DALLAS — Remember all those science-fiction movies and TV shows filled with holograms, virtual reality and everything seemingly being run through computers and artificial intelligence?
Well, we actually aren't far off from removing the "fiction" part.
Here's where we enter the metaverse. It's a concept you may have heard about recently. If you don't recall, just check your phone and look for the icon with the blue background and big, white "F."
Yup, we have Facebook to thank for that. The social media giant has fueled a fascination with the metaverse since it announced a company name change to "Meta" and a shift in focus towards that concept.
And other big tech companies like Roblox have played their part in making the concept more mainstream.
What exactly is the metaverse?
The metaverse is actually a concept that's been around for nearly 30 years. Author Neal Stephenson is said to have coined the term in his novel, "Snow Crash."
In it, he created a successor to the Internet called the "metaverse," where people venture through an online world with virtual avatars of themselves.
Sound familiar?
Video games such as "Second Life" and "World of Warcraft" were seen as early innovators in a more mainstream metaverse concept. Players would be put themselves into these virtual worlds filled with other people, adventures and even full-blown economies.
Now, this concept is being taken a step further due to the mainstream emergence of virtual reality. No longer do you have to visit a specific location or a local arcade to immerse yourself in a virtual world. It's now as simple as putting on a piece of headgear in the comfort of your home.
Take the popular online game "VR Chat" for example. People create their own avatars and control them with real-life movements to interact with others around the world.
As you can see, the metaverse has been a concept usually connected to the gaming industry. But it's more than that.
It's an amalgamation of technology: Virtual reality, augmented reality, 3D modeling and online communication.
How does the metaverse affect me?
You don't have to be a gamer to understand how the metaverse will affect the future of technology.
You might even see some sort of aspect of this in your daily work lives.
Companies like Facebook are looking to combine aspects such as virtual and augmented reality to create a digital universe accessible from your desk at home or at work.
When Facebook announced its company name change to Meta, founder Mark Zuckerberg outlined the idea of creating an environment where users can work, play and connect with friends and co-workers in a virtual world - a world that could even mimic your office space.
He called it the "successor to the mobile Internet." His vision was shown as users being put into an experience rather than working on a phone or computer monitor.
Whether a virtual reality headset ends up becoming a part of your daily work equipment remains to be seen, but there's no question a future experienced in a different reality is right around the corner.
