Metaverse: Bridging the virtual and real

There are concerns by experts on the amount of data that tech companies would be able to collect from users in the metaverse. — 123rf.com

This year, tech companies announced plans to build the metaverse which Reuters describes as a “shared virtual world environment” while Time says it promises “a greater overlap of our digital and physical lives”, covering aspects such as shopping, entertainment, socialisation and productivity.

The term metaverse was first coined by author Neal Stephenson in his science fiction novel Snow Crash, published in 1992.