Editorial

In the metaverse world, designed using several technologies, each user will have their own avatar, a kind of digital “self”, that is to say, an imaginary character they will choose to represent them in this virtual place. Let us recall in passing that the word “metaverse” is made up of “meta” which means transcendent and “vers” which implies “to turn” that has produced several words such as universe, conversation and many more…
The metaverse or web 3.0 revolution comes down to the fact that we will not be content, as usual, to look at the screen of our computers, but we will also be completely immersed in the Internet via headsets.
Even if the real metaverse networks are, for the moment, at the development stage, several sectors are already rushing to invest in them because, they believe, the metaverse constitutes a new Eldorado to conquer. Thus, brands are already there, such as the “Carrefour” chain, which recently organized virtual job interviews via the Sandbox platform.
All the major American firms in the ICT industry crave these new metaverse markets; the GAFAMs (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft) as well as their Chinese counterparts, the BATXs (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, Xiaomi) are working hard to conquer a market that is barely emerging. Each giant, American or Chinese, wants to grab a good share of this great and very promising business, since the Bloomberg Intelligence forecasts, that this brand-new activity will attain a turnover of over 800 billion dollars by 2024.
For metaverse to function properly at the global level, it is necessary to implement a standardization of the various processes. The metaverse will also require powerful computer processing and sophisticated electronic hardware. Intel, for example, estimates that metaverse requires a 1000-fold increase in the computing power of current computers. Is it already in quantum computing?
Metaverse will have, among other advantages, the possibility of offering distance training of such quality that it will be difficult to distinguish the virtual from face-to-face. On the other hand, because of their helmets, metaverse users will have to master the geometric space where they operate. This will be the great challenge for the “metaversers” not to increase the number of accidents as the statistics are beginning to point to serious and real risks. Without neglecting some psychological aspects of this new revolution, such as attachment to one’s digital “self” and preferring the virtual world to the detriment of reality and living in society. Several studies have already raised the possibility of users becoming irrationally attached to their avatars, as what it happened to a journalist from the British Times, who spent several hours on a metaverse platform, thus, concluded that the metaverse seems to encourage anti-social behavior. The other drawback, which is not negligible and which will be the subject of Lte magazine next publication, is the environmental impact of the metaverse. In short, metaverse technology seems to be well engaged on the right path, unless the supply of the electronic elements necessary for the metaverse networks is also, being impacted by the current crisis in the global supply chain of electronic components.
This file will therefore be simple and complete, starting with this first article which deals with the metaverse in seven points and which will help to better understand everything related to this new technology, and will also propose some expected applications of the metaverse.
Furthermore, the legal aspect will be presented as a necessity for the regulation of the metaverse world, and finally, this file will be closed by an interview carried out with Guillaume, an expert in the field of metaverse at Digitevent in France.
In the free forum, Ata-ilah Khaouja will review the burning energy news around “Textual sobriety, energetic intoxication”.
In the telecom section, we will offer you an exceptionally rich article on the history of telecoms, which will retrace, more precisely, the emergence of Moroccan telecoms within the medina of Rabat. And as always, other relevant reading awaits you in the other sections, notably in “events” and “media library”.
Ahmed Khaouja ITU expert and director Lte magazine.