The connection of AR, VR, Metaverse, Blockchain, Future of Works, and Future of Human.

Since many of my Linkedin connections like what I shared about the connection of AR, VR, Metaverse, Blockchain, Future of Works, and Future of Human in Vietnamese version. Here is a copy of it in English. Feel free to comment or share.

Because it's a long article and keeps the story easy to understand, I have broken down the writing in this order to help the reader visualize the development and connection easier. In this article, I also list many names of prominent companies and projects; you can learn more about them through Google search, take a look, and have your assessments about the future.

1 - Metaverse

2 - AR - Augmented Reality

3 - VR - Virtual Reality

4 - Metaverse on Blockchain

5 - Metaverse of the Future

6 - Future of Works

7 - Future of Human

To start and hopefully excite you, I will jump into the hottest topic right now: Metaverse.

WHAT IS METAVERSE?

Very easy to understand. If you've played games like Super Mario, V? Lam Truy?n K?, Gunbound, PUBG, COD, etc., you've joined the metaverse. Sometimes you're a plumber who has a hobby of smashing brick, sometimes a player that even Qiao Feng has to respect, and sometimes a fiery double agent like Black Widow.?Simply put, any game you play, any social network you join can be considered as a metaverse.

In these metaverses, the level of immersing in the game or the characters is often limited by game creators and technology at the time. Nevertheless, the 8x 9x generation in Vietnam must have been smacked by their parents at least once while slashing monsters to save the princess. Compared to the old games, the metaverses that the tech communities are rousing over will be different, much more stimulating, and stunning. The tech communities will have a lot of money to build new metaverses with an enhanced technology that gives participants a fully immersive experience. In addition to upgrading technology, one of the other tactics will probably entice both parents (8x, 9x) and students to participate. Why not?

Currently, 100% of the largest global technology companies are involved more or less in the metaverse. So money is not an issue. It's only about when. Noted that metaverse is not Mark’s new invention, the metaverse is a generic term, and Meta is Mark's. And Mark and his team are building a "Meta" metaverse that focuses on enhancing social networking. Microsoft invested in infrastructure that helps software engineers or companies build metaverses and invest a lot of money developing devices that allow business users to have a better experience like HoloLens. So do Apple, Google, and Nvidia. Do not skip out on Elon, who is also working on Neuralink, a technology that is very relatable to the metaverses of the future.

99% of the current and hot metaverses are still gaming and entertainment worlds, which does not have, but will have, anything to do with the natural world we are living in. For example, Sandbox, Roblox, or Axie Infinity of Vietnam have many participants; most are individuals and joined to play rather than work. Game and entertainment are two massive markets. However, the metaverses that the big guys mentioned above are interested in and put all their energy into will solve the needs of living, working, and doing business of the enterprises. In these metaverses, the participants are not only individuals but also businesses. Accenture, a pretty big company, uses Mesh to create a metaverse with users are their employees, partners, and customers.

Ok, that's fundamental of the metaverse. I'll stop talking about the metaverse here to talk about AR and VR, and then I'll come back to talk about the metaverse of the future.

AUGMENTED REALITY (AR) AND VIRTUAL REALITY (VR)

AR, which stands for Augmented Reality, is a technology that helps users blend digital elements into reality. The person who uses AR technology the most is probably…Tony Stark, if you don't know him, Google knows. Just go into the office, or put on his glasses; he "touches", "grabs", "flips", "pulls" the digital objects just like the real thing. That is the most straightforward concept to understand about AR, which helps users interact with virtual objects. And because it is virtual, users will easily control, manipulate, and disassemble things without limitation or constraint of the physical elements in the real world.

One of the industries that used and invested heavily in AR technology is healthcare. For example, doctors can use the 3D scanner to capture internal organs such as the heart to create “digital objects.” The doctor can then zoom in, diagnose, analyze, and perform surgery on digital objects. Half a world away, a robot or another doctor would perform those operations on the patient's actual heart.?

For me, many people will accept AR technology because it solves problems where reality is limited. Like smartphones, many people find it unnecessary when they first come out (actually don't know how to use them or don't have the money to buy them), but in the long run, everyone has them. Sooner or later, everyone will have an AR product in their home or on their body.

