Once a niche concept beloved of tech enthusiasts, the idea of a centralized virtual world, a “place” parallel to the physical world, has careened into the mainstream landscape this year, as epitomized by Facebook’s decision in October to rebrand as Meta

Peter Allen Clark – The Metaverse Has Already Arrived. Here’s What That Actually Means

That quote from a recent article speaks to the growing buzz around the metaverse. As the article states: “the promise of the metaverse is to allow a greater overlap of our digital and physical lives in wealth, socialization, productivity, shopping and entertainment. Essentially, the metaverse is an evolution of the current Internet. Although today’s version involves goggles, tomorrow it’s all about glasses. John Riccitiello, CEO of Unity describes the use of glasses this way: “You’re walking by a restaurant, you look at it, the menu pops up. What your friends have said about it pops up.”

More powerful however is the move towards virtual presence. Given the experiences of the last 20 months, an ability to feel like we are together when we are not takes on more importance. Renji Bijoy, Immersed VR’s founder and CEO went as far as to say that VR is less of a novelty and more of a quality-of-life tool. But as with everything else, there are paths that enhance humanity and those that diminish it. The article explores both. The video below however delves into the convergence of the physical and digital world within the context of smart cities. This practical example (story) brings the concept of Metaverse to life.