Will the US Army, Not Meta, Build an 'Open' Metaverse? (venturebeat.com) 35
Just five weeks before his death in 2001, Douglas Adams made a mind-boggling pronouncement. "We are participating in a 3.5 billion-year program to turn dumb matter into smart matter..."
He gave the keynote address for an embedded systems conference at San Francisco's Moscone Center... Adams dazzled the audience with a vision of a world where information devices are ultimately "as plentiful as chairs...." When the devices of the world were networked together, they could create a "soft earth" — a shared software model of the world assembled from all the bits of data. Communicating in real time, the soft earth would be alive and developing — and with the right instruments, humankind could just as easily tap into a soft solar system.
It's 21 years later, in a world where the long-time global software company Bohemia Interactive Simulations claims to be "at the forefront of simulation training solutions for defense and civilian organizations." And writing in VentureBeat, their chief commercial officer argues that "We do not yet have a shared imagination for the metaverse and the technology required to build it," complaining that big-tech companies "want to keep users reliant on their tech within a closed, commercialized ecosystem." I envision an open virtual world that supports thousands of simultaneous players and offers valuable, immersive use cases.
The scope of this vision requires an open cloud architecture with native support for cloud scalability. By prioritizing cloud development and clear goal-setting, military organizations have taken significant leaps toward building an actual realization of this metaverse. In terms of industry progress towards the cloud-supported, scalable metaverse, no organization has come further than the U.S. Army.
Their Synthetic Training Environment (STE) has been in development since 2017. The STE aims to replace all legacy simulation programs and integrate different systems into a single, connected system for combined arms and joint training. The STE fundamentally differs from traditional, server-based approaches. For example, it will host a 1:1 digital twin of the Earth on a cloud architecture that will stream high fidelity (photo-realistic) terrain data to connected simulations. New terrain management platforms such as Mantle ETM will ensure that all connected systems operate on exactly the same terrain data. For example, trainees in a tank simulator will see the same trees, bushes and buildings as the pilot in a connected flight simulator, facilitating combined arms operations.
Cloud scalability (that is, scaling with available computational power) will allow for a better real-world representation of essential details such as population density and terrain complexity that traditional servers could not support. The ambition of STE is to automatically pull from available data resources to render millions of simulated entities, such as AI-based vehicles or pedestrians, all at once.... [D]evelopers are creating a high-fidelity, digital twin of the entire planet.
Commercial metaverses created for entertainment or commercial uses may not require an accurate representation of the earth.... Still, the military metaverse could be a microcosm of what may soon be a large-scale, open-source digital world that is not controlled or dominated by a few commercial entities....
STE success will pave the way for any cloud-based, open-source worlds that come after it, and will help prove that the metaverse's value extends far beyond that of a marketing gimmick.
It's 21 years later, in a world where the long-time global software company Bohemia Interactive Simulations claims to be "at the forefront of simulation training solutions for defense and civilian organizations." And writing in VentureBeat, their chief commercial officer argues that "We do not yet have a shared imagination for the metaverse and the technology required to build it," complaining that big-tech companies "want to keep users reliant on their tech within a closed, commercialized ecosystem." I envision an open virtual world that supports thousands of simultaneous players and offers valuable, immersive use cases.
The scope of this vision requires an open cloud architecture with native support for cloud scalability. By prioritizing cloud development and clear goal-setting, military organizations have taken significant leaps toward building an actual realization of this metaverse. In terms of industry progress towards the cloud-supported, scalable metaverse, no organization has come further than the U.S. Army.
Their Synthetic Training Environment (STE) has been in development since 2017. The STE aims to replace all legacy simulation programs and integrate different systems into a single, connected system for combined arms and joint training. The STE fundamentally differs from traditional, server-based approaches. For example, it will host a 1:1 digital twin of the Earth on a cloud architecture that will stream high fidelity (photo-realistic) terrain data to connected simulations. New terrain management platforms such as Mantle ETM will ensure that all connected systems operate on exactly the same terrain data. For example, trainees in a tank simulator will see the same trees, bushes and buildings as the pilot in a connected flight simulator, facilitating combined arms operations.
