Metaverse Gives Answer to Unsolvable Time-related Questions

Metaverse is gaining lots of traction lately but is it capable of answering some unsolvable time-related questions?

What if the world around us is nothing but a collective illusion, a dream, or a computer simulation? It sounds kind of out there, but these ideas aren't new; they've been explored by everyone from scientists to mystics, philosophers to gamers, science fiction fans, and psychedelic enthusiasts to writers. Nobody can deny the fact our world is full of mystery and there is always something new to explore with every changing day. The latest technology that is gaining popularity and attention of everyone is Metaverse. Facebook's (now Meta) agonizingly dysfunctional approach to building this technology is the reason that is making metaverse sound attractive. But what exactly is this technology, and will it give the answer to unsolvable time-related questions?

First, let's understand what Metaverse is?

In shorter words, the metaverse is the next version of the internet. A souped-up set of digital universes created in virtual and augmented realities where users take the shape of digital avatars to live, play, socialize, and work inside a virtual world. And whether you like it or not, it's happening. As Meta's website claims, "It's the next evolution of social connection."

The term metaverse was first coined by science fiction author Neal Stephenson in his eerily prophetic 1992 Cyberpunk novel, 'Snow Crash'. His book is about escaping a dystopian reality by replacing it with a virtual one and using a digital avatar to explore the online world. And now, with headsets getting better and better, Virtual Reality (VR) is finding its way into the world and becoming more and more immersive, as well as mainstream.

Now, companies like Roblox, Microsoft, Epic Games, and Nike, to name a few, are launching their metaverses. So, you can see that the impact of metaverse will be strong in the future and it will somehow rule every industry just like Artificial Intelligence.

Are we living in a simulated universe?

'The Simulated Universe Argument' suggests that the universe we inhabit is an elaborate emulation of the real universe. Everything, including the people, animals, plants, and bacteria are part of the simulation. The simulation also extends further than the Earth: all the planets, asteroids, comets, stars, galaxies, black holes, nebula, and other space debris are all part of the simulation. In fact, our entire universe is a simulation running inside an extremely advanced computer system designed by a super-intelligent species which lives in a parent universe.

Now that metaverse gives you an option to live in a virtual world where you can not only play games but now buy properties, clothes, and more which means you are living in a simulated universe. This begs the question: What if time doesn't exist? What if time is just a measurement and we're living in base reality?

And that's where physics concepts such as string theory, parallel universes, and dark matter come in. They're all theoretical ways of explaining away the need to describe the universe in the kinds of terms we can intuit and recreate.

What's this got to do with the metaverse?

We're like fish in an aquarium trying to understand our relative position to the outside world. From our point of view, the universe follows at least two different sets of rules — Newtonian physics and quantum physics. But what if we're only seeing a tiny fraction of the whole picture?

Spyridon Michalakis, the physicist who consulted on Marvel's Ant-Man films, recently discussed the concept with Vox's Alex Abad-Santos:

Let's say we only perceive 100 frames per second, or something like that. We can be aware of our lives and the choices we make, but then the frame rate of the universe where you could be flickering between different timelines is 40 orders of magnitude above that. It's one with 40 zeros.

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