The Three Faces of Metaverse!
Although many technologies work behind the Metaverse, we see it mainly through three things. These are called AR, VR, and AI. We can call them the three faces of the Metaverse:
- Augmented Reality (AR)
- Virtual Reality (VR)
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)1. Augmented Reality (AR)
Augmented Reality combines the real world with the virtual world. For example, through a mobile camera, you can see the real world and, at the same time, add digital details to introduce the virtual world.
Example:
If you scan the picture of an elephant in a newspaper using your mobile camera, the elephant may appear on your screen as an animation – walking, trumpeting, and lifting its trunk to bless you. This is AR.
Another simple example:
When you take a photo without actually wearing glasses, a cap, or a wig, but you use an app that adds these digitally to your face – that is Augmented Reality.
Even when you shop for clothes, glasses, or jewelry online or in-store, you can now “try them on” virtually using AR technology before buying.
2. Virtual Reality (VR)
Virtual Reality takes us away from the real world and immerses us completely in a virtual world. To experience this, we need to wear special glasses or a Head-Mounted Display (HMD) that completely blocks our real-world view.
Once you wear VR glasses, the real world disappears from your senses, and you enter a magical world.
Example:
You can roam inside a forest where elephants and other animals move around you. You might even feel scared and run away because it feels real. VR technology has advanced so much that you can even sense the smell of the forest or the soil. Until you remove the headset, you forget the outside world.
VR allows us not only to enter a magical world but also to create one.
With a VR headset (where you place your mobile inside and wear it), you can enter any world you wish:
Climb the Himalayas
Dive deep into the ocean
Fly like a bird to America
Travel to space in a rocket
You can explore real-world places and imaginary worlds – all from where you are.
So, AR merges the virtual world with the real world, and VR takes us from the real world into the virtual world.
3. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI, or Artificial Intelligence, is a technology that thinks like a human, analyzes, learns, makes decisions, draws pictures, sings songs, writes stories and poems, and understands all languages. This two-letter technology is slowly beginning to change the world.
In the Metaverse, AI is essential for:
Creating avatars (our digital representatives), Designing digital humans, Helping avatars and digital humans communicate and interact smoothly inside the virtual world
In the Metaverse, our avatars will act as our representatives. We can create an avatar that looks like us, program what it should say and do, and even teach it. After that, it can also learn and act on its own.
AI is the lifeline of the Metaverse.
Now that you have the gift of AI, get ready to use it to its fullest potential. Best wishes to everyone!
—END Chapter—
