(2021-08-11) Hanke The Metaverse Is A Dystopian Nightmare Lets Build A Better Reality

John Hanke: The Metaverse is a Dystopian Nightmare. Let’s Build a Better Reality. As a society, we can hope that the world doesn’t devolve into the kind of place that drives sci-fi heroes to escape into a virtual one — or we can work to make sure that doesn’t happen. At Niantic, we choose the latter. We believe we can use technology to lean into the ‘reality’ of augmented reality — encouraging everyone, ourselves included, to stand up, walk outside, and connect with people and the world around us.

At Niantic, we ask the question: what if technology could make us better? Could it nudge us get us off the couch and out for an evening stroll or a Saturday in the park? Could it draw us into public space and into contact with neighbors we might never have met? Could it give us a reason to call a friend, make plans with our families, or even discover brand new friends? Collectively, could it help us discover the magic, history, and beauty hiding in plain sight?

If this fresh perspective is the goal, what are we doing to achieve it? For us, it starts with a technology that connects the real world (the atoms) with the digital one (the bits). You could call it the ‘real world metaverse’ to distinguish it from the virtual videogame version

Building the real world metaverse lies at the intersection of two major technical undertakings: synchronizing the state of hundreds of millions of users around the world (along with the virtual objects they interact with), and tying those users and objects precisely to the physical world.

Tying all of that precisely to the physical world is an even bigger project. It requires a new kind of map, similar in concept to something like Google Maps, but different because this map is built for computers, not people. It requires an unprecedented level of detail so that a phone or headset can recognize its location and orientation in a highly accurate way anywhere in the world. It is designed to enable the ultimate kind of digital wayfinding and coordination. Think of it as a kind of GPS, but without the satellites and a much higher level of accuracy.

Other big opportunities and challenges lie in semantically understanding the world. What are those pixels: an oak tree, a pond? A park bench, a cafe, or a historical building?

What’s next?

Wearing it

AR smart glasses (HUD)

Mark Wiesner and other luminaries noted this trend as far back as the 1980s, predicting that our computing devices will ultimately disappear into the world around us — a concept Weiser described as “ubiquitous computing.”

It’s in this spirit that we have joined with our partners at Qualcomm to invest in a reference design for outdoor-capable AR glasses that can orient themselves using Niantic’s map and render information and virtual worlds on top of the physical world

Reality channels

we imagine a future of worlds that can be overlaid on the real world. For now, we’re calling these ‘reality channels’ to give the idea a name. Think of Pokémon GO, upgraded for smart glasses where the Pokémon wander through your local park, seeming to actually inhabit the world.

Multiply this kind of channel x1000: Mario, Transformers, Marvel’s superhero universe, the world of Wakanda, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Bladerunner, Sherlock Holmes, Nancy Drew, The Maltese Falcon — all of these and countless more will exist as reality channels that you can turn on

But it’s not just games. Although we expect games and entertainment to be key drivers for this new platform, reality channels are a way of seeing the world that will power more activities that entertain, educate, guide, explain, and assist us, from assembly lines and construction sites to the most complex knowledge work, all without taking us away from the thing we do best: reality.