Unlike AR, which mixes virtual and reality, with VR, which stands for Virtual Reality, it's all virtual. AR technology makes our real-life richer and more convenient. On the other hand, VR technology focuses on building virtual spaces and improving the user experience in the virtual dimension. VR technology developers want interactions, and users' feelings in virtual spaces will be like the real thing. A unique strength of VR is that it is not limited to natural science elements (biology, physic, chemistry) or space. Because there is no limit, you can make your ideas come true in the VR space as long as you can imagine. For example, you want to fly; you wish to raise three pets like mother dragon; you want to have an ice house on the crater; you want to wake up in the Amazon forest; catch Pokemon at noon; go to a club in LA at night; anything is possible. With the massive vision and bottomless pocket of Mark Zuckerberg, VR technology will grow to the extent that users are "immersed" and will be difficult to distinguish what is virtual and what is real.

How is it connected with the metaverse?

Compared with VR, AR technology is constrained by multiple frameworks and still adheres to specific reality conditions. It will not be like the metaverse that VR can offer. I’d say AR is much better when using it to support the work in the real world rather than for gaming or entertainment. VR is different because it is 100% virtual. Designers are free to create metaverses to attract participants, maybe for fun or connect and work. In my opinion, 99% of the future metaverse will use VR to give users the most immersive experience possible. And this is probably why when Mark introduced the Meta metaverse, people talked about it.?

Objectively speaking, Mark's Metaverse is a "baby" compared to popular metaverses like Decentraland or Fortnite. However, Mark's Meta will have a distinct advantage in terms of experience. Meta Quest 2 (Oculus), owned by Meta, is still the leading accessory to help users experience the virtual world. Moreover, Meta also has a very prominent team called Reality Labs that researches and develops VR devices like glasses and haptic gloves. The investment is monumental. The estimated cost for this team is about USD 10 billion, cut from Meta's 2021 profit. That’s ten unicorns. I think Mark’s strategy is clear, focusing on user experience in the metaverse like Steve did with the iPhone. If Meta takes the number one position in terms of virtual experience, it will be difficult for Mark's users to jump to other metaverses. And groups with the need to build future metaverses will also depend on the Meta team's ecosystem. For example, suppose in Mark's metaverse, with haptic gloves, users can feel the roughness of dragon scales, the smoothness of silk, or can feel the virtual girlfriend's hand. If the users do not have the same experience when going to other metaverses, they would not like it and go back to Meta.

But it is now, in a few years, it is uncertain since Apple is also launching its AR and VR devices. Apple is the number one for hardware, but will Apple build metaverse for its users, or just provide the equipment and let users explore freely in other metaverses? That’s also unclear. For this, let’s wait! In addition to Apple, there are dozens of other companies developing VR devices. However, having a lot of money, ambition, and prospect, I’d say Apple and Meta are the brightest.

In addition, to develop and "run" just one metaverse (not to mention many) as Mark wants, it will need the support of hundreds of companies, large and small, in many different fields. So the fact that Mark puts money into developing the metaverse will create opportunities for many other companies to follow. Matterport is an example, and if Mark's metaverse can exist in the future, it will open up a new world with endless possibilities and business opportunities for people around the globe. As long as you have an internet connection, it's completely normal to fight mosquitoes in the Amazon while designing virtual clothes to sell to New Yorkers.?

In the Future of Works segment, I will talk about fields with massive potential for development in parallel with the metaverse. And how the story of the metaverse will affect the human career in the future.

Ok? So the metaverse is technically just like other games. What's so impressive about it??

Metaverse is not a new idea, but blockchain-based metaverse is a topic that we should follow and might have concerns about, as it could radically change the world of the future, from human-to-human interactions to economics and politics.

METAVERSE ON BLOCKCHAIN

If we talk about blockchain, there needs to be a separate article. Here, I will only mention what blockchain creates and how vital these subproducts are for metaverses. And why, if successfully combined, a metaverse on blockchain will have a massive influential effect and be consequential to the current society.?

The three things that I’ll talk about, I will not analyze or go into the technology, just the concept. If you are interested, feel free to explore.

Decentralize - with blockchain, you can create systems without having "someone" manage and make decisions, and on blockchain-based systems, no one has the right to decide for you or the society you are living in. Here is an example that will be easier to understand: a country without a government, political parties; a world with many different countries, but no country has a president to tease each other. In the real world, this is impossible and impractical. But in metaverses built on blockchain, it is possible, if living in a world without the presence of a governing mechanism or someone can take over your property simply because they want to, this is a world where I see a lot of people wanting to move in.

