Metaverse

The VR Goggles

I am a member of designing plus nine, an art circle that is a collaboration between the University of Tokyo and Tokyo University of the Arts. 2 years ago, on the way home from an activity, we were talking about the Metaverse and I was recommended saying that "You should definitely read this book!  The World 2.0 (Koyo Sato, Gentosha, 2022). Since then, I have been curious about it.

My first impression upon reading the book was that it was like a magnificent movie, with "this is how it should be" based on history, economics, and philosophy. It is easy to read, thought-provoking, and interesting.

Metaverse is a term coined by combining meta = beyond concept + universe, and refers to virtual space and its services. It is being used not only for online games, but also for learning, medical care, and human interaction, and recently Augmented Reality (AR) is being increasingly used to enjoy metaverse space without the need for VR goggles.

The author points out that the key to Japan's economic recovery is none other than the metaverse. The reasons are (1) Japan is at a disadvantage because it lags far behind other countries in other industries such as quantum computing, space, and military, and (2) Japan has a huge advantage in "human resources, intellectual property, and culture" as a manga, anime, and game content powerhouse.

In the middle of the article, there is an example of "collaboration between metaverse and space" as one of the examples of metaverse introduction, and as a former temporary worker at JAXA, I was quite curious about it. I asked my friend about it, and he introduced me to Bascule.

Speaking of the ISS, when I was working for JAXA, there was a celebration for Astronaut Wakata's return to Earth after breaking the record for the longest stay on the ISS (at that time), and I remember his hand was so fluffy when he shook my hand. It is a fond memory.

Now, World 2.0 is described as "Metaverse is the creation of a new world (p.62), the democratization of God (p.67) because everyone can participate. In the latter half of the book, he explains the mechanisms we need to know in order to create that world, the "visual space" and "social functions" of the Metaverse in a nutshell.

I was personally very interested in the section on whether the space we see feels natural or unnatural (p.123), which is also related to the discussion of the uncanny valley of AI. Is it more "natural" if it looks a bit artificial? In fact, I was interested in how you judged this and created the metaverse. Besides, he pointed out that people do not remember the flowing scenery almost at all, but only pinpoint landmarks, that "Japanese-ness" and "Tokyo-ness" can be expressed by signboards and road sections, that people cannot enjoy or immerse themselves in the world of a work unless they can find similarities with their own known past experiences (p.135), and so on. This is a very interesting point that makes me want to look for arguments from a cognitive science perspective.　I will eventually provide a link to the findings here.

The style of the book is easy to read, with many expressions that bring images to mind, such as the description of a sudden change in the world as "like water turning to ice (p.169). The author's passionate philosophy of life, such as "live your life the way you want to live it," is also included at the end of the book, drawing the reader in.

The author, Mr. Sato, has also written a book titled "Money 2.0." I was able to understand why some parts of the book could be taken as a discussion of the price movements of stocks  :-).

Note that 2.0 means "to upgrade," not "the eye sight".

I also recommend "The Dragon and the Freckled Princess" for understanding the Metaverse., and "LOST ANIMAL PLANET," a mobile application that allows you to experience ancient life forms in real size.

We also have one paper on the uncanny valley of AI. The humanness of the face seems to be judged by localized parts such as the mouth and chin.
Imaizumi, Taku;Li, Lu;Ueda, Kazuhiro. Does Machine Learning Replicate the Uncanny Valley? An Example using FaceNet. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society. Vol 45