In our new episode of podcast Wait a minute !, we talk about technologies and futures with Laure Beaudonnet, journalist at 20 minutes, which explores these questions for our media. We talk about the “metaverse”, a universe where the borders between physical and virtual spaces are broken. Imagined in
The Virtual Samurai by Neal Stephenson (1992), a cult science fiction novel, the “metaverse” is notably illustrated in the film Ready Player One, by Steven Spielberg, or the anticipation series Black mirror.
In these fictions, the characters use technologies, such as full suits with virtual reality glasses, to access a universe combining reality and virtual. Today, video game publishers, like Roblox or Epic Games, are the most advanced in these parallel universe projects. The Fortnite video game (Epic Games) is organizing more and more “live” entertainment events, becoming a concert hall of the future. Several artist avatars, such as those of rapper Travis Scott or singer Ariana Grande, have already performed there.
These universe projects are the dream of digital giants, including Mark Zuckerberg, boss of Facebook. Describing the “metaverse” as the future of social interactions, he announced at the end of July in The Verge, invest heavily in this project. People who connect to the social network could meet without leaving their homes. But when we talk about futures and technologies, there is often wanting and power.
In this episode of Wait a minute !, the journalist Laure Beaudonnet looks back on what the “metaverse” is and the different actors who work on it. She then underlines the constraints and difficulties of creating parallel universes, reported by Sylvain Louradour, director of the digital innovation observatory.
Netexplo. She recalls in particular the difficulty of replicating the human senses, such as touch and taste, in a parallel universe. However, several organizations are working on this file, such as the Japanese university.
Meiji in Tokyo and his “Norimaki Synthesizer” project, who created a kind of technological lollipop that allows, thanks to gels, to compose tastes such as sour, bitter or sweet. All the information to listen to in this podcast with Laure Beaudonnet.
Wait a minute ! is an original podcast by 20 minutes. You can find it and subscribe for free on all online listening platforms, including Apple podcast and Spotify, to be alerted to new broadcasts. You can also find all our episodes in the ” Podcasts »From the 20minutes.fr website. To send us comments, reviews and ideas: [email protected]