Let's start by going back in time to the world we lived in 50 years ago. A world that was completely disconnected from all of the digital frenzies. A world in which you had to step outdoors, touch, feel, see, and smell before making a purchasing decision. A world within which if you wanted to see someone, you had to either visit them in person or perhaps pen down your thoughts and send out a letter. If you vaguely recall, letters formerly were extremely personal and captured a touch of emotion, unlike the text messages we send nowadays, even to check on our loved ones.

The person who wrote the letter poured their heart out. This was a world where most communication or interaction was accomplished through word of mouth, letters, or even various scriptures. In simpler terms, a world in which humans make optimal use of all of their sensory nerves.

If you're not in your 50s yet, you've probably heard from your parents or grandparents about how they had to work day and night relentlessly to get to the point where they could afford a decent standard of living. And this is not a lie! Envision living and working in a world where you have to get up from your couch and commute to work. The work culture has been severely impacted since the Covid-19 pandemic. The entire scenario in which employees were required to be physically present at their workplaces was turned upside down. A new working culture emerged, popularly known as 'work from home.' Commuting to work and socialising with your fellow colleagues sounds strange in light of our current situation!

It took more than analysing the metrics of your Instagram account or the company website to establish a business, promote it, and make it a household name in the market. Not only should you attend live webinars and online meetings, but you ought to also physically attend events or seminars and interact with the people present to accomplish recognition and distinction. It also allows you to analyse and interpret the expressions and emotions of the people with whom you are interacting. Let us indicate this as the real or physical world.

As years and technology progressed, we created a parallel universe that served as a digital replica of ourselves. An overwhelming majority of the world's population now lives in this entirely digital world. The older generations transitioned into this era, but the newer generations born in this era were immediately immersed in a digitally-ruled environment. Consider the children who were born just before the Covid-19 pandemic struck. The concept of school was introduced to these children as being entirely digital. Unlike previous generations, these children did not have the opportunity to physically attend school and socialise. This era shifted toward the idea of embracing only two or three senses like sight and hearing, and excluding the senses of touch, smell, and taste.

Our senses were still limited to seeing on large screens rather than life-size and three-dimensional views. This digital universe, on the other hand, enabled us to create and enhance personalities, personas, auras, and digital presences only with the click of a button. If we seek to categorise the generations into these worlds, we can say that the Boomers were born in the real world and experienced it, the Millennials were born somewhere between the transition of the real world to the digital world, and Gen Z in the distortion of both the worlds, which is also leading to a world that is more advanced than what we currently live in. But what exactly do we mean by distortion? Distortion is simply a shift in personality.

Consider the following scenario: one person may be introverted or shy and less chatty, whereas the same person has an absolutely opposite and expressive persona or demeanour on social media. A person who might be hesitant to place an order over the phone but may be posting some really outspoken, risky, and controversial tweets! Doesn't that sound familiar? The list of such relatable examples is endless. For example, consider an employee who struggles to communicate with his coworkers and manager but excels at crafting perfect and precise emails that perfectly express his thoughts and opinions. The most relatable and relevant example would be many of us who, in reality, are quite conscious of how we look and what we say, but our Instagram profile may reflect something completely different! It is safe to say that the digital universe has made things easier and more accessible to us. It enables us to interact with whoever we want, whenever we want, without any barriers, interruptions, or hesitations. We can all agree that, if anything, it has given us the courage and confidence to make the first move when we are smitten!

We can say that while we are in the real world, we have the alternative of transitioning into the digital world. But what about the new world we've already begun to build? You may have heard of this world being referred to as the metaverse, a virtual reality space (VR), or artificial intelligence reality (AIR). This metaverse is already allowing us to experiment with and explore more senses than we can in the digital world. The metaverse, in essence, allows humans to escape reality by means of an integrated virtual reality. The concept envisioned in the popular film 'Avatar,' in which mankind has exhausted the Earth's natural resources and the RDA (Resource Development Administration) finds a solution in the form of 'unobtanium,' which exists on the moon 'Pandora.' Because the atmosphere on Pandora is toxic to humans, scientists create 'avatars,' which are half-human and half-Na'vi clones capable of surviving on Pandora. The humans then upload their consciousness into these surrogate bodies and are shipped to Pandora.

Top Social India recently developed the concept of a virtual influencer. Kyra is India's first metaverse virtual influencer. She is a 21-year-old avatar who enjoys traveling, yoga, and connecting with herself. This virtual influencer's audience is comprised of 18 to 26-year-olds from all over the country, and she continues to gain 1000 new followers every day! To put it in a nutshell, the real world allows us to live in someone else's memory, the digital world allows us to live in a machine's memory, and the metaverse may allow us to live as a memory itself. As strange as it may sound, the likelihood of this happening is undeniable. The preceding example has largely demonstrated the existence of such possibilities. If this sounds strange, just imagine what else awaits us in this metaverse that is being created. Technology has simplified the transition from the physical to the digital world.

Similarly, technological advancements have made it possible to transition from the digital world to the metaverse. Is it possible, however, that technology can assist us in transitioning from the metaverse to the real world? What if we created an entirely new organism in the metaverse and then introduced it into the real world in a completely natural way? So, if the organism is born in the real world without the assistance of any technological bits of DNA fusion, would that make us the supreme power? It may sound like I went too far. But, when you think about it, this theory isn't completely beyond the realm of possibility. The ultimate question is whether we, as humans, deserve this power or supremacy. Are we capable of dealing with this power? Is it true that simply creating something grants us ultimate power? Given all the destruction we have caused, are causing, and are about to cause, are we truly deserving of all this power?

This article and the content is copyright protected. Copyrights: Dhruva S. Paknikar 2022.