Transcriber: Daniela Tamariz Reviewer: Lucas Kaimaras
Hello everyone.
I’m Arthur and before we start,
let us do a small, small cool test.
Let’s connect ourselves and cross reality, right?
So right now,
I would like our VR audience to cheer up for our live audience.
Come on, guys, do it.
(Ovation)
All right. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. All right.
And now we do the opposite:
I would like you, the live audience, to cheer up for our VR audience.
So let’s try. Three, two, one, go, everybody.
(Applause)
Did you hear that? Did you hear that, VR people?
All right! Awesome!
OK, so now everybody's satisfied.
Everybody are connected mentally and physically,
and we can start our talk.
So today I would like to talk to you about the future of immersive metaverse.
Now, before we dive into it, what is actually metaverse?
You probably have heard this word in the last couple of months
so many times that, you know, you don’t know where to run from it,
but let’s see what the word ‘metaverse’ means.
The word ‘metaverse’ is made out of two parts:
The first is ‘meta’, which means “beyond future”.
And the second part is ‘verse’, which means “the universe”.
So we’re actually dealing here about, you know, with the future of the universe.
Pretty big deal.
But generally speaking,
this word is meant to describe the future iteration of the internet,
made up of persistent shared 3D virtual spaces,
linked into virtual universe.
Now, there are several important terms I just use
- like ‘persistent’, ‘3D’, ‘shared’, ‘spatial’ -
we’ll come back to them.
But right now, let’s have a look into the history of social spaces
and into the current state.
Through all the history, we find some great examples of persistent social spaces
such as Ultima Online, which debuted in 1997,
allowing thousands of people to interact in a persistent 2D environment,
which you looked at on your screen of your monitor,
or Second Life, which actually debuted later
and allowed kind of like the first time 3D shared social experiences,
bring a little bit of economy inside,
but still you were interacting with that on your monitor.
You were looking at your monitor to interact with that 3D world.
Now, while I absolutely think - and I love them,
I was a very active member of both those games and communities -
but, you know, while there were amazing for the time of their creation,
I think in my opinion they have lacked several key components
in order to actually really become the true metaverse.
And one of the components is virtual reality.
Now why virtual reality?
What makes VR so special?
They know. I know they know for sure.
But what is it that makes it so special?
We as humans, we are wired to perceive the world around us
visually and spatially.
Through the light reflections which come into our eyes
providing us a 3D dimensional spatial image of the world,
with the depth,
and moreover, we also hear directional sounds,
meaning that we are able to identify where the sound source is, how far it is.
Thus, we create this 3D spatial map around us.
And for the first time ever in human history,
virtual reality headsets - like I’m wearing right now -
can completely mimic these senses
by projecting stereoscopic light
and creating the same 3D spatial environment around us,
which tricks our brain completely into believing
that what you see and where you are right now
is actually real.
So what I’m seeing right now here -
I’m not actually standing in front of you, physical audience.
I see these beautiful people here in VR -
I mean, you’re beautiful as well but I’m seeing those guys here,
and for me, this is very real.
Now,
also headsets - VR headsets like this -
can deliver fully spatial audio
surrounding real life like sound experience,
meaning that I hear direction the sound comes from to me.
If someone is talking behind me, I can hear that, I can feel it.
So this allows us for the first time ever
to consume digital content in a native and natural way for us as humans,
as we’re used in real life.
But is virtual reality enough to make something a true metaverse?
I think there are several more crucial components which need to be met.
First of all, it’s decentralization of ownership.
What is that?
Think about it:
All the time in the history, even now,
any game you play, any experience you consume digitally,
you don’t own digital content.
Whether it’s coins you buy in the mobile phone game
or skins you buy in Counter-Strike or other games,
you actually don’t own those items.
The central authority
-whether it’s a game development studio or someone else-
owns this.
They dictate to you what you can do with that.
They dictate to you what can be done, whether you can sell it,
whether you can transfer it, or whether you have access to those items.
