In the last lecture, we said that a metaverse could theoretically be established when both the identity
and value systems are realized.
And you must have noticed that in 2021, many companies are starting to accelerate the layout of the
metaverse.
For example, Facebook says it will become a metaverse company in the next five years and has just launched
a virtual meeting software based on VR headsets.
Apple wants to replace iPhone with VR headsets in 10 years.
The big companies are investing so much that there is undoubtedly a huge potential profit to be made.
Bloomberg predicts that by 2030, the market size of the Metaverse could reach $2.5 trillion dollars,
but a question that arises is whether the opportunities presented by the Metaverse belong to just a
few large companies.
Are we only made consumers of the metaverse, or can we also participate in the construction and operation
of the Metaverse?
This depends on the operation mechanism of the metaverse.
In addition to the identity and value systems, the Metaverse is inseparable from the support of many
other links, such as the lowest infrastructure level.
Does the Metaverse have enough computing power, high speed network and open protocol support?
For example, if we want to enter the Metaverse in the future, do we need to use specific hardware
devices?
If we're going to live in the Metaverse, does it have to have enough life scenarios?
Does it have to have a variety of jobs for people to make money?
This means that the Metaverse needs a lot of scenarios and application developers, and this part will
also create a lot of opportunities that we can participate in.
So building a metaverse is not something that a few companies can do.
But a system project.
What are the challenges and opportunities of this system engineering for people from different industries?
How can ordinary people participate in the process of metaverse construction in this lesson?
Let's take a look.
The three stages of building a metaverse.
There are three main stages.
If we briefly sort out the metaverse construction process in terms of the time dimension.
The first stage is the preparation stage, which mainly involves the infrastructure suppliers of the
metaverse.
As mentioned earlier, the infrastructure of the metaverse mainly includes communication networks,
cloud computing and new open network protocols.
The ideal metaverse can accommodate millions, tens of millions or even billions of people simultaneously,
so its demand for network and computing power will grow exponentially.
Just like different internet is connected through HTTP protocol, the transmission between the metaverse
and real world and between different metaverse also needs an interoperable new and open network protocol.
This piece involves more technical details, and we will expand on it when we have the chance.
The second phase is the start up phase, mainly involving the bookkeeping system and the NFT transaction
system.
As we said in the last lesson of NFT, the ledger system records the value exchange in the metaverse,
which is implemented through the blockchain.
For example, if my digital identity buys a bottle of water in some metaverse, the ledger of that metaverse
will be recorded once to mark the transfer of ownership of the bottle of water to me.
Many blockchain companies are currently building bookkeeping systems for the metaverse, such as the
more familiar Ether.
The third stage is the explosion period, two types of suppliers will be great in this stage hardware
equipment manufacturers and application scenario developers.
You must have heard a lot about the hardware devices of the metaverse, such as VR helmets, smart glasses,
electronics, skin, brain computer interface and so on.
Application scene developers are even more plentiful because many scenes in the real world, such as
entertainment, social work, school, shopping, etc. will also be available in the metaverse.
So there will be a need for people to open stores, companies, schools, planning performances or sports
events, et cetera, in the metaverse, which are all opportunities for application scene developers.
In my opinion, we have now come to the start a period of the Metaverse.
Why do you say so?
Because in 2021, based on the mature bookkeeping system, the NFT standard has been recognized by the
market and started to be used on a large scale.
Like in the first half of 2020, the global market for NFT transactions was only thirteen point seven
million dollars, while in the first half of 2021 the number soars to $2.5 billion.
The hardware of the Metaverse, after talking about the development stages of the metaverse and the
suppliers.
Let's go back to the question mentioned at the beginning.
What are the opportunities and challenges for people from different industries in the process of building
the metaverse?
Here, I would like to focus on the nearest hardware, equipment and application scenario industries.
What kind of hardware equipment is needed for the metaverse?
There is a view in the market that the more immersive the effect, the better.
This also matches the picture depicted by many movies in the movie Ready Player One.
Everyone enters a virtual world called Oasis with a VR headset.
The hero also spent money to upgrade his equipment, a set of electronic skin with a sensory system.
It can feel the touch of others or the pain when hit by a weapon.
The brain computer interface in The Matrix is more cutting edge technology, which boils down all of
a person's sensory cells into a system of signals that originate in the brain and return to the brain.
These technologies aim to make the digital world more and more immersive by making it more and more
realistic.
One of the most radical ideas I've heard is that if hardware develops to the stage of brain machine
interface, people will only need to keep their brains.
Their physical bodies will just be incidental.
In other words, some people feel that in the future we will all live in digital identity in a metaverse
and only need to return to the real world when it's time to eat and sleep.
