from BBC Learning English.

I’m Sam.

And I’m Neil.

On Saturday mornings I love going

to watch football in the park.

The problem is when it’s cold and

rainy - I look out the bedroom window

and go straight back to bed!

Well, instead of going to the park, 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?

Sounds great! – but how can I be in

two places at once? 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’ – a

series of virtual worlds.

Virtual reality is a topic we’ve discussed

before at 6 Minute English. But when

Facebook announced that it was

hiring ten thousand new workers

to develop VR for the ‘metaverse’, we

thought it was time for another look.

Is this programme, we’ll be hearing two

different opinions on the ‘metaverse’

and how it might shape the future.

But first I have a question for you, Neil.

According to a 2021 survey by

gaming company, Thrive Analytics, what

percentage of people who try virtual

reality once want to try it again? Is it:

a) 9 percent?

b) 49 percent? or,

c) 79 percent?

I guess with VR you either love it

or hate it, 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. But what

Neil said is true: people tend to either

love virtual reality or hate it.

Somebody who loves it is

Emma Ridderstad, CEO of Warpin’, a

company which develops

VR technology.

Here she is telling BBC World

Service programme, Tech Tent, her

vision of the future:

In ten years, everything that you

do on your phone today, you will

do in 3-D, through your classes

for example. You will be able to do

your shopping, you will be able to

meet your friends, you will be able

to work remotely with whomever

you want, you will be able to share

digital spaces, share music, share

art, share projects in digital spaces

between each other. And you will also

be able to integrate the digital objects

in your physical world, making the

world much more phygital than

is it today.

Virtual reality creates 3-D, or

three-dimensional experiences where

objects have the three dimensions of

length, width and height. This makes

them look lifelike and solid, 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 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.

But while a ‘phygital’ future 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, Dr Nicola Millard. For one

thing, she doesn’t like wearing a

VR headset – the heavy helmet and

glasses that create virtual reality

for the wearer – something she

explained to BBC World Service’s,

Tech Tent:

There are some basic things to

think about. So, how do we

access it? So, the reason, sort of,

social networks took off was, we’ve

got mobile technologies that let

us use it. Now, obviously one of

the barriers can be that VR or AR

headsets - so VR, I’ve always been

slightly sceptical about. I’ve called

it ‘vomity reality’ for a while because,

frankly, I usually need a bucket

somewhere close if you’ve got a

headset on me… and also, do I want

to spend vast amounts of time in

those rather unwieldy headsets?

Now, I know they’re talking AR as

well and obviously that does not

necessarily need a headset, but I

think we’re seeing some quite

immersive environments coming

out at the moment as well.

Nicola called VR ‘vomity reality’

because wearing a headset makes

her feel sick, maybe because it’s

so unwieldy – difficult to move or

wear because it’s big and heavy.

She also makes a difference

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 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.

Right! In my question I asked

Neil how many people who try

VR for the first time want to try

it again.

I guessed it was about half –

49 percent. Was I right?

You were… wrong, I’m afraid.

The correct answer is much

higher - 79 percent of people

would give VR another try.

I suppose because the experience

was so immersive – stimulating,

surrounding and realistic.

Ok, A, let’s recap the other

vocabulary from this programme

on the ‘metaverse’, a kind of

augmented reality – reality which

is enhanced or added to

by technology.

3-D objects have three

dimensions, making them

appear real and solid.

Phygital is an invented word

which combines the features of

‘physical’ and ‘digital’ worlds.

A sceptical person is doubtful

about something.

And finally, unwieldy means

difficult to move or carry because

it’s so big and heavy.

That’s our six minutes up, in this

reality anyway. See you in the

‘metaverse’ soon!

Goodbye!

Hello. This is 6 Minute English

from BBC Learning English.

I’m Neil.

And I’m Sam.

What do shopping with a credit

card, finding love through

internet dating and waiting for

the traffic lights to change

have in common?

Hmmm, they all involve

computers?

Good guess, Sam! But how

exactly do those computers work?

The answer is that they all use

algorithms – sets of mathematical

instructions which find solutions

to problems.

Although they are often hidden,

algorithms are all around us.

From mobile phone maps to

home delivery pizza, they play a

big part of modern life. And

they’re the topic of this programme.

A simple way to think of algorithms

is as recipes. To make pancakes

you mix flour, eggs and milk, then

melt butter in a frying pan and

so on. Computers do this in more

a complicated way by repeating

mathematical equations over

and over again.

Equations are mathematical

sentences showing how two

things are equal. They’re similar

to algorithms and the most famous

scientific equation of all, Einstein's

E=MC2, can be thought of as a

three-part algorithm.

But before my brain gets squashed

by all this maths, I have a quiz

question for you, Sam. As you know,

Einstein’s famous equation is

E=MC2 - but what does the

‘E’ stand for? Is it:

a) electricity?

b) energy? or

c) everything?

I’m tempted to say ‘E’ is for

‘everything’ but I reckon I know

the answer: b – ‘E’ stands

for ‘energy’.

OK, Sam, we’ll find out if you’re

right later in the programme.

With all this talk of computers, you

might think algorithms are a

new idea. In fact, they’ve been

around since Babylonian times,

around 4,000 years ago.

And their use today can be

controversial. Some algorithms

used in internet search engines

have been accused of

racial prejudice.

Ramesh Srinivasan is Professor

of Information Studies at the

University of California. Here’s what

he said when asked what the word

‘algorithm’ actually means by

BBC World Service’s programme,

The Forum:

My understanding of the term

‘algorithm’ is that it’s not necessarily

the bogyman, or its not necessarily

something that is, you know, inscrutable

or mysterious to all people – it’s the

set of instructions that you write in

some mathematical form or in

some software code – so it’s the

repeated set of instructions that

are sequenced, that are used and

applied to answer a question or

resolve a problem – it’s a simple

as that, actually.

Some think that algorithms have

been controversial, but Professor

Srinivasan says they are not

necessarily the bogyman. The

bogyman refers to something

people call ‘bad’ or ‘evil’ to make

other people afraid.

Professor Srinivasan thinks

algorithms are neither evil nor

inscrutable – not showing emotions

or thoughts and therefore very

difficult to understand.

Still, it can be difficult to understand

exactly what algorithms are,

especially when there are many

different types of them. So, let’s

take an example.

It’s autumn and we want to

collect all the apples from our

orchard and divide them into

three groups – big, medium

and small. One method is to

collect all the apples together

and compare their sizes.

But doing this would take hours!

It’s much easier to first collect

the apples from only one tree -

divide those into big, medium

or small – and then repeat the

process for the other trees,