Metaverse: Making it a universe for all

Our lives in the last two decades have been radically changed by technology, especially the internet, which has connected millions of people around the world and helped with easy access and sharing of knowledge. The pervasiveness of the internet was reinforced with the COVID-19 pandemic, when global internet use increased between 50-70 percent as livelihoods, education, and governance shifted online. From Web 2.0, we are now supposedly moving towards metaverse, a virtual reality space where people interact with each other in a computer-generated environment through virtual and augmented reality sets. It can also be an integration of virtual and physical spaces, or mirror to reflect the physical world, or create an entirely new one. Hypothesised to shift our entire worlds and routines online, Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder of Meta Platforms states, "You’ll be able to do almost anything you can imagine—get together with friends and family, work, learn, play, shop, create—as well as completely new experiences that don’t really fit how we think about computers or phones today... In this future, you will be able to teleport instantly as a hologram to be at the office without a commute, at a concert with friends, or in your parents’ living room to catch up." It may also have interoperability of avatars that users create for themselves, allowing them to navigate through a wide range of platforms. Many video games like Second Life and Minecraft can be considered to currently be metaverses.

From Web 2.0, we are now supposedly moving towards metaverse, a virtual reality space where people interact with each other in a computer-generated environment through virtual and augmented reality sets.

Challenges posed

With a lot of speculation and little clarity about how it will work, technology companies and governments are only starting to invest in the concept. However, these investments and innovations continue to be riddled with the same concerns that various social scientists and philosophers have been asking of the promises made by the internet and social media. Set off to "democratise the good and disrupt the bad", the internet has actively helped in the creation of international monopolies holding powers more than governments of nations. Although it has brought immense information to our fingertips, gatekeepers of knowledge still continue to profit by encouraging exclusion, our social relationships have taken a back-seat as we become increasingly affected with our identities online, and many vulnerable groups are left behind due to infrastructural inaccessibility to phones, laptops, computers, and the internet. As the world speculates to step in the metaverse in the next decade, these same questions come to the fore. How does it plan to tackle all the current problems plaguing the internet like hacking, catphishing, harassment, hate-speech, misinformation, and disinformation? How will the metaverse ensure that people are not further alienated from their real worlds? With AR glasses and VR headsets, wristband technology, ultra-fast broadband speeds, and always online worlds being the basic infrastructural requirements of the metaverse, will it continue to exclude populations deprived of the resources to access it? With the advent of print media, people were exposed to new ideas and ideologies, which they had never come across. They were able to falsify ideas and drive social change, a feat which was possible due to the widespread availability and ease of access of newspapers and books, though they could not reach the illiterate. The advent of the internet was considered to be another such inflection point, where it was expected to be a great equaliser, promising easy and access to knowledge, 'disintermediation' and connectivity across the world. With easy access to information, the internet promised to be a source of learning to allow students in the remotest and poorest areas to delve into the same curriculums as the rich. It also hoped to put an end to the power of middlemen by removing information asymmetry, also commonly known as 'disintermediation', by exposing small merchants and manufacturers to markets which were accessible only to the biggest corporations before.

Although it has brought immense information to our fingertips, gatekeepers of knowledge still continue to profit by encouraging exclusion, our social relationships have taken a back-seat as we become increasingly affected with our identities online, and many vulnerable groups are left behind due to infrastructural inaccessibility to phones, laptops, computers, and the internet.

Living in the age of Web 2.0, we know that the internet has only partially become what it claimed to be. While the world has never been so interconnected before, the instant access to overwhelming amounts of relatively unfiltered information has not helped with decreasing levels of intolerance and abuse, or combat the spread of misinformation. In fact, the internet can very consciously be developed into an echo chamber with its charm of personalisation. It has been monopolised by an elite, where few firms like Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon control to a large extent what we read, do, buy, and work. We need to learn from the shortcomings of the print media, internet, Web 2.0, and other inventions that promised to democratise knowledge, access, and interconnectivity to ensure that the metaverse is more open and democratic. While the metaverse is still in the making and its future uncertain, if governments neglect or assume that it may not materialise, they stand at the peril of not having the regulatory, economic, and social institutions that enable all people to transition and thrive in virtual reality. At the very core of this transition is governments' investment and collaboration with the private structure regarding infrastructure for the internet, and taking steps to eliminate the digital divide. Regions with no connectivity cannot take advantage of e-commerce opportunities due to persistent barriers. Investing in universal broadband connectivity and widely available and cheap Wi-Fi is crucial. Collaborations with the private sector and incentivising it for investing in the needed infrastructure for universal access to the internet would ensure development of latest technologies, accessibility, cheaper costs, and speedy deliverables. Governments of developing countries, in particular, must push aggressively for hardware and software technological sovereignty. Robust technology policy mechanisms which are objectively designed, not alienated from social realities, have extensive monitoring and evaluation and feedback frameworks.