NFT (non-fungible token) - virtual asset, real value. In the real world, your property can be a piece of land, a house, a car, and any other property that has papers to prove it is yours. For any society to exist, there must be ownership of property, a mechanism to prove the source of the property, and who owns it. In the metaverse built on blockchain, NFT is one of the technologies used to prove your ownership. With NFT, your assets will also not be limited to a single metaverse as all assets in NFT are now convertible to Bitcoin or Ethereum. For instance,?if you want to sell all your assets in Vietnam to go anywhere, you can convert VND into gold or USD, and then use that gold and USD to buy properties in the place you will move to. That is, with NFT, your assets will not be tied to any metaverse or the real world because you can sell NFT assets for cryptocurrency and use it to buy USD or other cryptocurrencies of another metaverse.

Cryptocurrency - real money. I don't use the word "virtual money" because I don't think it matters whether money is made of copper, silver, paper, or digital. The important thing is that can I convert it into something that I can buy food to eat or not? If I can buy it, it's real money. In my opinion, a metaverse can exist without cryptocurrency. Metaverses can use any currency, as long as it is possible to convert to food. However, using cryptocurrency in virtual worlds has benefits that real-world currencies do not have.?

Authenticity, the ability to quickly pay for large amounts, low costs, not being geographically restricted are some of the core benefits of cryptocurrency. In a virtual world with users worldwide, using the same cryptocurrency will support trading and buying activities much faster and more conveniently. The stack of dollars you hold in your hand could be fake. But for cryptocurrency, transactions through e-wallets or crypto exchange platforms are 100% real. With ordinary banks, when you need to transfer a decent amount of money, you will have to do all kinds of cumbersome procedures, even though it is within the same bank. If you want to transfer over 5,000 USD from Vietnam to the US to buy a particular service, then...forget about it.

Although cryptocurrency took the world by storm before the concept of the metaverse exploded, in my opinion, cryptocurrency is an essential part of the metaverse. Without the metaverse, the future of cryptocurrency will be questionable. However, once the metaverse exists, cryptocurrency will be widely accepted because of its compatibility and suitability. The investment of Mark in the metaverse is a big boost of confidence for investors in cryptocurrency. Because after Elon, they now have Mark, two young, strong, and super-rich players capable of long-term investment in the metaverse and cryptocurrency. Although Mark's Meta does not build on the blockchain or explicitly state whether or not it will use cryptocurrency, the assertion that Meta's ecosystem is deeply compatible with blockchain technology is critically important. As it can be understood: if necessary, Meta can convert entirely to blockchain technology, or accept and allow users to buy, trade, or charge service fees in cryptocurrency.

When combining the above three factors and the essential elements of the previous metaverses, we have a new metaverse or new world:

• Unlimited space
• Can create and manage virtual assets
• No one can simply take over your assets (possible, but tough)
• Having a currency to trade and sell virtual assets
• Capable of having products that in the real world they cannot exist
• Money and properties in the virtual world can exchange for food in real world.

Also, the differences that create instability in the real world will be limited or almost non-existent in the virtual world.

• Gender
• Ethnicity
• Differences of beliefs / religious
• Differences in political views

In the virtual world, everyone will be equal and has the same opportunity, and this is a massive change for those living in countries that are still at a disadvantage.?

A simple example is a designer on metaverse who earns one bitcoin a year. In New York, one bitcoin can buy a car, not an apartment. In Saigon, you can buy a small apartment in the suburban district. And in Quy Nhon, you can have land, have a small farmhouse, raise chickens, and let the dogs roam. Whether you were born in Vietnam or from New York is not important. You and everyone else will be equal and have the same opportunity when participating in the metaverse. Like going to heaven or entering nirvana, all beings are equal.

METAVERSE OF THE FUTURE?

In the past, if you wanted to change your life, or “sacrifice father's life to strengthen son's life,” you sold everything and moved to other “heavenly countries,” this is for families who can afford it, but for the majority, even if they want to, they cannot. However, soon, you just need to invest in equipment to live and work in metaverses in the future. Use the income earned from the metaverse to improve the quality of life in reality.

That's the outlook for the next 2-5 years with the advent of many metaverse genres. There will be hundreds, thousands for you to choose to participate. However, if we look beyond 5-10 years, there will only be metaverses with huge ecosystems and real virtual space experiences. Small metaverses will either die on their own or merge into larger metaverses to survive.

