2021 is an important year to me. This is the last blog of 2021 and might be the first one of 2022 as well if I did not finish it before midnight. This blog is about Metaverse.

Everyone should have heard about the Metaverse in 2021. Although I have been working on some virtual reality (VR) projects, I have no idea what Metaverse exactly is, so I did some research.

Go directly to: what is the Metaverse?

Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions. -Albert Einstein

What is the universe?

When I first heard about the Metaverse, I felt that people have totally understand this universe and get bored of it, so they want to explore something new with more fun. Obviously, what we know about the universe is still very limited. I strongly recommend read this page about Exoplanet. It humbles me.

The universe is everything. It includes all of space, and all the matter and energy that space contains. It even includes time itself and, of course, it includes you. -NASA

Earth and the Moon are part of the universe, as are the other planets and their many dozens of moons. Along with asteroids and comets, the planets orbit the Sun. The Sun is one among hundreds of billions of stars in the Milky Way galaxy, and most of those stars have their own planets, known as exoplanets.

The Milky Way is but one of billions of galaxies in the observable universe — all of them, including our own, are thought to have supermassive black holes at their centers. All the stars in all the galaxies and all the other stuff that astronomers can’t even observe are all part of the universe. It is, simply, everything.

What is a Multiverse?

According to this post, the multiverse is a theoretical framework in modern cosmology (and high energy physics).

The multiverse presents the idea that there exist a vast array of potential universes which are actually manifest in some way. There are a number of different types of potential universes - the many worlds interpretation (MWI) of quantum physics, braneworlds predicted by string theory, and other more extravagant models.

Multiverse is also known as megaverse, parallel worlds, and parallel universes. According to that post, there are different types of multiverse. For example,

Quantum mechanics describes the universe in terms of probabilities. In the quantum world, all possible outcomes of a choice or situation not only can occur but do occur. At every branch point, a new universe is created.

What is the Metaverse?

Compared to the Universe and Multiverse, the Metaverse is a much more boring concept. It is just the world’s digital counterpart. It is a collective shared virtual space, and people use virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) to visit it and communicate with each other. People can create digital assets and exchange them.

Well, it sounds boring but there might be great opportunities there. Think about social network, blockchain, and cryptocurrency. All of them may not be as exciting as space exploration, but from a business or investment perspective, they are successful. We are not sure whether Metaverse will be the next big thing or not, but it might be wise to keep an eye on it, as I mentioned in another post, opportunity lies on customer demands and satisfying these demands and on social problems and solving these problems.

If one way to solve all the problems is to let people indulge in online games, there is indeed an business opportunity there. The global gaming market is set to reach $256.97 billion by 2025 (see here). However, we have to be wise to ask the right question about what the real problem is?

Nevertheless, it is important for us, no matter you play video games or not, to rethink what game exactly is. Everything in this world can be a “game” as long as you can play and replay it. Education, traveling, medical service, entertainment, movies, dating, work, etc., almost everything can be ‘games’, with necessary foundamental facilities such as robots, AVs, sensors, etc. For example, a factory, manufacturing plant, operation, transportation, and logistics can be controlled and optimized inside ‘games’ in Metaverse.

Sky is the limit. Don’t think this idea sucks or it is irrelevant to us. Imagine how we have missed the opportunity of bitcoin. A wise men will not judge the idea is good or bad but focus on what we can do and what we can get from the idea. Of course, one can be pragmatic but, don’t be evil!