At the very core of this transition is governments' investment and collaboration with the private structure regarding infrastructure for the internet, and taking steps to eliminate the digital divide.

Governmental regulation can play a pivotal role in ensuring that content creators, all companies, and local businesses get a chance to hold a stake in the metaverse. With avatars and digital objects playing an integral role in how people will operate in the metaverse, local shops and brands, content creators must be empowered to get equal chances in integrating themselves in the world. At the very basic level, who builds the metaverse will have the power to dictate how creative commons would operate in the future. The claim of building an open ecosystem is hollow, when the privilege of infrastructure, content, and technology to build the metaverse and operate within it is in the hands of those with deep pockets. The business model of building the metaverse needs to be changed from the current way in which Big Technology giants like Google and Facebook operate by establishing scale, pushing out competitors, and extraction and sale of data; to ensuring meaningful competition from numerous stakeholders and companies, government intervention, and data privacy. In this light, it is of utmost importance to ensure that the metaverse is not controlled by a single entity and users do not require permission from oligopolistic platforms. In this regard, governments need to encourage smaller firms and start-ups into the metaverse. In India, policy initiatives like Startup India can be effectively leveraged to nudge more research in technology and given opportunities at incubators. The necessary support needed to enhance and scale initiatives also need to be provided.  ’s Frontier Technologies Cloud Innovation Centre, and its existing focus on augmented and virtual reality, artificial intelligence (AI), and internet of things (IoT) offers ready opportunities for experimentation and innovation in metaverse. Since the challenges posed by metaverse will emerge as it evolves, employing anticipatory regulation which collaborates with the private sector will be of utmost importance. Singapore has established a ‘Center for Strategic Futures’ under the Prime Minister's office to research, track, and brainstorm on the risks and opportunities that emerging immersive technologies pose in the present and future. Having such centres, which involve politicians, the private sector, experts from academia, can help with keeping a tab and predicting the changes that technology can bring in the state to take appropriate action about them. Governments must also start equipping people with the skills required to sustain in the metaverse, by introducing them in the curricula, training, and skill development programmes, like its Semiconductor Mission to aid Aatmanirbhar Bharat. Finally, greater participation of global Big Tech companies in educating for digital skills can also be encouraged.

NITI Aayog’s Frontier Technologies Cloud Innovation Centre, and its existing focus on augmented and virtual reality, artificial intelligence (AI), and internet of things (IoT) offers ready opportunities for experimentation and innovation in metaverse.

Where India stands

Big Indian firms like the Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys have begun to invest in and upskill for metaverse. New startups like Bolly Heroes, Internality, Cope Studio are many amongst others that are working on metaverse. India has a massive role to play in the metaverse universes, and needs to be an important voice at global platforms to ensure equitable access and advantage to all. As the concept evolves, it is crucial for citizens, the private sector, and metaverse developers, academia, and governments to keep themselves updated with its developments. What inclusion, equal opportunities, and government regulation in the metaverse look like, and the social and economic impacts of the metaverse and its regulation are important but understudied caveats. Like the internet, the metaverse has the potential to radically alter the ways we navigate this world. Its version of reality is so novel that most people are struggling to understand how we can be a part of it and grasp what it can do to our lives. Lest we let our future be affected by the same challenges that the internet could not tackle, governments, private sector enterprises, academicians, and people who are necessarily involved in the creation metaverse need to be active stakeholders in it to make sure that it is designed in a way which ensures healthy thriving of all.

• Media and Internet
• Cyber and Technology
• India
• AI
• Big Technology
• Education
• Internet
• Metaverse
• Technology
• video games
• work

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