What metaverse is like according to Hans Zimmer

The metaverse is drawing a great deal of attention as many tech giants have spent billions of dollars into building an immersive digital world. Although still in its early stages, businesses are already making their first foray into this virtual environment and exploring the opportunities it offers.

Today, let’s learn about metaverse from a fresh perspective. Hans Zimmer, a renowned person in the entertainment industry, has shared with us how metaverse sounds like to him in his recent interview.

Who is Hans Zimmer?

Hans Florian Zimmer, known as Hans Zimmer, is a Grammy-winning music composer and Oscar-winning film score composer. He has composed music for over 150 Hollywood films, which earns him the recognition of the most innovative musical talents in this glamorous entertainment industry.

Zimmer has participated in portraying the futuristic vibe in the blockbuster “Dune” by composing the score. In a dialogue with Kara Swisher, he shares his perspective on the metaverse while scoring the most recent cinematic world.

What metaverse sounds like to Hans Zimmer

According to Zimmer, the metaverse is “just some giant, horrible, dehumanizing mess” at the time of the conversation. He even adds that it “sounds like a visit to hell”.

So basically, he thinks of metaverse as the outer space we have seen in several photos sent by the satellites from millions of miles away from Earth. It is a vast, black expanse without the faintest idea of an echo. There is virtually nothing in the space, and due to the lack of light reaching the naked eyes, we are only able to see black.

However, there is a digital aspect to the metaverse that differentiates it from outer space. According to this world-famous composer, metaverse is an “infinite digital landscape. It’s a place where anything is possible, and everything is permitted.”

Zimmer doesn’t go further in explaining how he views metaverse. However, he happens to share another perspective on metaverse while scoring for the Matrix. 

The sound of the Matrix, which is composed of digital instruments, closely reflects how everyone wants metaverse to be: an infinite space where everything is possible. There are all kinds of activities, and you can easily immerse yourself in that landscape.

The Oscar-winning score composer further discusses his thinking to create a more immersive experience in metaverse in a recent interview with Fast Company. 

How Hans Zimmer wants metaverse to be

Zimmer happens to share his thinking of metaverse more than once as he has worked on the futuristic concept for numerous films. His upcoming score for “Ready Player One” is also meant to describe an imaginary world called OASIS.

OASIS feels different, according to Zimmer. He goes on to claim that Ready Player One “is not just a movie. It’s also a statement.” The score for Ready Player One is what Zimmer dedicates to making metaverse become a reality.

What challenges we will confront whilst creating such immersive metaverse

Unfortunately, there are still many challenges left to overcome before we can finally create a more immersive metaverse as Zimmer wishes to do.

Legal challenges

The metaverse is a hub that gathers many forms of intellectual property, including graphics, tokenized assets, etc. Therefore, it will bring several legal issues related to copyright and civil law. Even the use of NFTs alone has been a subject of heated debate whether it facilitates copyright infringement.

In addition, the existing absence of legal frameworks will bring many implications, including crime. Although the risks of physical abuse may be minimized, there are still chances for emotional trauma.

Other legal challenges facing metaverse involve security and privacy. As metaverse becomes more immersive, it is increasingly urgent to create privacy-focused experiences and ensure security in such a virtual environment.

Economic challenges

The metaverse will affect the global economy in several ways as it will transform how we use money, identity, and more. However, the fact that metaverse will still be linked to the traditional economy raises several questions.

How will people make money in metaverse? How can businesses survive and flourish in the virtual environment?

Resolving these questions is important in attracting more people and making the metaverse more immersive for all.

More importantly, there are concerns regarding the decentralized configuration of metaverse. Since the virtual world is operated by tech giants (Facebook, Microsoft, etc.), these corporations may collaborate and assert control over the whole metaverse. 

This could mess up with the antitrust standards that are defined in the traditional economy.

Technical challenges

Technologies power metaverse, but in order to create a more realistic experience, we still need more advanced technologies. 

• With the current technical developments, there is a long way to go before we can actually move between virtual worlds, interact using avatars, grab digital assets, etc. 
• In addition, creating believable environments that people want to stay still remains a question.
• Another huge technical challenge to address is related to the VR headsets, also known as the gateway to metaverse at present. It comes with several limitations that hinder the prevalence of metaverse.

For example, the VR headset is heavy and clunky, which can result in discomfort while wearing. Some people even experience nausea and eye strain after wearing the headset for extended hours. Furthermore, most VR headsets today have a hefty price tag that most average customers cannot afford. 

Considering the current technical advancement, it would take a couple of decades to fully address these challenges and build an accessible metaverse for everyone.

Philosophical challenges

The metaverse seems real, but it is just an illusion. As more people spend hours in metaverse, there will be philosophical issues that need to be resolved.

From the perspective of Daoism, metaverse is going against the flow of nature, or more specifically, the way people live and interact with each other. Meanwhile, according to ethics, also referred to as moral philosophy, metaverse lacks ethical standards to determine whether an action is right or wrong.

For example, what happens if someone builds a virtual world to kill thousands of people inside it? Is that person a murder or not? What do the victims feel like?

Ethical challenges

An aspect of ethics has already been mentioned in the above section. 

However, there are still ethical concerns in metaverse, most of which are present in the non-digital life, including social inequalities, identity management, freedom of expressions, etc.

New issues also arise along with the advancement of technologies. For example, if there is no regulation, biometric data can be collected for malicious purposes.

Besides, Artificial Intelligence (AI) — a core element of metaverse — is proven to carry biases and prejudices, which are a result of prejudiced data fed into its systems. For metaverse to overcome most ethical challenges, it will need to ensure the use of bias-free structures.

That’s all about the challenges we need to overcome to create a more realistic experience in metaverse. Below are some frequently asked questions related to this virtual world.

Frequently asked questions

• Who created the metaverse?

The concept of metaverse was first introduced by sci-fi writer Neal Stephenson in his book Snow Crash. According to Neal, this is a future world where rich people escape reality and immerse themselves into alternative 3D.

• Does metaverse already exist?

The answer depends on how you think of metaverse. 

It is generally considered that metaverse is a completely connected experience for everyone, like the internet. However, there are only isolated platforms developed by individual corporations. So in short, the metaverse hasn’t existed so far.

• What is the Facebook metaverse?

The Facebook metaverse is a common concept of the virtual world deployed by Facebook using technologies such as augmented reality and virtual reality.

Apart from Facebook, other tech giants, including Sony, Microsoft, Apple, etc. are also working on their own metaverse.

• What are the uses of metaverse?

The metaverse will probably transform the way we live and open up chances for different industries. For example, brands participating in metaverse are able to market their products using avatars, while enterprises can create virtual workspaces for employees.

• How can I access metaverse?

The most common way to access metaverse is to get yourself a VR headset. However, you can always get a glimpse of the metaverse by playing games like Minecraft or engaging with blockchain technology.

Bottom line

Hans Zimmer has shared with us his positive views of the metaverse. As we all see, the possibilities of metaverse are unlimited. Let’s follow along the way to see where it will take us next.

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