By Axios
Good afternoon, and welcome to our Deep Dive on how the metaverse will come together, piece by piece, and how much of it is being developed in plain sight.
1. Pieces of the metaverse
The metaverse — the virtual dimension the tech world sees as the next big thing — won’t have one big grand opening. Instead, it’s coming to life in pieces all around us, in research-lab breakthroughs as well as within products available now.
Why it matters: These early glimpses give consumers, activists and legislators a chance to weigh in now on what they like and don’t like, shaping the digital future alongside the companies building it.
Catch up quick: Most visions of a metaverse imagine a persistent, immersive digital space shared by many companies and individuals.
- Meta executives Mark Zuckerberg and Andrew Bosworth have described the metaverse as “the embodied internet.” That typically involves putting on a headset and completely immersing yourself in a virtual world.
But that won’t be the only way to experience the metaverse.
- Another is via augmented-reality glasses, ideally as light as standard glasses today, with digital objects appearing over a view of the real world.
- Other devices that could usher us into the metaverse include everything from contact lenses to gloves.
The gadgets we use today won’t disappear. For reasons of convenience, affordability or personal preference, people will also engage with this more immersive world through their laptops and phones as well.
