Brain-to-Cloud Interface + Internet of Everything + Metaverse = Internet Experience Reinvented

As of 2021, we are yet limited in our abilities, as human beings, to learn about something, or, to acquire knowledge or information of any sort, via the internet, by two factors:

1. Time - There is always a timeline, a deadline, an expiry date, or simply just a "right time" to do something before the moment passes (upon which the effort becomes irrelevant)
2. Not having the right idea or knowledge, of/about how to search for the information sought, using the tools or interfaces or resources available - often because we don't know the best or just simply the necessary way in which to use them, for the purpose of searching for whatever it is that we are searching for

The emergence, and the subsequent convergence, of a few exciting technologies will eventually eliminate those limits forever - with massive implications.

The Future of the Internet, is one where you search for information not "on the internet", but rather, "inside the internet". In case you did not adequately understand the last sentence, it means that you, the human user, go inside the internet, to seek out information, rather, than externally sit in front of an interface, feeding in search terms or requests through that interface, from outside of the network. And it is timely to talk about that future now, in 2021, because that future is not very far away.

Brain-to-Cloud Interface

Throughout the 2010s, the most exciting topic, in any conversation or discourse pertaining to the future of human-technology interface or relationship, has been the Brain Computer Interface. The reasons are obvious. One, completely effortless, handsfree computing and tech usage. Two, seamless, effortless real-time communication. Three, the Neuromarketing possibilities for businesses.

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What is more exciting than that, but has been far less talked about, is the direct brain-to-cloud connection, which is the very next step to the Brain Computer Interface, that comes almost immediately after, and should be a naturally intuitive thought - where you no longer interface with a single device or a machine, but with the whole world wide web through an EEG device (most probably in the form of a headset). This gets truly exciting when taken in convergence with the Internet of Everything.

Internet of Everything

Have you heard of a "Smart Toothbrush" or a "Smart Diaper"? Things (physical objects) previously never imagined to carry or consist of electronic or digital features, are being enabled to get "connected". The idea behind the Internet of Things (IoT), is to capture useful data, from all around people, through the physical objects around them.

The Internet of Things results in things like your mobile phone alerting you to the latest promotions, at a store chain you often patronize, when you are randomly walking close to a mall, where that chain has an outlet.

When you take the connectivity beyond just linking the physical objects, to dynamically connect people, dynamic processes, dynamic data and things (without limits), you get the Internet of Everything (IoE).

The difference between IoT and IoE:

With the Internet of Things, you get an alert on your smart watch, when your baby, wearing a Smart Diaper, needs a diaper change.

With the Internet of Everything, when your baby needs a diaper change, your robot nanny automatically and autonomously retrieves a new Smart Diaper, cleans the baby, disposes of the soiled diaper hygienically, and puts the fresh one onto your baby. In the processes, if the baby is cranky, the Smart Television turns itself on, searches for and plays the baby's favorite nursery rhyme to entertain the baby. If your diaper supply is running low, new stock is automatically ordered, and it will be delivered before you run out. The payment for the new diapers will automatically be deducted from your account. In the whole process of all of that, you don't even need to know, the diaper company or the logistical company or the bank, do not require human employees to attend to any part of the process. And everything is seamless. Yet, however, if you want any information, on the workings, of any of the processes or any particular happening, involving any part of the whole web of people, data, systems, processes, etc, you can access it at will. And you can zoom in instantly, to any type of specific information you are looking for, with pinpoint precision, effortlessly, with utmost efficiency.

Metaverse

What the company now known as Meta (formerly Facebook) calls the Metaverse (otherwise known as a Virtual World), is an engineered immersive virtual environment, that simulates places and experiences that either do not exist in actual physical reality, or are replicas or duplicates of them. The purpose of a "Metaverse" is to offer to its users all kinds of experiences, that are either unavailable, beyond reach or impossible in actual physical reality. For example, any person, regardless one's socioeconomic status, can experience life of a megayacht, through a lifelike simulation inside a "Metaverse".

In a "Metaverse", a user assumes a virtual presence through an avatar, or a virtual representation of herself or himself, which is holographic and likely lifelike. Therein the "Metaverse", the user is able to use real world expressions and interact with other persons as one would offline. Therein in that environment, the user also interacts with virtual objects, as if he or she would interact with real actual objects in the offline environment.

