I love science and technology! I really do! If you guys have ever seen my youtube channel, you would have guessed that. My ardour for both of these subjects stems from the fact that they are dynamic; providing the opportunity for perpetual improvement.
While science facilitates you to discover the secrets of the universe, technology enables you to invent things to explore the vast reaches of space. No….no…today we aren't discussing space travel but rather a whole different verse.
YES! Today we are discussing the metaverse - a term widely known and misunderstood. Honestly, no one completely understands metaverse, at least as of today. However, we at least know what it can possibly develop to be. This topic is genuinely BOUNDLESS, so much so that it gave me a headache. Hence, to ensure that the entire explanation isn't too mind-boggling to the extent of flustering, I will be splitting the contents of this topic into 2 blogs.
This article will contain:-
What is Decentralization?
What is blockchain?
What is metaverse?
I have previously discussed Crypto and DEFI in great detail on my YouTube channel. Should you want to learn more about those topics you can visit my youtube video on it here.
What is Decentralization?
Decentralization is the key aspect on which metaverse, cryptocurrency and DEFI( decentralized financing) are founded. Decentralised means authority within an organisation is distributed between several parties or people in contrast to centralised organisations where a single head has all the power bestowed upon them. This seems helpful as it promotes peer-to-peer learning and teamwork. Decentralisation was an old concept but could not be implemented as there was no way of handling all the information and data without a single leadership to oversee it until Blockchain was invented.
What is Blockchain?
Blockchain is a process of storing data that was created back in 1991. The main purpose of using blockchain was so that any data entered would be timestamped and accordingly a unique code or hash will be created for it that will link it to each other.
The major difference between the blockchain and any other information storing technique at the time was that it was a distributed ledger which meant anyone could add data to the blockchain and it would be virtually impossible for anyone to remove it once it was added. This supports the concept of a decentralized network where communities can make effective changes.
As the name implies, the data is stored in a block and joined to other pieces of data via a chain - a simple diagram would look like this:-
(Picture Courtesy: Medium)
Now every block has 3 elements to it which are the dossier it carries, its hash which helps identify the block and finally the previous hash or identification/hash of the block that is behind it. The only exception to this format is the first block that is created which is labelled as the genesis block as it has no previous block’s hash it can contain. While it is easier to assume that blockchain always remains in such a form where one block follows the other, some blockchains are in a web format where one block is connected to more than one block, however the sequence changes according to the way you want it.
It was inconceivable to change any information added to a block because of the hash and the previous hash - changing any data would have caused the hash to change, disrupting the dossier of the blocks connected to it until the whole network fails. However, in this day and age computers can solve millions of calculations in mere seconds so it would be no task for a computer to recalculate the hashes of all the blocks and replace them before an error even shows up.
To mitigate this blockchain developers increase the time gap between the creation of each block; for example - the bitcoin blockchain used to require a 10-minute gap in between the creation of the blocks and hence the transactions of bitcoins only took place in intervals of 10 minutes. This solves the issue as no matter how fast the computer is a replacement block cannot be added before the system collapses.
The problem with the above solution is that this centralises the systems and the increased time is a hassle in situations of volatile markets. An easier solution that is currently used is a decentralised p2p network. YES! P2P - the glimmer of hope and word that just makes my day XD! Every user of the P2P network receives a copy of the entire blockchain as every user owns a copy; the blockchain is regularly double-checked, and the ones that have been tampered with are simply excluded. The usage of blockchain technology is practically limitless it can be used from noting medical records to collecting taxes. In addition to smart contracts and much more, there are many other blockchain innovations that we can discuss in the future.
What is Metaverse?
Finally the guest of honour! The Metaverse…huh! I don't even know where to start with this, so here we go! Metaverse or Web3 can be considered as the accumulation of every virtual world that is built using blockchain technology. These virtual worlds can be anything from gaming environments to an NFT gallery on Times Square. The major difference between them and a virtual world like Minecraft is the centralization - in Minecraft you can only do what is coded to do by the centralised office Mojang but in a decentralised world like Sandbox or Decentraland after purchasing an “Online Real estate” you can build anything that you wish. Imagination is the only limit in a decentralised virtual world.
What exactly the metaverse does is that it joins every one of these worlds together which in a way helps mimic the real world. By doing so you just need to sign in to your account once and can access all of these worlds without the hassle of signing in again which is quite the comfort!
The main thing to always remember when you think about the metaverse is that it is not one place. It is the aggregate of the new digital spaces that people are calling the next iteration of the internet!
Well, this is the end of the blog that covers the first part of the metaverse. I know this one was longer than usual as there were a lot of technicalities related to the content but I tried to simplify it as much as possible which as I mentioned earlier gave me a headache.
Anyways in the next part, we will be going even deeper into the metaverse by understanding:-
The influence of The Metaverse on the World and The future possibilities of the Metaverse
How can you join the metaverse and how are NFT, cryptocurrency and the metaverse connected?
My thoughts on the metaverse.
Thank you for reading and I will soon be releasing part 2 of the metaverse and more of my thoughts on my different fields of interest with the next one! Have a good day!
Comments