In 2021, tech talked up 'the metaverse.' One problem: It doesn't exist – The Press Democrat

WILL OREMUSWASHINGTON POST December 30, 2021, 8:17AM Updated 13 hours ago People are getting married in the metaverse now, we’re told. Speculators are buying real estate in the metaverse, according to the headlines. Managers must learn to hold meetings in the metaverse, it would seem. This month, an executive at Facebook – er, Meta – gave an interview in the metaverse. One slight hitch: The metaverse doesn’t exist yet, and it probably won’t anytime soon. What does exist is an idea, an explosion of hype, and a bevy of rival apps and platforms looking to capitalize on both – without a clear path between the idea and reality. In techland, 2021 wasn’t the year of the metaverse. It was the year of rebranding existing technologies as building blocks for the metaverse, while leaving intact the corporate walls that make a true metaverse impossible. On Oct. 28, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook was changing its name to Meta to reflect its new focus on building the metaverse: a vast, immersive online realm that would encompass entire digital societies and economies. Facebook – that is, Meta – envisions its Oculus virtual reality headsets as a portal to that realm, the way our…
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