Enter the Metaverse: Meta demonstration provides peak into gaming, education, and workplace future

Welcome to the Metaverse

Imagine a virtual world where people live, work, shop, and interact with others — all from the comfort of their couch in the physical world. Welcome to the metaverse.

Although the metaverse has been around since the early 1990s, it is just now permeated mainstream culture. In its first iterations, tech companies developed online communities, most notably Second Life. As an online multimedia platform, Second Life enabled people to create avatars for themselves and interact with other users within a multi-player online virtual world.

Despite the popularity of Second Life, the word 'metaverse' wouldn't have widespread name recognition until 2021 when Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook was changing its corporate name to Meta. At the time, the company announced plans to spend $10 billion over the next year on technologies to build out its vision of the metaverse.

For many, the metaverse is considered the next evolution of the internet. And it will take many forms, including gaming, online communities, and business meetings where people collaborate via avatars. Users can also explore the metaverse using a virtual reality headset and motion controllers.

One of the leading metaverse companies, Meta, recently visited Anchorage to talk about the brave new digital world and demonstrate the experience of virtual reality and augmented reality.

Using the VR goggles and handheld motion controllers, Jim Cullinan, Meta, Communications Manager, gave a number of demonstrations to show the power of the platform. In one such demonstration, Cullinan played the role of a doctor to practice intubating a patient. In another less invasive demo had Cullinan kayaking in the ocean.

"You can see the fish, and you can feel the movement. It's essentially like I'm rowing and paddling," Cullinan told observers.

Cullinan also walked people through metaverse demonstrations in gaming and even took a relaxing break in the sun.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that his company's metaverse investment represented a fundamental change and was part of a new vision for the social media giant designed to "bring the metaverse to life." However, the widespread use of Meta is still a ways off, mainly because of the accessibility to the tech that makes the platform work.

In his annual year-in-review blog post, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates noted that most people don't have VR goggles and motion capture gloves to accurately capture their expression, body language, and voice quality.

But accessibility isn't halting the inevitable march toward a digital learning environment.

As COVID-19 forced many schools and companies to move to remote or hybrid workplaces, many are embracing new approaches to train and develop their teams and students. The hope is that the metaverse collaboration techniques will allow learners to engage in any environment or situation. Utilizing the metaverse in conjunction with Learning and Development, learners can put their physical limitations aside and experience new ways to learn.

Expectations are high that the metaverse will revolutionize training and skills development, drastically reducing the time needed to develop and acquire new skills. Research firm Gartner predicted that 25% of people will spend at least an hour a day in the metaverse by 2026.

Despite its purported benefits, some advise caution in embracing the metaverse.

Evan Greer, an activist with Fight for the Future, has suggested that Facebook's Meta announcement was merely a cynical attempt to distance itself from all the scandals the company is facing. They also said that Meta's push is problematic.

"This is Mark Zuckerberg revealing his end game, which is not just to dominate the internet of today but to control and define the internet that we leave to our children and our children's children," Greer told NewsMax.com.

Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat have been criticized for what some say is a lack of action to protect younger users.

Facebook abandoned its use of facial recognition on its app, but items used for navigating the metaverse gadgetry rely on new forms of tracking people's gaits, body movements, and expressions to animate their avatars. So, as companies like Facebook and Microsoft pitch metaverse apps as important work tools, there is a potential for even more invasive workplace monitoring.

In response, privacy activists are calling for the creation of a digital privacy act that would apply not just to today's platforms like Facebook but also to any future companies that may exist in the metaverse. Unfortunately, outside of a few laws in states such as California and Illinois, online privacy laws remain rare in the U.S.