Importance of the Metaverse Standards Forum

 

For most of us the metaverse is mostly hype about the promise of a new Internet that we can actually explore. As currently implemented, the Metaverse is reminiscent of the pre-Internet world of networks. It is represented by very diverse and unique efforts that look like a walled garden, more like AOL and CompuServe than the post-Netscape Internet we enjoy today.

Implementations range from useful — like those using Nvidia's Omniverse — to promises of "something" from Meta (formerly known as Facebook) that, at least now, mostly disappoint. Admittedly, the disappointment is more likely due to high expectations than any letdown on the part of the meta. This is often a problem with new technologies where expectations are raised and then people are overwhelmed by the results.

Now, with last week's announcement of the Metaverse Standards Forum, it looks like the industry is moving toward a bigger problem with the Metaverse, which is the lack of interoperability and Internet-like standards that could allow for a much smoother future. . The Metaverse

Let's talk about how important this movement is this week. We'll then close with our product of the week, a mobile solar solution that can help avoid the environmental and power outage problems that states like California and Texas are expected to experience as climate change affects their electric grids. Makes the grid less reliable.

The Current Metaverse

Currently, the metaverse is not one thing as it is many things.

Today's latest version of Metaverse is Nvidia's Omniverse. The tool is used for designing buildings, training autonomous robots (including autonomous cars), and forms the basis of Earth-2, which is designed to better simulate and predict weather - Both to provide early warning of critical weather events and to design potential remedies. global climate change.

Although many people think that the metaverse will replace the Internet, I doubt that it can or will happen. The Internet organizes information relatively efficiently. Moving from a test interface to a VR interface can slow data access without the benefit of an offset.

Metaverse is perfect for simulation, emulation, and especially tasks where using a virtual environment and machine speed can solve critical problems faster and more accurately than existing alternatives. For these tasks, it is already proving itself valuable. While it will likely evolve into something like the holodeck in "Star Trek" or the virtual world depicted in the movie "The Matrix," it doesn't exist yet.

What is still needed?

What we can do now is create photorealistic images that can be explored virtually. But what we can't do is create actual digital twins of humans to populate the metaverse. We can't yet instrument the human body so that you can experience the metaverse as if it were real, and our primary interface, VR glasses, are large, heavy and make 3D glasses that the market previously rejected, this Looks much better on the contrary. .

These problems are not cheap or easy to fix. If they had to be solved uniquely for each metaverse instance, the evolution of the metaverse and our experiences in it would be set back by years, if not decades.

What is needed is the level of support and cooperation that has made the Internet to focus on creating the metaverse now, and that is exactly what happened last week.

Acknowledgment Founding Members

The creation of the Metaverse Standards Forum directly addresses this interoperability and standards issue.

Both Meta and Nvidia are on the forum, which is made up of a Who's Who of tech companies — except for Apple, a firm that usually wants to go it alone. Heavy hitters like Microsoft, Adobe, Alibaba, Huawei, Qualcomm and Sony are participating with Epic Games (Metaverse promises a future where you can play in a digital twin of your home, school or office).

Existing standards groups including the Special Web Foundation, the Web 3D Consortium, and the World Wide Web Consortium have also joined.

Hosted by the Khronos Group, MSF membership is free and open to any organization, so companies from a variety of industries are encouraged to sign up. Forum meetings are expected to begin next month.

This effort should significantly increase the speed of progress for Metaverse and make it much more useful for more things. Nvidia is using it successfully today to move beyond that and into a future where we can use it for everything from entertainment and gaming to the ability to create our own digital twins and become digitally immortal. can use.

Wrapping Up: The Metaverse Grows

I expect that the creation of the Metaverse Standards Forum will greatly accelerate the evolution of Metaverse and lead it to a common concept that can be interoperable among providers.

While I don't believe it will ever replace the Internet, I think it could evolve into an experience that, over time, we can largely live with and play for our lives. can, potentially significantly enrich these lives.

I envision virtual vacations, more engaging remote meetings, and video games that are more realistic than ever before, all thanks to efforts to better collaborate and establish standards that benefit the entire mixed reality market. Will be.

Metaverse is coming and, thanks to the Metaverse Standards Forum, it will arrive faster and better than it could have.