So you can work years and years to actually get these items,
- get those, you know, virtual possessions -
and then one day it could be all wiped and you have no control over that.
Decentralized ownership on the blockchain solves that
because there is no central authority.
You own a token of something like my avatar.
This avatar is an NFT token.
This is the blockchain token I own in my decentralized wallet,
which has nothing to do with some new space where I am right now,
and I can transfer it, I can sell it,
I can do with it whatever I want for eternity.
And that is the beauty of the system.
So for the first time ever, you are able thanks to blockchain,
you are able to own your digital possessions,
whether we’re talking about avatars, cars, land or anything else,
or social media experience and identities.
In social media you don’t own your identity.
You own basically nothing.
And the companies who own those data, they sell them, they monetize them.
But you have no say in this process.
This will change due to the blockchain and decentralization.
Another part which has to be changed in order to create a real metaverse
is access to finance.
Imagine almost two billion people on this planet
currently do not have access to banking system.
They cannot participate in the global economic turnover.
They had no chance to be productive,
to earn money and to do anything with that.
This is pretty horrible.
Now blockchain solves that as well.
You are able -
you know, it allows people to become financially active and productive
without any central authority being a gatekeeper.
Finally, people can access pay transfer funds
from anywhere in the world in a permissionless manner.
This is truly revolutionary.
For the first time ever anyone in the world,
- no matter their physical location, status and background -
can become economically active
and more importantly, economically productive.
But while blockchain solves those two things,
like access to ability and ability to be financially active,
the metaverse itself, the virtual reality metaverse itself
solves and, you know, allows people to become independent
from anywhere in the world to be creative and have virtual jobs.
Today, many, many people - and I see some of you here as well -
in some 3D space they have full time jobs
by being, creating and participating in this virtual economy,
which actually is growing really fast.
So what is actually a real future of the immersive metaverse?
In my opinion, it is a digital place enhanced by virtual reality
and truly owned by its users,
allowing people across the globe
to be socially active and economically independent,
while utilizing tools for creativity and innovation,
and without any central authority.
I believe that within the next 10 years, the majority of human population
will be using augmented or virtual reality headsets
for the most part of their waking hours.
Conducting business, creating digital and real value,
or simply being social with each other.
You know, we have concerts, we have gallery openings, we have shows,
we have everything,
and people are socializing from all over the world every day.
You think I’m crazy?
You really might think I’m crazy and I actually do hope you think I’m crazy.
And that’s great. That’s OK.
But think about mobile phones 15 years ago.
Who would have thought
that we will be staring at our screens 100 times per day,
spending hours and become completely dependent on this amazing technology?
It is an amazing technology.
With virtual reality it will be the same but also very different.
Virtual reality VR needs your attention.
It mimics and enhances our reality, but making it more immersive,
real and open for anyone.
When I say it will be different than mobile phones,
it's because when you are in VR,
you're absolutely connected with anyone who you're interacting with.
You are productive, you’re more productive
and you’re connected with people around the globe.
Now, these guys,
they came to this talk, they’re watching this talk live,
as you do right now in the audience.
The difference is: they didn’t have to pay for that.
Sorry, Mark.
So they’re enjoying it and they’re all over the globe.
I can count at least six countries,
you know, Canada, Australia, England, U.S., France and Spain.
You know, I know many of those people.
I know actually all of them and this is amazing.
They’re able to join and be with me in this space right now live.
So, you know,
if there is one thing I want you to remember from my talk today,
is that metaverse is not something far in the distant sci-fi future,
but it’s happening right now on a daily basis and it’s growing fast.
I’m standing in front of you right now
in a high resolution virtual reality headset
with finger tracking, full body tracking,
and I’m actually wearing full body haptic suit,
which allows me to actually feel the environment.
I can feel the raindrops on my shoulders.
I can feel the touch of the player.
I can feel wind and any other senses in VR.
It’s already here and it’s only a matter of time
when this technology will enter your life.
So with this,
I think this is the future of immersive metaverse.
Thank you very much.
(Applause)