But the existence and development of the metaverse will inevitably encounter political barriers. Simply put, for wealthy people, their voices carry more weight. If the metaverses are allowed to develop freely, the number of citizens and economies in the metaverses can ultimately exceed that of the G7 countries individually or even altogether.

At this point, whether the citizens of the virtual world will join forces and create institutions capable of putting pressure on the existing political system will be a topic of debate in the not too distant future.

FUTURE OF WORKS

The story of the metaverse and its development sounds like a great sci-fi story or of a world far in the future. However, with technology, financial capability, and human desire, these virtual worlds will appear shortly.?

So in the future, what will human work be like? As mentioned, to build a metaverse, it will take a lot of effort from hundreds and thousands of companies in many different fields, so the demand for human resources in these fields will increase significantly. These are a few worth mentioning.

1. Developers - It seems that AI will reduce the need for software engineers. Yet the advent of metaverse opens up countless opportunities for software developers. Demand for talents will certainly not decrease but massively increase in the coming years. Companies need help building metaverse, building products, and services in the metaverse.
2. Graphics - Software - To develop the virtual world, you need graphic technology to design. I’m not talking about graphic design jobs, just talking about companies that build specialized software for graphic design. Unity certainly deserves to be on the list of companies to watch with its cutting-edge technology. Many other startups will want to join and develop their own specialized graphics software to build the metaverse since this will be a big market. Job opportunities will be there.
3. Graphics - Hardware - For the image in the virtual world to appear smoothly, it will need great hardware. Nvidia, which dominates more than 80% of the graphics hardware market, has a considerable advantage. Still, Nvidia will see more competition from its long-time rival AMD, recently Intel, and possibly Google, Apple, Samsung, or Meta will also produce the hardware themselves instead of relying on Nvidia. The demand for talents will increase.
4. Energy - For a virtual world to run continuously and capable of supporting 24/7 connectivity for hundreds of millions and billions of users, the required power is enormous. For example, with today's smartphone, you can surf the web all day but only play games for a few hours. In the metaverse, the amount of electricity the users will consume will need more advanced solutions that are environmentally friendly. In addition to operating the metaverse, storing virtual assets and trading cryptocurrency will consume a tremendous amount of electricity. So energy-related companies or startups that can solve energy needs for the metaverse will also require a lot of workforces. It wouldn't be surprising if Tesla or Vinfast transformed themselves from electric vehicle manufacturing companies into energy supply companies.?
5. Design - In old metaverses like games, game developers will design everything. But in future metaverses, participants will be free to design and build their products. The design field will have an explosion of user demand in the virtual world. From world design, landscape, office, home, furniture, clothing, etc. simply put, whether real or virtual, or you know what you want, how it will look, but from the idea to what you can see or hold, it will require skills that not everyone has. This will be an opportunity for companies or anyone who can build customer ideas. Matterport is a company worth checking out. The solution they provide is quite simple but very suitable for the metaverse: to take 3D images of real-life objects, such as a chair, a table, a house. Users can go to Matterport's image library in the virtual world and buy and arrange in virtual spaces. For example, with permission, you can take 3D photos of the White House, Independence Palace, or Forbidden City and then put them up for sale on the metaverse. Buyers will experience the living space like American presidents or Manchu emperors. As the demand will be huge, joining the market earlier will be an opportunity for businesses in Vietnam.
6. Education - Soon, all schools are likely to disappear. You will not need to “bribe” to have your child enroll in a good school, nor will your child need to study abroad somewhere far away. Just entering the metaverse, you and your child can choose the best teachers with the best experiences to learn new knowledge. One thing is for sure, the education industry will change completely, and they will need fresh minds that can help them create an educational environment that is only capable in virtual spaces and that the real world cannot offer.
7. Game - With experience in creating virtual worlds and the need to transform today's hot games into future metaverses, game development companies will need a lot of human resources. Epic, Riot, Tencent are game companies with the most significant number of members that will accelerate to become metaverses where participants can become superheroes. It can be said that every one of us, if possible, wanted to have supernatural abilities. Like me, I want to have the superpower of Iron Man or Batman, that is unlimited money, the government has no money to build stuff, but it’s pocket change for these guys.
8. Entertainment - Not being constrained by space, artists will have the opportunity to create live performances with millions, hundreds of millions of people cheering. Fans will be from every corner of the earth. Soccer enthusiasts will also have outstanding experiences watching World Cup matches with the actual feeling of sitting on the coach's bench. Companies that own legendary characters like the Avengers, Justice League, Doraemon, or Dugu Qiubai will also need human resources to help them create worlds that participants can interact with and accompany those characters. Disney is a name that cannot be ignored when discussing superheroes and animated characters. Disney certainly won't be left behind in building the metaverse.?(Rated M - The adult entertainment industry will also have radical changes, and there will be a lot of opportunities for those who are not afraid to join this field, you are free to imagine.)
9. Guide - For those who are not talented in software, or design, in addition to education, the job of guiding users to participate and experience the metaverse in the “coolest” way will also be in great demand. Like, where to find dragon eggs; how to join Captain America's fight against Thanos. That is for games and entertainment. As for work, real-life jobs, when converting into the virtual world, will also need guides to help people effectively work and enjoy.
10. Careers in virtual space - Most of today's office jobs will not be lost but only move from real to virtual spaces. The door to your office now has the same ability as Doraemon's Anywhere door. When open, sometimes you’ll see your boss, sometimes it is your team, sometimes it will be a customer, and sometimes it will be a golf course for a break. A question like how was the traffic to work, or the excuse for being late like my car broke down, will become a thing of the past. Here is a secret: recruiters will continue to be in demand in real and virtual worlds.?

