Microsoft says it's time for the metacosm to return to its essence

IT Home December 17 news, Microsoft Technology recently issued an article saying that deep reading Microsoft Ignite China | Regarding the metaverse, it's time to get back to the essence.

"Metacosm" is a hot word, but it's by no means new.

Conceptually, Neil Stephenson's 1992 novel Avalanche has completed Metaverse's confirmation from naming to definition. The setting of real people, virtual people, VR technology hooks up, and co-existing spaces in the novel is considered to be a sufficient and necessary element of the metaverse. Stephenson has been active on the West Coast since the 1980s and has settled in Seattle, and it is only natural that his work and ideas have influenced a generation of tech giants, including Microsoft.

From the perspective of technology, the current meta-universe technology base includes VR, AI, Internet of Things, digital twins and other scientific and technological fields that humans have long touched. It can be said that the metaverse is not subversive.

From the perspective of discussion inside and outside the industry, due to the addition of games, blockchain, tokens and other industries, it is particularly lively. But in addition to the hilarity, we still have to ask the essence of it as we do with any term:

As a term, how does it advance human cognition?

As a technology, what are the levels and opportunities it contains?

As a trend, what does it teach for the evolution of social production?

If "metaverse" can't help us discover something we couldn't find before, then the word is meaningless. At present, the discussion of the metaverse should return to this essence.

Essence one: The metacosm is not atrophy of reality, but an expansion of reality.

The term "metaverse" does not seem to be an self-explanatory translation.

The term Metaverse is a combination of Meta and Universe. Meta as a root means "transcendence". Thus, the original translation of Avalanche translated Metaverse as a "hyper-meta-domain." Although it is awkward, it retains the original meaning of Meta, and to some extent implies that Metaverse is not a "place" corresponding to the universe or needs analogies, but refers to a transcendent breakthrough of existing relational mapping, a new type of dynamic influence.

All exploration and experimentation around the metacosm should not be an attempt to "recreate" a universe. Similarly, the value of the metacosm should be far greater than the one-to-one mapping to reality. At present, it can be agreed that the metacosm should be such an "interoperable" relationship, that is, the infinite, real-time flow and exchange of value and information between the virtual and real worlds. Due to the deep integration and the empowerment of technology, we can create in a wider field, and more boundaries are eliminated.

Based on this essential understanding, the paths to the metaverse have their own advantages. Some people believe that it is reasonable to superimpose on the basis of reality, that is, through AR and simulation technology, to build an interactive layer between reality and virtual. Some argue that we should rely on VR and virtual digital people to be immersive. This type of discussion also focuses on whether the metaverse should be open for broader participation (e.g., Epic Games) or closed for data security (e.g., Meta's Horizon).

However, regardless of the path of arrival, technology and enterprises should keep in mind that they never deviate from the real-world properties of the metaverse.

Essence two: the metaverse is not a copy of the present, but the eye of the future.

The digital twin seems to be approximate to the metacosm, but not the same thing.

Digital twins have value. Through modeling-synchronization-monitoring-analysis, digital twins build relationships between the physical world and the digital environment. More critically, and what makes companies eager to try, is to use this as a basis for tracking the Past and predicting the future of the production process. In the digital space, dynamic data is constantly accumulated and the production process is reconstructed. This process is a process that can be constantly reviewed, and when we build new models based on these findings, we can predict the future in the same dynamic and in-depth detail.

But the metaverse is more thorough in application than this. Through the technology stack, the implementation of the metacosm is focused on simulation and autonomous control. Adjustments to parameters, changes in plans, and options that are difficult to experiment with in the physical world can be made in the metaverse. What is more attractive is undoubtedly the influence exerted on the physical world through autonomous control. Microsoft's Power Platform is aimed at building their own applications and transforming workflows in a very simple way.

As Radoff says, starting with experience, expanding discovery with the eyes of the metaverse, and then creating, realizing spatial computing and decentralization, and then constantly feeding experience with human-computer interaction and infrastructure iteration, the closed loop formed by this may be a feasible path for the renewal and evolution of the metaverse.

Essence Three: The metacosm is not only a new expansion of experience, but also a new leap in productivity.

Facebook's name change to Meta is the first time that the social scene has entered the virtual world. After that, VR games also ushered in a second wave. Entering the 3D world with more portable wearable devices and even the naked eye expands the boundaries of human experience and becomes the initial imaginative tipping point of the metaverse.

However, looking back at every technological leap forward in human history, productivity change is never absent. Perhaps, more to be expected, as an almost certain trend, what uncertain impact the metacosm will have on the production lifestyle and organizational form of human society.

At present, there is no disruptive technological leap around the metacosm. But this does not mean that there will be no future, and this future is even close to this year or two. The point is, are we starting to look at this trend in terms of productivity rather than just experience. As Reported by Fast Company, For the Metaverse, Microsoft is obviously more interested in cutting into the perspective of productivity, focusing on empowering, building, and landing the enterprise metaverse. This realization depends on accumulating technological innovation at 9 levels and finding a breakthrough.

First, with IoT technology, connect the physical world with the digital space. Second, the data is modeled with digital twins to form a mapping. After that, it is map simulation, data analysis platforms, AI and autonomous system technologies that break through the feedback path from digital space to the real world layer by layer. Ultimately, low-code applications and mixed reality technologies make it easy for users to influence the real world.

Now, it's time to get back to the technology itself and talk about the evolution of the metaverse trend, come to Microsoft Ignite China 2022 and get insights!