WCP15 - Adan Kedem - Human Interactions in the Metaverse

What is the METAVERSE in essence? Let’s dissect the word to try and understand what the fuzz is all about…

META (The word, not the company) extracts its meaning from the Greek μετά, meta, meaning "after" or "beyond". 

VERSE is derived from the word UNIVERSE, which in turn derives from the Latin word Universum, a term used to define “The All” or “All space and time”

We all have a notion of the Universe, and some of us have heard of the Multiverse, in which many Universes exist at the same time, but the Metaverse has grown to be known as the virtual world that we interact with through the internet.

Let’s leave etymology aside, and focus on what this means for US in today’s world:

• What constitutes a Metaverse?
  • Is it just a 3D Experience of a certain space?
  • Is this an immersive experience that needs to engage all of our senses?
  • Is this an alternate reality designed to capture our attention?
  • Or is this just another Buzzword to describe “3D Websites”?

In Crypto, Buzzwords are much more than just “Words” or “Trends” they can define narratives and drive digital economies into the billions of dollars in market capitalization. DeFi, NFTs, DAOs, Meme Coins, we have heard them all. for crypto-natives, we identify a Buzzword immediately and know what we are talking about.

But maybe this is all too confusing for the newcomers in the space. Are all these Buzzwords an intrinsic part of our culture? or just a distraction, an over-complication, and in some cases, a misleading title to scam people out of their savings?

One thing is for sure, Buzzwords are NOT GOING AWAY. There will be new hot buzzwords for every new narrative, not only in Web3, or Technology in general, but in any trending topic on the internet. All we can do is educate ourselves, understand what lies BEHIND the buzzword and when is there real technology and actual use-cases behind them and when are these all just “smoke and mirrors”.

In conclusion, if you are building in Web3, make products that solve f