The famous American novelist Neil Stevenson spoke in his novel "Snow Crash" in 1992 about the inevitability of the meeting between virtual reality and augmented reality in a common space between them over the Internet, and with time the concept moved from science fiction to reality to gain great momentum in subsequent years, where Businessman Matthew Paul presented the same idea in an influential article, in which he talked about the inevitability of the meeting between the physical and virtual worlds to form a new economy with unprecedented job and employment capabilities in history.
It seems that what was fiction is on the way to becoming reality embodied with a new term that has invaded the worlds of technology widely recently, which is "Metaverse", which seems like an expression coming from a novel or science fiction movie, but the CEO of Facebook (Facebook) Mark Zuckerberg seemed very serious earlier this month, talking with great enthusiasm about the ability of metaverses to change the shape and future of the company he helped found, but rather the shape and future of social media and the Internet itself.
The Internet of the Future: The Internet Embodied We Will Be Inside
Zuckerberg had said in a conference call with journalists and analysts following the announcement of the huge profits achieved by Facebook in the second quarter of this year, and circulated by news agencies and news sites: “I want to discuss this term now so that we can together see the future that we are working for, How our major initiative (Metaverse) will change the future of social media, and we are now working on a roadmap for this critical change.”
Zuckerberg explained that metaverse is "an immersive virtual environment, where you can actually be with people in the digital environment and digital society, we can think of it as the Internet embodied, you are physically in it instead of just looking at it as it is happening now."
Zuckerberg told CBS News' Gayle King a few days ago: "I think of metaverses as the next generation of the internet...instead of the internet being an external screen that we look at on our mobile phones or computer screens, it will become Part of us and we are part of it...the internet of the future is something we can be in."
To work inside the "Horizon Rooms" you will need to purchase a virtual reality glasses "Oculus VR" (Reuters)
A technical bridge between two worlds
In fact, Facebook is not alone in this field, but there are other technology companies that have begun their research and transformation process towards the world of metaverses, where technology companies view it as a technical bridge to connect phones and smart devices with virtual worlds, where there are millions or billions of people to work, play and communicate in the digital society.
In this context, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella talked about creating a new department in the company specializing in metaviruses, called the "Metaverse Project", as marketwatch.com mentioned in a recent report.
Horizon work rooms
Returning to Facebook - the pioneer in this field - and its CEO, the company launched the “Horizon Workrooms” program a few days ago as an initial embodiment of the Metaverse, and Zuckerberg presented the new product in the aforementioned interview with Gail King, both of whom wore virtual reality glasses What Zuckerberg described as his first virtual reality interview.
Zuckerberg said in the interview that since middle school he's been thinking about how to create an "immersive system" where people can feel like they're really together while they're playing or working despite the spatial distance of their real bodies. "Let's let people discover this new thing called metaverse."
In the new “Horizon Workrooms” employees can enter a virtual work office using their own avatar, and in this virtual room you will see your computer and your colleagues, interact, work and exchange ideas with them completely as if you were in a room Real work in the company building.
Zuckerberg explains that “these rooms basically give you the opportunity to sit around a table with your colleagues, and you can brainstorm about an issue, or discuss any emergency at work, and for those who cannot be in the virtual office, they can participate through video calls, so you can enter Everyone, and this is a very wonderful experience, you will feel that you are really there with the rest of your colleagues."
Zuckerberg said that "Facebook began testing the idea before the Corona pandemic, and metavirus was already used internally in that period."
To start working inside Horizon Rooms, you'll need to purchase Oculus VR headsets, which cost $299 for the Quest 2, and then you can download the Horizon Workrooms app for free from the Store. With it, you can enter your virtual office and invite your colleagues or other users using the "Oculus" device to the meeting room.
Those who do not have these glasses can enter the virtual room through a group video call link, where they are shown as external callers in the room.
The new Facebook program seeks to make all people work in virtual reality (Facebook)
More than just a networking company
In a report on the new Facebook program, Insider stated that Zuckerberg seeks to make all people work in virtual reality, and the Metaverse project is an important part of this vision, as it is another effort from Facebook in its attempt to be more than just a communication company. social.
The new tool from the social media giant also coincides with the great shift towards digital that the world witnessed during and after the Corona pandemic, as employees in major technology companies in the world seek to impose the reality of remote work on employers, and many of them threaten to resign if they are forced to return to offices. This has put them in a particularly difficult predicament, with the urgent need for more technology experts in a world that is turning irreversibly into digital.