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The reason why companies developing immersive Virtual World platforms today, including Meta, are moving away from the term "Virtual World", in preference for the term "Metaverse", is the shared and common foresight, that eventually such platforms will not just remain restricted or limited to online virtual spaces. The shared and common foresight, is that eventually, Virtual Worlds, to be relevant, will crossover, and fuse, with actual physical reality, in a wider all-encompassing X Reality environment. While that is not the reason why the term "metaverse" has been coined, that foresight certainly is the motivator for the common preference of the term over "Virtual World".

The common and shared foresight about the metaverse is that people will seamlessly live across the divide between actual and virtual realities, interacting with simulated objects from the metaverse in actual physical environments and vice versa, for simultaneous effects of meaningfully valuable nature across both spaces. It is a foresight less talked about, but it is nonetheless, I reiterate, common and shared.

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The Convergent Effect

Nothing ever happens in a silo. Everything eventually converges. This especially applies to technology. The perfect example of this convergence effect, is the common smartphone. It is your camera, internet interface, communication device, calendar, alarm clock and so much more.

It is therefore an imminent eventuality, that the following convergence will take place in the case of the internet, to give form to its future:

Brain-to-Cloud Interface + Internet of Everything + Metaverse

When the above equation takes place, and throw Artificial Intelligence into the midst as well (there is nothing technological in the future ahead, where Artificial Intelligence will not play a part), what happens is that:

1. You assume a surrogate avatar in the worldwide web manifest as a web of clouds, when you have a question or a query, or seek something in all sorts of forms (articles, eBooks, visual images, videos, sound files, etc)
2. You simply "teleport" from one location on the web, to wherever it is, that the information or data you seek is stored, located or found. And that could mean "teleporting" in real time, through surrogate devices, in actual physical locations.
3. It also means, information or data, which you search for, taking form beyond static text. For example, imagine if Google Scholar, inside the internet, that you enter using an avatar, looks like a library. You ask out loud, in voice, for an answer to a specific question, and a few "books" come flying off the shelves. One by one the books open, the pages turn, the texts relevant to your query are automatically highlighted and enlarged. Then, at your will, depending on your requirements, the "books" are either returned to their shelves or put aside for your reference later on.

Now, how is all that any different from you typing in your search requests into search engines at present? Very different, and very significantly so:

1. Given you would search in such a future environment directly using your brain, your search parameters are no longer limited
2. Your search is far more accurate and precise, hence reducing your returned results to only those that you specifically need, because again, you are searching directly with your brain - context is no longer an issue, and the results are very precisely filtered
3. You no longer need to spend time and effort, to seek out what you want, within your search results, because being inside the network or the web, you are "teleporting" to the precise point which you are specifically interested in
4. Instead of having to be limited to reading, you can have the web speak to you, and dynamically tell you, like a personal teacher, advisor or consultant, exactly what you need to know, omitting automatically what you have no need for or interest in
5. Your search for information is no longer limited to what is uploaded onto search engine searchable websites or platforms - granting you a degree of omniscience
6. Your search information is not affected by SEO attempts influencing the order in which search results turn up
7. Your search for information is no longer limited to the online web, but extends to offline physical environment to a sizable degree, through connected devices serving as your host surrogates in those environments

If you need to know something, all you'll need to do, is ask. Now, that is a future to look forward to.

Also read: Brain Computer Interface + Virtual Reality = The Next Human Experience

About Harish "The Singapore Futurist" Shah

Harish Shah?is Singapore's first local born Professional?Futurist?and a Management Strategy Consultant. He runs?Stratserv Consultancy. His areas of consulting and?Keynote?Topics include EmTech, Industry 4.0, HR, Digital Transformation, Product Development, X Reality,?Marketing,?Strategic Foresight,?Systems Thinking?and?Organisational Future Proofing. In an?Open Letter?in 2019, Harish has called on his fellow Futurists around the world to raise the emphasize upon the need for Environmental Salvation, in the course of their work. He is also currently working on a series of essays which will culminate into a free eBook titled?Life in Techtopia.