A Prospective Metaverse Paradigm Based on the Reality-Virtuality Continuum and Digital Twins

Abstract

After decades of introducing the concept of virtual reality, the expansion, and significant advances of technologies and innovations, such as 6g, edge computing, the internet of things, robotics, artificial intelligence, blockchain, quantum computing, and digital twins, the world is on the cusp of a new revolution. By moving through the three stages of the digital twin, digital native, and finally surrealist, the metaverse has created a new vision of the future of human and societal life so that we are likely to face the next generation of societies (perhaps society 6) in the not too distant future. However, until then, the reality has been that the metaverse is still in its infancy, perhaps where the internet was in 1990. There is still no single definition, few studies have been conducted, there is no comprehensive and complete paradigm or clear framework, and due to the high financial volume of technology giants, most of these studies have focused on profitable areas such as gaming and entertainment. The motivation and purpose of this article are to introduce a prospective metaverse paradigm based on the revised reality-virtuality continuum and provide a new supporting taxonomy with the three dimensions of interaction, immersion, and extent of world knowledge to develop and strengthen the theoretical foundations of the metaverse and help researchers. Furthermore, there is still no comprehensive and agreed-upon conceptual framework for the metaverse. To this end, by reviewing the research literature, discovering the important components of technological building blocks, especially digital twins, and presenting a new concept called meta-twins, a prospective conceptual framework based on the revised reality-virtuality continuum with a new supporting taxonomy was presented.