Why is it difficult to define the Metaverse and why that’s a good thing.

For the past couple of months, I have been reading about the inevitable Metaverse and how we will soon be living in a world like “Ready Player One”. However, I have not been able to find a simple unified definition for it. The only one that I found to describe it was the one by Matthew Ball where he explains that the Metaverse now is what the Internet was 30 years ago. If you asked someone 30 years ago to explain it, it would be difficult. Heck, even now, it is difficult to explain it; however those of us who use the internet have a sense of what it is. It can be felt and not described. If we attempt to define the Metaverse now, through the lens of the definition of the internet, it would go something like this:

“Just like internet means interconnected networks, the Metaverse can be described as interconnected online universes.”

Even though technically this can be a definition, it fails to capture the essence.

I always like to look at an activity in the following sequence:

1. Intent
2. Execution
3. Impact

An important part of this entire conversation is the technology that is enabling the Metaverse. Blockchain tech has made it possible for decentralized systems to exist, 5G and the upcoming 6G tech has made it possible to fast transfer of data while the ever improving processing power of chips and graphics cards has made it possible to execute complex calculations.

The technology is part of the execution. However, in order to define the Metaverse, we need to understand the Intent.

Interconnected systems lead to unimaginable complexity

There are primarily 3 agents who show the intent here to build or have a say in the building of the Metaverse. These agents are:

1. The Companies
2. The Governments
3. The Users

The Companies

Every company will have its own vision and aspiration when it comes to building the Metaverse. These aspirations will decide the rules of the online universe. One can argue that profit will be the ultimate goal of a company, what will differ is the way they go about it. If I have to take a wild guess about the Metaverse built by Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook, it will most probably rely on monetization through ads and that will lead to a particular set of rules. One by Tim Sweeny’s Epic would most likely focus on more open standards and protocols and will probably be more gamified. There are multiple other players, known and unknown; big and small with their own versions of it.

The Governments

Governments all over the world will definitely have a say in this process. In the last 30 years, as the internet has boomed and the tech giants have become super powerful, rivaling even the superpowers. China is at the forefront of reigning in big tech, but the US is also not far away with the multiple lawsuits that are being heaped on FB, Apple and Google. For the next phase, of the online tech evolution, they would learn from their mistakes. It it very difficult to pin down the motivation of governments in one line (like we could do for The Companies). Whatever they are, Governments would definitely want more control on these entities. This would lead to another complex set of guidelines and rules which could very likely be geographically based.

The Users

Finally, we come to the most interesting aspect of this process. The users themselves. Looking at how decentralization is one big theme in building the Metaverse, the users will have a much larger say in defining these online universes. I will not even attempt to pin down the motivation of the users. I would argue that all 7 billion of us have multiple unique motivations that change with time.

Even at an individual level, these three agents are complex to understand. Now add to that the interactions between then and you get something exponentially complex. I believe it will be a beautiful mess. The image that comes to my mind is from Valerian and the City of Thousand Planets.

Ref: https://www.moriareviews.com/sciencefiction/valerian-and-the-city-of-a-thousand-planets-2017.htm

Fortunately, there are multiple fields of science devoted to solving these complex problems. A case in point, the Nobel Prize in Physics 2021 was awarded “for groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of complex systems” with one half jointly to Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann “for the physical modelling of Earth’s climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming” and the other half to Giorgio Parisi “for the discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales.” Though this science is related to physics, the methodologies are even more relevant for our purpose.

There is an emerging field of science to understand these complex systems; Computational Social Science. Noble laurate Thomas P Schelling in his book Micromotives and Macrobehaviour argues:

“Small and seemingly meaningless decisions and actions by individuals often lead to significant unintended consequences for a large group.”

Pillars that might help reign in the complexity

Defining the Metaverse can be unpredictable as the intentions of the individual agents themselves are difficult to ascertain. However, the underlying technology will help place constraints on the execution of these intentions thereby leading to a narrower definition.

These constraints will most likely come from blockchain tech which has been instrumental in propagating the idea of the Metaverse.

This article lists the pillars of blockchain technology as:

1. Privacy
2. Security
3. Distributed Power
4. Value or Incentives
5. Rights
6. Network Integrity
7. Inclusion

While this article lists the pillars as:

1. Decentralization
2. Transparency
3. Immutability

A must listen podcast with Matthew Ball and Peter Kafka lists the pillars of the Metaverse as:

1. Persistent
2. Synchronous
3. Living and evolving
4. Fully functioning economy
5. Unprecedented interoperability

For me, the the Metaverse would depend on:

1. Trust in the Technology: Centralized systems have a very important role in establishing trust. With decentralized systems, we need to be able to trust the technology behind it. This trust has been building over the past 5 to 10 years and at the time of writing this article, the market cap of all the crypto currencies is over $2T.
2. Individual Ownership: With people placing more and more importance to their digital lives, they would now like ownership over parts of these digital lives.
3. Shared understanding of Value: Digital assets will be valuable only if everyone believes that they are. It is the same with the money we use today.
4. Interconnectedness of Systems: With the existence of multiple universes, people will jump between them and for the Metaverse to be meaningful, there will have to be immense interconnectedness between these systems.

Final Thoughts

The last two years of the pandemic have given us a sneak peak into what it feels to life virtual lives. Though the trend was already heading in that direction, the pandemic just short circuited it. Of course, there is no substitute to physical interactions; but the value of our virtual life, virtual possessions and virtual self has gone up in our lives.

It will be very difficult to define the Metaverse, due to the multiple intentions of the multiple agents who are building it. However, the underlying technology will help smoothen the process.

The Metaverse is inevitable, but what it will look like is anyone's guess. However, I am optimistic about it as the pillars are a step in the positive direction. A lack of a precise definition works in it’s favor as the Metaverse will be free to define itself so that it can not just survive but also thrive.