The Metaverse In Jokowi's Head Is A Virtual Recitation, What Is The Metaverse Vision In The Heads Of Many Futurists?

President Jokowi at the NU Congress (Source: Antara)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) alluded to the metaverse in his speech at the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Congress. Jokowi explained the concept of metaverse from his perspective. What is metaverse? Apart from Jokowi's understanding, the true metaverse concept has been described in various pop culture products. We discuss.

"Five years ago, I remember very well, I met the owner of Facebook, whose name was Mark Zuckerberg. I was invited to play ping pong. But there was no ping pong ball. There was no ping pong table. Wear Oculus glasses. Then play together. Just like playing ping pong Exactly 100 percent, no, knock, no, knock. It's also sweaty," Jokowi said of his experience playing ping pong with virtual reality (VR) glasses.

During the meeting Zuck also told Jokowi that Oculus ping pong and glasses were a start. Zuck whispers of his plans to build a metaverse, a virtual realm he designed. "Virtual restaurants, virtual offices, virtual tours, virtual malls, be careful about this," said Jokowi, recounting Zuck's explanation.

Jokowi on that occasion also asked NU to follow technological developments. Jokowi's speech fits the theme of NU's 34th congress, namely the NU Congress for World Civilization. NU, said Jokowi, must take an active role in the development of technology for the benefit of the people.

President Jokowi at the NU Congress (Source: Antara)

"NU in its theme 'Serving the World Civilization', be careful indeed. We must influence that civilization so that it will benefit mankind throughout the world, especially in our country Indonesia."

Jokowi explained his views on the metaverse in the context of NU's role. "Later, everything is virtual da'wah, virtual recitation. But it's really like we met like this. Not like now who is still vicon."

"Metaverse will change, I don't know if this pandemic will be accelerated by five or ten years but it will definitely come. Therefore we all have to be ready and we are together with NU for world civilization."

"And Indonesia is now also leading the G20 and also wants to influence world policies that are in favor of poor and developing countries, to small and archipelagic countries in all things, especially in digitalization, climate change and the green economy."

Metaverse in Zuckerberg's vision

Mark Zuckerberg (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Mark Zuckerberg, last October explained the concept of the metaverse in his vision. At that time, at the virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) conference, Zuck demonstrated metaverse technology that would provide users with an immersive experience.

In the virtual space he designed, users can attend concerts, meet colleagues, play games, shop for various types of goods and enjoy various digital services. At that time, Zuck also announced Facebook's new name to Meta, which describes the company's ambition to dominate the world of the metaverse.

In a more general sense the metaverse is a virtual realm designed to resemble the real world. Metaverse has land, buildings, and avatars that can be bought and sold. So far the metaverse is also active in the economy in the context of using cryptocurrencies. Humans in the real world, in the metaverse are represented by avatars.

Zuck said that although Facebook is an iconic social media brand, Facebook's brand image so far has never really described what he and the rest of the team do, where something much bigger is being prepared.

"I've been thinking a lot about our identity as we begin the next chapter. Facebook is one of the most widely used products in the history of the world," Zuckerberg said, quoted by CNN, Thursday, October 28 local time.

"Today we are seen as a social media company ... but in our DNA we are a company that builds technology to connect people. And the metaverse is the next frontier, just like social networks were when we started," he added.

Shortly after Zuckerberg announced the renaming of Facebook to Meta, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey made a sarcasm. Quoted from The Guardian, Dorsey responded to a tweet from the @udiverse21 account that discussed the metaverse terminology in the description of Snow Crash, the novel by Neal Stephenson who first introduced the concept of the metaverse.

"Metaverse depicts a virtual world owned by a company, where users are treated badly as citizens by a dystopian corporate dictatorship. What if Neal is right," wrote @udiverse21.

Dorsey wrote, "NARRATOR: He Was," which means Dorsey agrees Stephenson's description is correct.

Metaverse in pop culture picture

Photo illustration (Sophia Sideri/Unsplash)

Hiro is a hacker who also works as a pizza delivery driver for the mafia. At one time he met Yours Truly, who in the novel is often called YT. YT is a young skateboarder who is also a courier. In his work, YT often completes failed deliveries on time. That's why he calls himself the 'Third Person'.

That's where Hiro and YT's partnership began. The two then began collecting intel and selling it to CIC, the nonprofit organization formed from the merger between the CIA and the Library of Congress. Hiro's adventures in the metaverse began when he was offered a file labeled 'Snow Crash' by a man named Raven, a character he met in the metaverse.

Hiro's friend, fellow hacker, Da5id sees a bitmap image in the file. The file caused his computer to crash and Da5id suffered brain damage in the real world. In his courier job, YT is then recruited as a freelancer by a mob boss, Uncle Enzo, who is impressed by YT's attitude and initiative.

From there the investigation was carried out by YT and Hiro. A number of findings related to the spread of neuro-linguistic viruses that allow brain functions to be programmed using audio stimuli were found. Long story short, Hiro, who works as a pizza delivery man in real life, becomes a fighter in the metaverse, the protagonist in the story who tries to dismantle the entire conspiracy.

“'Snow Crash' is a mind-altering romp through a future America that's so weird, so outrageous… you'll recognize it right away,” Goodreads wrote in the review.

The concept of metaverse is first introduced in this novel. Author, Neal Stephenson describes the metaverse as the successor to the internet. This is Stephenson's vision of how a virtual reality-based internet or visual reality can develop in the near future. He envisions this as being like a massively multiplayer online game (MMO).

"Snow Crash" author Neal Stephenson (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

The metaverse contains user-controlled avatars and system daemons. The novel was released in 1992, with Stephenson opening the story in a depiction of 21st century Los Angeles. At that time the world had just gone through a worldwide economic collapse.

At that time Los Angeles was no longer part of the United States because the federal government ceded most of its power and territory to private organizations and entrepreneurs. The system is described as resembling anarcho-capitalism, a theme Stephenson raised in The Diamond Age, the novel after Snow Crash.

Like other Stephenson novels, Snow Crash covers a wide range of subjects, including history, religion, linguistics, anthropology, archaeology, politics. philosophy, mathematics, and computer science. In an essay entitled In the Begining... Was the Command Line written by Stephenson in 1999, he explained that 'snow crash' was a term for a software failure mode in the early days of the Macintosh.

Stephenson originally planned to work with artist Tony Sheeder to make Snow Crash a computer-generated graphic novel. Following its release Snow Crash was nominated as a recipient of the 1993 British Science Fiction Award and the 1994 Arthur C. Clarke Award.

A more contemporary pop culture context is depicted in Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One film. The film depicts the metaverse in a more contemporary context.

Ready Player One depicts the life of the virtual world in 2045, which is more exciting than the real world. Ready Player One, since its 2018 release, has immediately exploded discussions about the new future of mankind, of course in a more dramatic context.

Ready Player One scene footage (Source: IMDB)

But from a theoretical point of view, futurists define a number of main characteristics of the metaverse. In addition to Ready Player One, several film titles also use the metaverse as the main background or theme. The Matrix trilogy is perhaps the most legendary.

In addition, the digital love story between Theodore and Samantha in Her is also impossible to miss. Other lists include Minority Report, Avatar, Wreck it Ralph, V/H/S: Viral, Tron, to Lucy. Which one left the most impression on you?

*Read other information about TECHNOLOGY or read other interesting writings from Yudhistira Mahabharata.

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