Is a Digital
Wave Dematerializing the World?
Back in the early 2000s, when the internet was still in its early stages, few people recognized its potential. In a short time, the internet accelerated the digitization of some of the biggest parts of the world. The companies that accomplished the digital replacement of their analogue counterparts are now the richest companies in the world. Their digital solutions were surprisingly successful at changing the world. The internet and it's programmers have already dematerialized many businesses.
Significant pieces of the World are being dematerialized as Analogue things become Digitized. Ever smaller electron clusters replace more and more physical things.
The Digital versions of everything far exceeds the quantity and utility of the analogue versions but take up only a small fraction of the space. You can’t touch digital photos but you have vastly more digital pictures. Dematerialization also exponentially shortens time. Digital pictures appear instantly, requiring no time to develop or transport.
Books, the
information of the world, used to require huge libraries, bookshelves and
bookstores. Now the quantity of books are exponentially more but require almost
no space. Simultaneously, the time to access the books is shortened. One can
conceivably read an entire book in the time that it used to take just to go to
the bookstore or library to just get the book.
We’ve seen the game changing impacts of massive dissolution of industries into digital versions. The next stage of technology on the horizon follows this trend. Some call it the new metaverse where we spend more time in virtual reality.
Software and computers are excellent at automating and speeding up tasks and can automate tasks so they’re done faster AND cheaper. A human can only move so fast. The human brain can perform perhaps a thousand basic operations per second, weighs 8 to 11 pounds and requires a large supporting body. A computer can perform ten billion operations in the same time period on a tiny almost weightless microchip. That’s ten million times the speed of the human brain on an exponentially smaller space! The digital world is trending toward almost no space at all. It is dematerializing things at a shocking pace.
For example, Netflix digitized movies and DVDs and dematerialized the likes of Blockbuster.
Amazon dematerialized libraries and books, and now shopping malls. A million books now fit on the size of a pin.
Apple started by digitizing photos and downsized computers. Kodak was dematerialized by digital cameras.
Spotify dematerialized music, records, record stores and CDs.
Cryptocurrencies are dematerializing gold, silver, and currency. Perhaps even banks will be reduced.
Blockchain technology is dematerializing many cumbersome processes such as title rights.
In real estate, digital based companies like Zillow, OneDoor and eXp Realty, are moving tours, sales and lending into digital space. Offices are downsizing and disappearing.
Work from home software is creating virtual space and reducing desks, equipment and office space. Consider eXpi World Technologies, which owns and operates a software program called VirBELA.
VirBELA is a virtual, collaborative work environment that was primarily developed as a way for employees and free agents to interact with each other and it takes up a tiny fraction of traditional environments. See at demo of VirBELA at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuOBgzJeQj0
Looking toward the dematerialized future, The New Playground of the Rich and Famous is a varied virtual landscape with amazing casinos, up-and-coming art galleries, first-rate concerts, and luxury shopping with a focus on personal freedom and cutting-edge technological innovation. Easily reached from just about anywhere in the world, this place isn't a city, state, or country. In fact, it's not a physical location at all. It's called the "metaverse," and it's where many trends and technologies are all starting to intersect. The megatrend is the dematerialization of everything that it can.
A simple digital image sold for 1,500 etherium (ETH), worth $4,379,924 at the time. Essentially, it’s a picture of a guy with a mohawk. It’s one of a series of 10,000 digital images called “CryptoPunks,” each depicting a unique character that was randomly generated. The images were developed by Matt Hall and John Watkinson from mobile game company Larva Labs. The CrytoPunks were originally given away for free. Another CryptoPunk sold for $5.3 million on August 24. And one CryptoPunk recently went for a staggering $11.8 million, a new highwater mark for CryptoPunk pricing. So a crudely-drawn digital image went up roughly 10 times more than the greatest corporate success stories in history -- in one-thirteenth the time. Meanwhile, the most expensive NFT to date – a digital artwork by Mike “Beeple” Winkelmann – recently sold for $69.3 million. That’s more than physical paintings by Andy Warhol or Pablo Picasso.
Matt Hall, one of the CryptoPunk creators, said, The whole thing is pretty weird, and that’s kind of why we did this. There’s like a weird intersection here between these virtual, digital things and an artificial rarity, but a rarity that is real and valuable in some sense.
That idea of a real personal connection without physical contact is laying the groundwork for a completely virtual world where people meet, interact, and have genuine relationships… maybe only as avatars of their real-life selves.
However, this will go far beyond an enhanced Zoom call.With a virtual reality headset, you’ll get a full 3D panoramic view of the place you’re in… and hear everything going on around you as if you’re in the room…
And through haptic devices – mechanical interfaces that provide physical feedback, like the touchscreen on your smartphone vibrating against your fingers – it will even be possible to “feel” a virtual handshake or hug.
Some people have likened it to teleporting into and out of digital spaces, with completely realistic interactions.
In other words, you’ll be able to go anywhere and do just about anything from the comfort of an armchair and feel like it’s actually happening.
Meanwhile, the information conveyed by our mobile devices will also get more and more integrated with our real-world surroundings. With the advent of 5G networks, individual data bandwidth will skyrocket. So it will be possible to experience much richer digitally-enhanced worlds as you travel through real, physical spaces.
The metaverse encompasses all types of digital things many of us already use… video games… eSports… social media… digital collectibles… cryptocurrencies… and most famously, non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
An NFT is simply proof of ownership of a digital asset that’s verified by a blockchain. An NFT artwork called Fidenza #313 recently sold for $3.3 million
The majority of NFTs are currently part of Ethereum (including CryptoPunks). In fact, CryptoPunks are considered some of the very first NFTs ever created on the Ethereum blockchain.
Consider the metaverse of the game Axie Infinitity where players can essentially earn a real income by just winning NFT blockchain tokens. Axie Infinity is now the largest blockchain-based game by revenue, generating over $800 million since the start of the year. Axie players can develop land they purchase as NFTs to produce in-game resources, create shops, build houses for their Axies, and more. Landowners can even develop their own games and attractions and charge other people to visit them. A private investor recently purchased nine plots of land in this new metaverse for $1.5 million. Just like real estate anywhere else, some locations inside Axie Infinity are more valuable than others. But even the cheapest plot of land sells for more than $10,000 today. Axie Infinity to quickly move from a cutting-edge gaming platform to a more fully evolved metaverse world.
NFTs go far beyond avatars, digital artwork, and in-game accessories. They can also record additional features like future royalty rights. Sotheby’s already bought a small plot of land in the platform’s arts district, built a digital version of its London galleries, and held its first virtual show…
The idea of blurring the lines between one platform and another – and the real world with the digital – is where the metaverse is going.
During one of its conferences, Adobe put together a great conceptual video of what the Metaverse might look like. In the video, a person wearing a pair of smart glasses navigates her day while receiving a constant array of enhanced information about her surroundings. You can click here to see it for yourself. https://youtu.be/IutVq6cPBX0?t=120
And check this video of 3D virtual reality already being deployed in China: screens: https://www.facebook.com/Sydneyinnovation/videos/583379269669299
Are we headed into the Matrix, a Brave New World or Something else? Like most turning points in history, I suppose it will simply depend on how we use it.
by Dr. Rob Longwell
Editor
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