A Structure for the Metaverse: Is it a Technology or a Movement?
Like any term that rapidly swells in the public consciousness, it’s hard to align in the early days on exactly what the word is meant to represent. Despite the age of the term “Metaverse” — coined by Neal Stephenson in his novel Snow Crash 30 years ago — it’s gaining new traction. Because it’s so nascent, and the factors for its rising popularity numerous, there are seemingly endless ways to think about the Metaverse. What we’re going to do here is attempt to simplify the landscape into something easier to conceptualize and debate.
For starters, let’s peek into the landscape that the Metaverse represents. We can think of the Metaverse as built upon four layers. Starting at the bottom we have a collection of technologies, that give rise to a layer of capabilities that those technologies unlock. These are our lowest layers that must exist for the remainder of our Metaverse project to take shape. Next up, our new capabilities give rise to components that act as a bridge between the lower levels and the use-cases that denizens of the Metaverse care about. It may feel odd starting at the bottom and working up, but in a real way, the Metaverse is an emergent phenomenon, spurred by deep technology and self organizing around what’s possible, toward the desires of individuals, organizations, and society.
