![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/primary\/2022\/09\/231533480f5fd3b.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe Metaverse is the successor to today\u2019s Internet. Think of the Metaverse as a universe of inter-connected virtual words. And just like smartphone users jump between apps on mobile devices, Metaverse users will jump from one world to another without needing to return to real life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So who is building this Metaverse?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many companies. Our state of technology is naturally advancing in such a direction that the Metaverse is emerging\u00a0ipso facto<\/em>. It\u2019s like how the Internet emerged in the 1990s, through the interplay of rising consumer expectations, and the confluence of various technological advances in the decades before. Those same demand and supply forces are at work now. And while we\u2019re beginning to sense traces of the Metaverse, our children will see it in full bloom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don\u2019t think of the Metaverse as merely a virtual twin of your existing life. Instead, consider it an array of alternative realities with unexpected possibilities and psychological effects. The Metaverse will change how humans interact with technology, with one another, and with the world. Ultimately, it will even upend the concept of what a world is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It matters because of the economic value up for grabs. I\u2019ll illustrate with a comparison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The advent of the Internet made most industries go \u201cdigital\u201d. And now, 30 years later, about\u00a015 per cent of the world economy<\/a>\u00a0is purely digital, while the remaining 85pc is digitally enhanced. So the Internet\u2019s footprint is everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Expect the Metaverse to take over the global economy at a comparable rate and in a similar timeframe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moreover, if going digital was a big shift, this next one would be even bigger due to the increasing criticality of technology to economic activity. Some expect the Metaverse will generate more than 10 trillion dollars in value and tens of millions of new jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The economic pie up for grabs is so enormous that the advent of the Metaverse will probably reshuffle the world order \u2014 among both the corporate world and governments. Amid this reshuffle will arise an opportunity for a developing country like Pakistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whenever something has a strong demand, those best positioned to supply it get rewarded handsomely. So it pays to position yourself for a future that is approaching. This fundamental principle turned around the fortunes of many countries during the digital revolution \u2014 India and China being two notable examples from Pakistan\u2019s neighbourhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many years ago, I proposed a menu of\u00a0ambitious tech-related suggestions<\/a>\u00a0to Pakistani decision-makers. But my proposal was too expansive, requiring a lot of bandwidth and resources. Pakistan was not ready for it (nor is it ready yet). So taking note of that, I\u2019ve tweaked my doctrine. I now believe Pakistan should consciously pull back and refocus exclusively on technologies shaping the future. Otherwise, it will be spreading itself too thin. In essence, being lightweight and focused is the need of the hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So in light of that, here are some suggestions for the Pakistani state:<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve deliberately kept these recommendations simple and low-fidelity. Expecting costly overhauls is unrealistic, given Pakistan\u2019s economic travails. So let\u2019s take baby steps first and delay significant strides for later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So which industries in Pakistan can benefit the most from Metaverse-related technology? An obvious answer is game development startups from Pakistan\u2019s tech sector. But what about beyond the obvious? Let\u2019s explore:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The above isn\u2019t an exhaustive list of suggestions; it\u2019s more intended to stimulate minds and get the ball rolling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This article means nothing if it cannot spur action. Yet, pessimism has so overtaken the zeitgeist that the Metaverse sounds like a distant dream for affluent times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, we must realise that the world always tends to gravitate toward chaos. It\u2019s a law of nature. There will never be a \u201cperfect time\u201d. Instead, Pakistan will need to consciously, effortfully turn the tide, one step at a time. The tide won\u2019t turn automagically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe can\u2019t even make bicycles\u201d. That sounds like a Pakistani quote, but it was in fact muttered by a prominent Israeli parliamentarian in 1951, who used the faltering bicycle industry to criticise a proposal to establish a futuristic Israeli aerospace company. Although it was deemed unrealistic, the proposal somehow went through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a result, the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) was born. Today, IAI is one of Israel\u2019s biggest employers. It has helped the country evolve from a land that could not manufacture bicycles to being one of the largest exporters of technology in the world. Big things have small beginnings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pakistan itself is no stranger to humble origins. The evolution of its nuclear programme is a testament to Pakistanis innovating when pushed against the wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Internally, Pakistan\u2019s nuclear programme mostly had broad support, cutting through egos, party lines, and civil-military friction. Key stakeholders wanted to get it done by hook or crook, no matter what it took. Why? Because the existential threats they faced brought them clarity. This clarity enabled them to act in unison. And that, in turn, created results greater than the sum of the parts. It\u2019s akin to the physics principle of resonance but played out in the arena of human decision-making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So far, innovative technology (such as the Metaverse) is a politically neutral subject in Pakistan. Hence, it can potentially enjoy broad support across the spectrum, like the country\u2019s nuclear programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, let\u2019s also be pragmatic. Pakistan remains a patronage economy, where it\u2019s about who you know, not what you know. Cronyism is the name of the game. And the problem with cronyism is that even well-intentioned cronies get caught up in turf wars. The result is politics, not progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While it remains largely unblemished to date, the adoption of innovative technology in Pakistan can still be toxified by factors such as those mentioned above. If that happens, the country\u2019s technology aspirations will suffer a paralysing deadlock for decades, with another generation or two wasted like cannon fodder. Once humans dive into the rabbit hole of factionalism, common sense evaporates and nightmares come true. Case in point: Covid-19 was politicised in the US, leading to Americans taking their vaccine denialism to the next level, despite suffering the world\u2019s largest tally of Covid deaths. It would be comical if it weren\u2019t so tragic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In short, Pakistan must adopt guardrails that ensure innovative technologies like the Metaverse remain insulated from unnecessary politicking and cronyism. It must also wilfully drive an internal consensus on the matter to catch the global trend early. As I said, big things have small beginnings. Such a consensus will pay massive, massive dividends in the future. Time to act now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can stop reading now. But for those curious about the technical specifications of the Metaverse, I\u2019ll indulge some more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Matthew Ball, a prominent Metaverse thinker and venture capitalist, has formulated perhaps the best definition of the Metaverse. His definition is roughly: \u201cthe Metaverse is a collection of 3D virtual worlds that are interoperable and massively scaled, have high concurrency, are synchronous and persistent, and render in real-time\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let me explain some of those concepts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our civilisation has advanced to the point where the above specifications don\u2019t seem outlandish science fiction. Indeed we are already seeing glimpses of these capabilities in much of the current technology. That is why the leading technology thinkers of our age can now sense the Metaverse coming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Given the exaggerated hype the term \u2018Metaverse\u2019 is seeing in the media, it\u2019s easy to ignore it as another marketing ploy for milking attention. Perhaps the word \u2018Metaverse\u2019 will get rebranded in the coming years. But its underlying thesis won\u2019t change. Look under the hood; there\u2019s a ton of substance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Believe the hype, prepare yourself, and bide your time. It\u2019s now a question of \u2018when\u2019, not \u2018if\u2019. The world our children see will be very different from what we see and Pakistan would do well to be a major part of it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Pakistan should consciously pull back and refocus exclusively on technologies shaping the future. It feels wrong to mention Pakistan and the Metaverse in the same sentence. The latter is the oncoming pinnacle of human technology, while the former is a developing country, stuck in what seems to be a perpetual cycle of economic and geopolitical […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1427,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-learning"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/codeverse.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/codeverse.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/codeverse.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/codeverse.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/codeverse.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/codeverse.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/codeverse.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/codeverse.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/codeverse.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/codeverse.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Why does the Metaverse matter?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Pakistan\u2019s entry into the Metaverse<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/primary\/2022\/09\/231533437195c2b.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a>Metaverse use cases for Pakistan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/primary\/2022\/09\/23153345ec52a7f.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/primary\/2022\/09\/2315342132390f5.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a>Forming a consensus<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/primary\/2022\/09\/23153422e70d816.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a>Further reading<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/primary\/2022\/09\/231534221839ca6.png\")
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