Facebook continues to develop the metaverse, the next big evolutionary step of virtual reality; or at least what could be. To explain it with the same terms used by Facebook, the metaverse is a set of virtual spaces where we can go out with friends, work , play , learn , shop , create and more still.
A real alternative reality in some ways, which not by chance we had approached Ready Player One , even if Facebook obviously seeks to remain more professional, stating that the Metaverse will serve to “ make the time spent online more meaningful “.
Let's be clear that we are not talking about a single product. The Metaverse is a bit like the internet: it is a agglomeration of products, not a single one. The internet is not Facebook, or Google, or Microsoft etc. and in the same way the Metaverse is not a product that a single company can make by itself overnight. Facebook even estimates a time of 10-15 years before it is “complete”, but even to build a pyramid you still have to start from the foundations.
So here's today's news: a $ 50 million investment to make sure these products are developed “ responsibly “, specifically by monitoring the following:
- Economic opportunity : how to offer choice, encourage competition and maintain a vibrant digital economy.
- Privacy : how to minimize the amount of data used, create data protection technologies and give users transparency and control over they.
- Security and integrity : how to keep users safe online and give them the tools to take action or ask for help if they see something that does not make them feel comfortable
- Equality and inclusion : how to so that these technologies are designed in an inclusive and accessible way
Will this be enough to make the Metaverse “responsible”? Only time will tell, but we would have to wait a few luster to find out.
