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)