Here, I would like to remind you that although there is a lot of room for hardware development at the
perceptual level, it is not possible to see the degree of development of the perceptual level in correspondence
with the degree of development of the Metaverse.
In other words, it's not more immersive.
The perception is the closer we are to the Metaverse.
There is no need to use immersive devices like Decentraland, The Sandbox Crypto Voxels three recognized
early metaverse players can access the experience from the computer side.
An overemphasis on immersion can bring you problems just like Leonardo DiCaprio's wife, and Inception
ended up with cognitive dissonance because she couldn't tell if it was a dream or reality and finally
chose to commit suicide.
This is precisely the point of risk that we need to prevent in advance.
If immersion is not the only goal pursued by Metaverse hardware device vendors, what else can we do
as a hardware industry?
There are some development trends that are certain, such as the demand for terminal computing in the
metaverse will be very large.
What is terminal computing?
It is the computing power of each players and device, since in the metaverse, each player's freedom
is far beyond the general game.
But if every player's behavior has to go to the cloud to calculate, the network will be congested.
So the computing power of the players local device must be improved, which will bring opportunities
to the hardware, including the chip industry.
Another example is the combination of hardware and software, because the future metaverse needs many
scenarios and applications.
So hardware manufacturers only focusing on hardware is not enough to build a moat to see if there is
an opportunity to combine hardware and other industries such as education, content, creativity.
Scenarios and applications of the Metaverse.
OK, let's talk about application scenario development.
Let's imagine what the scenarios and applications of the Metaverse are like, which can be broadly divided
into three categories.
The first category is the basic consumer goods of life.
For example, there were also businesses in the metaverse that built houses, furniture, cars, clothes
and shoes.
Here is a link for virtual shoes page https colon slash slash artifact icon.
You can check it out if you were interested in the second category is content production, such as games
in the Metaverse, art exhibitions, etc..
The third category is seen development, for example, for the education scene.
You can develop a Mars metaverse, which can directly present students with a realistic Mars living
environment, and the teaching effect will be better.
For these three types of producers, I will use metaverse manufacturing to describe them.
It should be noted that companies can participate in the metaverse manufacturing industry, but ordinary
people can also use their imagination and participate in the construction.
I have an idea for a metaverse, for queuing scenarios.
When you queue with many people off line, queuing for an hour can consume a lot of physical and mental
energy.
If there is a queuing metaverse because everyone is queuing with a digital identity, there is no real
physical exertion.
Your digital identity can socialize with the digital identity before and after the queue.
You can buy and sell each other's position.
Doesn't it sound fun?
With that said, well, many people or companies want to do metaverse and which one will be more popular?
My opinion is that in the metaverse, creativity will constitute an absolute advantage for the participants
because the value system of the metaverse is based on the blockchain a unique idea even if you realize
it one second earlier than others.
Everyone will recognize you as the first one, and it is meaningless to copy.
So no matter how many metaverse is, there are your advantage may be a particularly fun name or a particular
novel designed.
Then again, suppose you open a clothing store in the Metaverse.
It's not the same as opening a store in the real world, in the real world.
A well-chosen store location and fast delivery may be ahead of other stores, but in the metaverse,
location, logistics and supply chain are not important because there is no concept of traffic in the
metaverse and a million people can appear in your store simultaneously.
In this case, the store attraction is determined by whether your product is fun and creative enough.
After listening to me, if you want to become an application scenario developer, the advice I would
like to give you is to look at what content or scenario elements are beneficial to help players build
up their identity, system and value system.
If you find such an opportunity rabbit firmly as two examples, there are a lot of people making NFT
avatar projects now because they are seen as identity accounts for future access to the Metaverse.
The project owner can design many different avatars, such as references to animal images, alien images
or even references to emojis.
However, if you were to design a set of NFT avatars by referring to landscape painting elements, it
will be less conducive to building up an identity system because it is not an anthropomorphic image
and less likely to give rise to identity mapping and association with oneself.
As a second example, to start a business around a metaverse value system, it is necessary to find
out what has exchangeable value in the metaverse.
For example, in a modern urban style metaverse, a virtual house is a product that has exchange potential.
But going for plumbing, wiring and other house accessories won't have much value because in a digital
world, houses no longer need to be plumbed or wired.
Let's summarize today's lesson.
One.
The construction of the metaverse is a system project that includes four types of suppliers.
The underlying infrastructure, bookkeeping system and NFT hardware devices and application scenario
development.
Two.
We are now in the startup phase of the metaverse, marked by the bookkeeping system starting to mature
and the NFT standard being recognized by the market and starting to be used on a large scale.
Three.
There are two reminders about the construction of metaverse.
One is that the development level of hardware immersion level does not represent the development level
of metaverse.
The second is that in the metaverse, the future competition at the application scene level will only
fight creativity.