The Metaverse has been popular for several months, and there is no sign of stopping.
Facebook announced that it was renamed "Meta" and entered the Metaverse. NetEase applied for the registration of "NetEase Metaverse" and "Leihuo Metaverse". Baidu applied for the registration of the "metaapp" trademark to follow the trend of Metaverse. In fact, as early as the first half of this year, Internet giants such as Tencent and ByteDance began to take the lead through investment and acquisitions.
With the enthusiasm of various industries, Metaverse has received more attention. So the question is, what is the Metaverse?
#01 Why are we obsessed with the Metaverse?
The term Metaverse was first born in the science fiction novel "Avalanche" in 1992. The novel describes a colorful virtual reality world where humans can use digital identities to live and work in the world to gain a higher social status, like some kind of large-scale online game.
The most intuitive experience in recent years is in the movie "Ready Player One" directed by Steven Spielberg. The movie depicts a game meta-universe that can be entered through a VR device. This virtual world is distinct from the real world, but with the same real experience. Industry insiders believe that this is a more ideal form of realization of the Metaverse.
If industry giants have entered the game because of the hidden economic value, then what is the logic behind consumers chasing the concept of Metaverse? We believe that the fundamental reason lies in human beings' expectations and desires for the intelligent life.
In fact, thinking about the evolution of the relationship between technological development and human society, we have noticed that with the wider application of science and technology in human society, the relationship between them has been inverted.
For example, the birth of new things in the past was always accompanied by incomprehension and resistance. When the telephone was not invented, people's communication relied on word of mouth and handwritten letters. The appearance of the telephone was not accepted for a long time. Same as the computer. In a way, technology used to create demand for people, and people accepted the emergence of new things in the long-term application.
However, in modern society, mobile phones and computer systems have been updated year after year, and smart products have emerged one after another. At this time, rather than innovation, it is better to say that they are constantly updated and adjusted in accordance with the needs of consumers. Consumers need more high-definition shooting technology, so mobile phones begin to be equipped with higher-performance cameras. Consumers need a comfortable living environment, and smart products such as smart tables have also appeared one after another.
In a way, this is a consumer-oriented world. This is the reason behind the popularity of Metaverse. Consumers are eager to experience a more intelligent and technological life. What businesses need to do is to create a technological future for consumers.
#02 How far is the meta universe from us?
In "Ready Player One", we saw one of the manifestations of the meta-universe, but in fact this is not all of it.
According to the "Metaverse Development Research Report 2020-2021" released by the New Media Research Center of Tsinghua University, the metaverse is not equal to a video game. It is not just a virtual world, but a virtual world x a real world. In summary, Metaverse is a collection of many factors such as multiplayer online games, editable worlds, economic systems, social systems, decentralized authentication systems, and real life. This also means that if you want to truly realize the Metaverse, you will need a higher-speed communication foundation, more powerful cloud computing capabilities, richer virtual and real interface functions, and even the full application of artificial intelligence.
But for now, we are still far away from such a Metaverse.
In the current actual situation, the Metaverse applications that are linked to consumers only stay in the VR (virtual reality) experience, which is far from the virtual experience that Metaverse emphasizes the integration of VR, AR, and MR. Even consumers are already familiar with VR. As early as 2015, the VR industry had a boom. Merchants launched VR games and VR experiences one after another. However, according to most companies, they transformed or simply disappeared after the A round. Only bulky VR equipment and false virtual experience were left to consumers. Now the rise of Metaverse concept has reignited the VR industry, will it repeat the same mistakes? We don't know.
In this context, we have noticed that consumers’ expectations of the Metaverse concept may need to return to reality.
There are two reasons for this: On the one hand, Metaverse still relies on the in-depth research and development of science and technology from concept to implementation. Even if the technology is perfect, it will take a long time from commercial application to popularization; On the other hand, the essence of consumers’ pursuit of Metaverse lies in their pursuit of a more convenient and healthy smart life. With the development of smart devices, such needs of consumers can already be met.
#03 Smart life, starting with spaces and devices
In fact, the birth of the Metaverse stems from people's demand for intelligent and technological life. In real life, meeting this demand can be derived from two points: one is the creation of smart spaces; the other is the application of smart devices.
First, create a smart space. In the "Huawei: Smart World 2030" report, it proposed that with the integration of whole-house intelligence and scene-based interaction, a more beautiful and natural office and living environment can be created. The main form of expression is to realize distributed processing and calculation of the whole house environment, user behavior and system equipment through the AI engine, combined with the scene model, to form intelligent decision-making. Such as turn on the specific lights, play music corresponding to the mood, the TV automatically plays favorite TV programs, the refrigerator makes a diet plan based on body data, and the bedroom can automatically detect the air condition to adjust to the best sleeping environment.
The second is the application of smart devices. The creation of a smart space in the whole house is actually a unified deployment formed by the cooperation of multiple smart devices. Take a simple example, when we work at home, the thing we touch most every day is the desk. At this time, no matter how powerful the AI engine is, it can't give intelligent instructions to an ordinary wooden desk. So the smart function of the desk is also very important.
Practically speaking, the current application of smart devices is more effective than the creation of smart spaces. On the one hand, the smart space of the whole house requires high construction costs and complex procedures. When the artificial intelligence technology is not perfect, it is extremely easy for artificial intelligence to become "artificial mental retardation", which will affect the living and working environment; on the other hand, smart devices are flexible and adaptable. Choosing suitable smart devices can match different living and working environments better. Take the OFFICEPLUS High-Efficiency Smart Desk launched by Redfir Intelligent as an example. As Redfir Intelligent’s revolutionary product, it can meet the needs of more flexible and intelligent and healthy work. People, products and environment form a perfect balance in the interaction, thereby improving work efficiency and quality of life.
From the product point of view, OFFICEPLUS Smart Desk has 9 core advantages such as motion mute, one-touch stop, child lock function, 0-formaldehyde organic board, intelligent control, health reminder, anti-collision packaging, Bosch motor, and 1500N load-bearing. Can match a variety of people such as business people, children, students, and it creates a kind of advanced experience of smart life, allowing consumers to feel the charm of smart life in the process of work, study, and life.
So as the smart space based on smart devices is constantly being formed, consumers are getting closer and closer to the imaginary "Metaverse" experience.
The emergence of the meta universe, is it a new revolution or a scam? This issue is constantly being mentioned along with the emergence of the Metaverse concept, and consumers need to be more cautious. After all, the ultimate goal of capital speculation in Metaverse is to make consumers pay for it. At least we are clear that with the current level of technology, it is still far from the true Metaverse, but if you want to experience the intelligent life behind the Metaverse first, you have a better choice already.
