Name: 6 Minute English: Welcome to the 'metaverse'
Uploaded: 2021-11-24T16:45:12.000Z
Duration: 6 min 22 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

On Saturday mornings, I love going to watch football in the park.

I look out the bedroom window and go straight back to bed.

why not bring the park to you? Imagine watching a live version

of the football match at home in the warm with friends. Sound good, Sam?

Is there some amazing invention to do that?

There might be, Sam - and it could be happening sooner than you think.

Thanks to developments in VR, or virtual reality.

According to Facebook boss, Mark Zuckerberg, in the future

we'll all spend much of our time living and working in the metaverse -

we've discussed before in 6 Minute English.

it was hiring 10,000 new workers to develop VR for the metaverse,

In this programme, we'll be hearing two different opinions on the metaverse

According to a 2021 survey by gaming company Thrive Analytics,

what percentage of people who try virtual reality once,

so I'll say b) 49 percent of people want to try it again.

OK, I'll reveal the correct answer later in the programme.

people tend to either love virtual reality or hate it.

Somebody who loves it is Emma Ridderstad, CEO of Warpin,

Here she is telling BBC World Service programme, Tech Tent,

In 10 years, everything that you do on your phone today

you will do in 3-D through your glasses, for example.

you will be able to meet your friends, you will be able to work remotely,

with whom you want. You will be able to share digital spaces,

share art, share projects in digital spaces between each other.

And you will also be able to integrate the digital objects

Virtual reality create 3-D - or three-dimensional experiences

where objects have the three dimensions of length, width and height.

not two-dimensional and flat. Emma says that in the future,

VR will mix digital objects and physical objects to create exciting

new experiences, like staying at home to watch the same football match

that is simultaneously happening in the park.

She blends the words, physical and digital

to make a new word describing this combination - 'phygital'.

sounds like paradise to some, others are more sceptical -

they doubt that VR will come true or be useful.

One such sceptic is technology innovator, Doctor Nicola Millard.

the heavy helmet and glasses that create virtual reality for the wearer.

Something she explained to the BBC World Service's Tech Tent.

There are some basic things that we need to think about -

So, the reason that sort of social networks took off was

one of the barriers can be the VR or AR headsets.

So VR, I've always been slightly sceptical about. I've called it

'vomity reality' for a while because, frankly,

and also, do I want to spend vast amounts of time in those

but I think we're seeing some quite immersive environments coming out

because wearing a headset makes her feel sick.

difficult to move or wear, because it's big and heavy.

She also makes a distinction between VR - virtual reality - and AR which stands

for 'augmented reality' - tech which adds to the ordinary physical world

by projecting virtual words, pictures and characters,

usually by wearing glasses or with a mobile phone.

While virtual reality replaces what you hear and see, augmented reality adds to it.

Both the VR and AR are immersive experiences.

They stimulate your senses and surround you

so that you feel completely involved in the experience.

In fact, the experience feels so real that people keep coming back for more.

Subtitles ListPlay Video

6 Minute English: Welcome to the 'metaverse'

reveal

physical

vast

thrive