Cloud scalability (that is, scaling with available computational power) will allow for a better real-world representation of essential details such as population density and terrain complexity that traditional servers could not support. The ambition of STE is to automatically pull from available data resources to render millions of simulated entities, such as AI-based vehicles or pedestrians, all at once.... [D]evelopers are creating a high-fidelity, digital twin of the entire planet.
Commercial metaverses created for entertainment or commercial uses may not require an accurate representation of the earth.... Still, the military metaverse could be a microcosm of what may soon be a large-scale, open-source digital world that is not controlled or dominated by a few commercial entities....
STE success will pave the way for any cloud-based, open-source worlds that come after it, and will help prove that the metaverse's value extends far beyond that of a marketing gimmick.
Re: (Score:2)
P2P exists and crypto-currencies allow you to easily make micro-payments, Reddcoin being an example of crypto that's not Proof-of-work.
Cyberdyne Systems (Score:2)
Skynet, is that you?
[John]
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What real problem does the metaverse solve? (Score:2)
I mean, other than the boredom felt by middle aged adults still living in their mom's basement.
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As far as I see it, the only people it potentially solves an actual problem for are disabled, and even then it depends very much on what you mean by metaverse.
To my mind, what is wanted is a system that can mix users using AR and VR, such that a person who is somewhere can interact with a person who is somewhere else, and that person gets to virtually be in and experience that environment. That would have lots of immediately useful telework applications.
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a system that can mix users using AR and VR, such that a person who is somewhere can interact with a person who is somewhere else, and that person gets to virtually be in and experience that environment
Sure, read "The Robots of Dawn" for an example of how this would work in practice. But the gap between today's technology and the technology required to make this seamlessly enjoyable is huge. For example, you are hiking in the forest and want to share this experience with me. Cool! But our experience won't be even remotely similar if you are actually walking between trees, stepping over logs, having ants dropping into your hair etc. while I am walking on a treadmill with a headset over my face. And how do
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I agree that more immersion is better. However, something can be better than nothing.
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I can't wait to run into my coffee table IRL while trying to go to a co-worker's desk in VR!
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I can't wait, either. If you could just record that and post the video to youtube, I'd appreciate it.
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What real problem does the metaverse solve?
How humans will interact with AI/near-AI. Think of it as a User Interface.
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I mean, other than the boredom felt by middle aged adults still living in their mom's basement.
I sympathize with your point of view, and I don't think I'll have much use for the metaverse.
That said, I'm pretty sure mobile phones and personal computers didn't solve "real problems", although of course there were early use cases for them. History is littered with technological developments for which a "need" didn't exist until after they were invented.
Big Brother, or corporate overloads like META? (Score:1)
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They are less likely to sell it to advertisers.
My metaverse is CSGO (Score:2)
My metaverse is CSGO
No. (Score:2)
They might build something for training soldiers but they aren't going to make it open since that does not provide any advantage.
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That's the DoD, not the US Army. Despite being closely related, they operate in different manners.
Where is my damn jetpack??!? (Score:3)
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I have been waiting since 1962 for a flying car, or at least a jetpack! Where is it?
https://jetpackaviation.com/ [jetpackaviation.com]
Re: (Score:2)
> I have been waiting since 1962 for a flying car, [...] Where is it?
Here you go:
https://cbsnews3.cbsistatic.co... [cbsistatic.com]
https://smokeybarn.com/wp-cont... [smokeybarn.com]
DayZ (Score:2)
If they do (Score:2)
ArmA 4? (Score:1)
OFP is good enough (Score:2)
"After 10 minutes of playing (or watching) something sufficiently engaging on an ordinary screen, the immersion is as good as VR, but without all the uncomfortable gear." - BBQ Bob
They'd have to (Score:2)
Folks, all of you hot on the VR world of Neuromancer, etc... think about it - it's a virtual landscape. Over there's a nuclear plant, that virtual skyscraper is a bank. IT CAN'T CHANGE, or you'd lose your links. And if it was done by a company, it would be done by many companies, and their landscapes would be competing. And when one went under, or was bought out, then shut down, you'd lose all your links and directions.
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They already did that. (Score:2)
Welcome to the Me
OpenSimulator (Score:2)
PR Newswire (Score:1)