The Metaverse: A Possible Future

Contemplating the future is no new topic for humans. In recent years, advancement of virtual reality (VR), the metaverse, and artificial intelligence (AI) projects such as ChatGPT and ERNIE Bot have inspired many to exclaim “the future is here.”

This issue focuses on exploring the metaverse. In October 2021, Mark Zuckerberg, founder of renowned American social networking company Facebook, announced that the company would be renamed “Meta.” The term “metaverse,” coined in the science fiction novel Snow Crash (1992), is now a global buzzword.

Snow Crash describes the metaverse as a state in which the real world is blended with a virtual world created through augmented reality (AR) and VR. The science fiction film Ready Player One released in 2018 is widely considered the closest depiction of the metaverse. Through sensory suits and VR devices, people will be able to participate in virtual racing and adventures that feel incredibly real. According to a public letter and video lecture to the world by Zuckerberg, the lines between reality and virtuality will become blurred in the future: People will no longer be confined by their bodies, and the constraints of time and space will no longer be a problem. People will be able to move at the speed of light and choose their appearance at will.

Zuckerberg and other leading figures in the global internet industry believe that the metaverse, as the carrier of the next-generation internet, will create a new paradigm for economic and social operation through creating a new virtual world that is connected to the physical world. In the cover story of this issue, Aravind Yelery, a senior research fellow at Peking University and an adjunct fellow at the Institute of Chinese Studies (Delhi), explained that the metaverse promises an immersive future realized through smart technologies deployed in various approaches. Digital industry professionals from China and India discussed the technological support required by the metaverse and how it can be applied in the real world based on technologies that  have emerged in recent years such as VR, AR, AI, social networking, encryption technology, wearable technology, cloud computing, and digital supply chains.

The emergence of the internet fueled the development of various new technologies, and the mobile internet empowered significant transformations in many industries around the world. Similarly, the metaverse is now starting to fuel a new round of transformation and upgrade the global mobile internet industry. In just a few years, VR devices, the basic tools for accessing the metaverse, have made great progress and exerted wide influence on cultural tourism, manufacturing, and even agriculture. Online tourism and virtual exhibitions are now a trend, and many museums and tourist attractions offer immersive performances and exhibitions. This issue introduces the large-scale immersive and interactive digital space “Sanxingdui Fantasy Journey” and its attempt to create a cultural metaverse, which involved the transformation and upgrading of many technologies including image processing, digital identity, virtual interaction mechanisms, and digital asset creation.

The metaverse is still in an early stage, and many challenges hindering each individual technology have yet to be overcome. And ethical concerns and considerations related to the metaverse have been persistent. As science and technology continue to improve, the internet will clearly turn lifestyles upside down once again. As the future approaches with endless possibilities, we should approach it with both confidence and hope while remaining calm and cautious.