[LINK] Averse to Metaverse Hype

[David]

On 15/11/22 15:18, Roger Clarke wrote:
> ... research firm Gartner expects that by 2026, 25% of people will spend at least one hour a day in a metaverse for work, shopping, education, social media and/or entertainment.
I'm sure it's bound to be _at least_ an hour a day if the metaverse has "AI".

However Gartner's reported prediction sounds to me as though they're talking it all up; how on earth can they make such a precise claim when the whole concept has no significant user base yet?  Unfortunately that quote comes from an ACS article written by "Marty Resnick, VP analyst at Gartner" who attempts to describe a "metaverse" this way:
> What is a metaverse?
>
> Technically, a metaverse is a collective virtual shared space, created by the convergence of virtually enhanced physical and digital reality.
>
> For simplicity’s sake, think of a metaverse as the next iteration of the internet, which started as individual bulletin boards and independent online destinations.
>
> Eventually these destinations became sites on a virtual shared space — similar to how a metaverse will develop.
>
> A metaverse is not device-independent, nor owned by a single vendor.
>
> It is an independent virtual economy, enabled by digital currencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
>
> As a combinatorial innovation, metaverses require multiple technologies and trends to function.
>
> Contributing trends include virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), flexible work styles, head-mounted displays (HMDs), an AR cloud, the Internet of Things (IoT), 5G, artificial intelligence (AI) and spatial computing.

So according to Gartner (and presumably the ACS) 25% of "people" will have have access to "virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), flexible work styles, head-mounted displays (HMDs), an AR cloud, the Internet of Things (IoT), 5G, artificial intelligence (AI) and spatial computing" from their modest house in the burbs?

By 2026 I predict "people" will be fully occupied dealing with the results of greenhouse warming of the planet, for one thing.  It's worth checking out the Geoscience Australia interactive inundation map (if it still exists) to check out the effects of sea-level rise.

Surely the ACS has something more useful to do?

_David Lochrin_