Aside from these, there are many other industries as well, and you can let your imagination go wild and ask, “What would you want to do when you are in the metaverse?” The answer is your future job opportunity

FUTURE OF HUMAN

In parallel with the metaverse, the development of AR and VR will blur the boundaries of reality and the virtual. Unlike the game world, I think what Mark wants for Meta to become is a virtual world with the most realistic real-world experience so that users can easily integrate into Meta's world and become citizens. Also, with Meta, Mark's strategy will attract businesses to enter. He is creating a foundation for companies to build virtual offices and virtual environments for employees. So that even though you are working from home, you will feel like being at the company, meeting, and exchanging information like in real life. Since not all businesses have the capacity to create their metaverse, companies will choose some of the best platforms to build their virtual company and office to work, engage with customers, and attract candidates, etc. Almost all daily activities will now take place in a virtual space.? If companies pay only 10% of what they pay for the actual office, I think Mark can dethrone Elon and become the richest man. The concept and demand for real estate will completely change. Instead of "immovable" in the real world, you can instantly switch places with a flick of an eye on the metaverse. The office from Mark's Meta can move to Microsoft's Mesh, or from Mesh jumps to Meta instantly. You can increase your office size from 1000 sqft to 100,000 sqft as you go without worrying about location, construction, or moving.

That's Mark's vision. As for me, I think the Meta will be one of the most dominant metaverses, not necessarily the best and certainly not the only one, simply because the Meta team is capable and have plenty of money. With the influence of politics, the metaverses will exist, but many will have to be tied to political institutions. It's unthinkable for an organization that can threaten the world's order to be free to develop.? Metaverses like the Matrix or Ready Player One, in my opinion, will not be carried to that extent because the future American Presidents or institutions with leadership that have personalities like Putin, Xi Jinping, or Kim Jong-un will not allow it to happen.?

In the future, most of us will live in at least three metaverses: the natural world that got enhanced to a metaverse with AR technology implemented everywhere; a metaverse for working and connecting with family and friends; and a metaverse where you can transform into a completely different person to satisfy your desire. And do not forget about Elon's Neuralink; if this technology develops rapidly, it can completely replace AR and VR tools at the present or in the near future. In a blink of an eye and you can receive a text message from Nick Fury while in Jin Yong’s wuxia world, fly to the Marvel metaverse to fight Thanos with your boss. With another blink, you can go back to reality to quickly chomp on the sandwich you bought in the morning and then clean up the cat's litter box before your wife comes home.

THANK YOU

Thank you for supporting me in writing this article. Hopefully, with this article, you will have more information about current hot topics, research more, and prepare for the future. If you have any suggestions or feedback for this article, please send me a message. I am also ready for a new job, partnership, or business opportunity. If you are interested, you can contact me via personal email: [email protected]?

Cheers!

Kiem Nguyen

Dec 29, 2021