneficial for creators around the world. Dr. Rijmenam said it is time that we move to a system of value creation where if someone is putting an effort to create something should be rewarded for that content.

“That’s where NFTs are so important. Because they allow us to have a different perspective and monetize whatever we create in ways that we want. It’s a lot of hard work in an open metaverse to create a fan following, build a community, and market yourself to create a brand. But at least in the open metaverse, those efforts are fully rewarded, instead of handing over 50-70% of the money that you make.”, he added. He also insisted on transitioning from the shareholder model to a stakeholder model where every stakeholder contributes to building a thriving space.

The two experts also discuss the dangers associated with the metaverse and the emergent technologies. Sharing a staggering number to explain the gravity of the situation, Mark said, “While we all enjoyed web 2.0 with free services, platforms, and social media, we all were at risk. It is estimated the amount of expenditure in data breaches will be 10 trillion USD per year to put data security and data privacy matters in place.”

Referring back to his book, he shares that he has described the three possible ways to solve this problem- verification, education, and regulation. “It’s not a happy story, but I wanted to include it in the book because it is important to tell the whole story of what the metaverse would bring to us.”, he concluded.

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Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post Data Ownership And Open Metaverse: Author Of “Stepping Into The Metaverse”, Dr. Mark van Rijmenam, Discusses the Future of the Tech with Dinis Guarda appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.