By Dhruv Satish kumar (class of 2023, IBS Hyderabad)
The evolution of the Internet has been one of the most interesting and groundbreaking aspects of the 20th and 21st century. We have advanced from the initial Web 1.0 phase of the internet that used a system of interlinked, hypertext web pages, with the primary purpose of information and knowledge sharing. There was no interaction as these web pages were “read-only”. This brought about the development of Web 2.0, where the creation of social media websites and e-commerce, brought about a revolutionary change that focused on interaction between all parties for better service delivery. Harshly termed as the age of lack of privacy and personal marketing.
The advent of Web 3.0 at its core revolves around the idea of taking back a certain amount of privacy and control that was lost to large corporations. The new internet phase has introduced various new concepts to us, blockchains and cryptocurrencies and being two such concepts that claim to have changed the world. And it most definitely has.
A blockchain can be explained to be a digital ledger of transactions that is distributed across the entire network of computer systems on a blockchain. Each block in the chain contains several transactions, and each time a new transaction occurs on the blockchain, a record of that transaction is made to a participant’s ledger. Some key characteristics of blockchain is that it is in real time, it is peer to peer, meaning you don’t need a trusted third party or middlemen, it is distributed which means proof of transactions is in more than one place, it is immutable which means that once the file is created it cannot be edited, this then increases trust and reduces risk and fraud for transaction that use blockchains.
Cryptocurrencies are nothing but a product of the blockchain technology, and by far the most popular use of the tech. currently. A cryptocurrency is a digital or virtual currency that is used as a medium of exchange. It is very similar to real world currency, the only difference being that it does not have a physical form. Since cryptocurrency uses blockchain technology to function, it takes on the same characteristics, such as being secure, real time, decentralized and distributed.
One of the key features of this type of currency is that it works independent of a bank or any regulatory authority, therefore adding new units/minting of currency can only be done when certain conditions are met. For example, with bitcoin only after a block has been added with a block chain will a miner be rewarded with a bitcoin.
In a world that has seen the rapid growth of the Internet economy and virtual currencies in the form of Blockchains, Crypto, NFTs, etc. it is only expected that it supports the evolution of a digital world that is similarly decentralized, transparent and more importantly, entirely Virtual i.e. The Metaverse.
A month ago, a billion-dollar social network changed its name while also revealing that they would be entering a new industry. Ever since then the talk of the town has predominantly been about the Metaverse. Anyone who has watched the virtual-reality based movie ‘Ready Player One’, would have a slight idea about the concept of the Meta Universe or the metaverse, a key stone of the new era of the internet, Web 3.0.
The Metaverse is digital reality that combines aspects of artificial intelligence, social media, gaming concepts, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and cryptocurrencies to allow users to interact in a virtual network of 3D modelled worlds by simulating real world experiences on shared digital environments.
Just as the physical universe is a collection of worlds that are connected in space, the metaverse can be thought of as a bunch of worlds, too, only Virtual. Just like the Virtual world has flourished in uninterrupted fashion, so will objects and identities of users moving through them, permitting digital goods, services and identities to traverse from one virtual world to another, and even into the physical world, with the aid of AR and VR.
It is a concept that tries to show that technologies like VR and AR aren’t confined to being only used for gaming and educational purposes. It fringes on the idea of connected 3D virtual worlds that can support various real-world activities at the whim and fancy of the user. It tries to break free from the constraints of limiting the Virtual environment to only select functions and instead provides functional freedom to the user in an evolving space.
There have been predictions of the Metaverse launching itself into becoming a magnanimous trillion-dollar Industry in the upcoming decades. The Metaverse concept has formed an idea of what the future of the Internet might possibly look like. Global industries are looking to create their own metaverses, advance products, goods and services of various sectors onto this complex virtual network. The reason for the sudden increase in conversation about metaverse and cryptocurrency over the past year or so is because several key technology trends have upgraded to reach a new level and consequently, this means that consumers will, and have already begun to spend a lot more on Virtual goods and services.
The Metaverse, in its all-encompassing manner, is approaching, for better or worse. We, as consumers, as users, might have to be prepared to navigate through a virtual world of endless possibilities. See you on the other side, has now got a new meaning.
References:
https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/investing/cryptocurrency-7-things-to-know
