In October 2021, the social-media giant Facebook was rebranded as Meta. Founder Mark Zuckerberg explained the name as being a sign of the company's commitment to realizing the "metaverse." Suddenly the question on everyone's lips was "What on earth is the metaverse?"

The term was first coined back in 1992 by science-fiction author Neal Stephenson in his novel Snow Crash. In the novel, the Metaverse is the successor to the Internet. It is a virtual-reality world populated by digital versions of its users. Today, virtual reality, augmented reality, and interactive online spaces are a reality. The idea of a functioning metaverse is no longer a concept resigned to the pages of a sci-fi novel. Soon enough, by combining aspects of social media, online gaming, augmented reality, and virtual reality, the Internet may well evolve into such an immersive digital reality.

According to Zuckerberg, in a future where the metaverse is a reality, "you'll be able to do almost anything you can imagine." You'll be able to "get together with friends and family, work, learn, play, shop, create... In this future, you will be able to teleport instantly as a hologram to [your] office without a commute, [to] a concert with friends, or [to] your parents' living room to catch up."

Though we may have been heading that way already, the journey towards the metaverse has been sped up thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. With lockdowns forcing people to study, work, and socialize from home, people have gotten used to interacting in online spaces. The momentum will only grow as investors and companies race to be a part of what they think will be the future of technology.

We must, however, go forward with care. Just look at the amount of negativity on the Internet today, such as hacking, deception, harassment, and hate speech. It is easy to see how quickly the metaverse, as a far more immersive form of the Internet, could become tremendously destructive and harmful. As we build this virtual parallel universe, we must try our utmost to ensure it makes the human experience better, not a digital nightmare!

2021年10月，社群媒體龍頭 Facebook 改名為 Meta。集團創辦人馬克．祖克柏對此解釋，這個名字意謂著該公司致力讓「元宇宙」成為現實的承諾。一夕之間，大家掛在嘴邊的問題都是：「元宇宙到底是什麼？」

「元宇宙」一詞在1992年首次被創造出來，源自於科幻小說作家尼爾．史蒂文森的小說《潰雪》。在小說中，「元宇宙」是網際網路的接班人，是個虛擬實境的世界，裡面住著使用者的數位虛擬分身。如今，虛擬實境、擴增實境和互動式網路空間都已成真，實際運作「元宇宙」的設想，已不再是安於科幻小說書頁上的概念。不出多久，透過結合社群媒體、線上遊戲、擴增實境和虛擬實境，網際網路很有可能進化成這種沉浸式的數位實境。

祖克柏指出，實現「元宇宙」後的未來時代，「只要是你想像得到的事，就能做得到」。你將能夠「和親友相聚、工作、學習、玩樂、購物、創作??在這樣的未來裡，你的立體投影不需通勤往返，就可以馬上傳輸到你的辦公室、和朋友去音樂會，或到父母家的客廳話家常」。

雖然我們可能早已在朝這個方向前進中，但由於COVID-19 疫情，通往元宇宙的旅程已加速前行。由於封城措施迫使人們在家上課、工作和社交，人們已變得習慣在網路空間互動。隨著投資人和公司爭先恐後，要在他們心目中的未來科技上參一腳，這股動力只會有增無減。

然而，我們必須步步為營。只要看看當前網際網路上的負面事件數量，例如遭駭、詐欺、騷擾和仇恨言論，很容易就能看出，元宇宙作為更加沉浸式的網際網路形式，可能很快會造成更巨大的毀滅與傷害。在我們建立這個虛擬的平行宇宙時，我們必須竭盡全力，確保這會讓人類有更好的體驗，而不是場數位噩夢！