Traversing the Metaverse: the new frontiers for computer-mediated communication and natural language processing

The primary objective of the following paper is to explore the concept of the Metaverse encompassing the Internet revolution, the information revolution, and the artificial intelligence technology revolution, which further incorporates virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR) technologies. Due to the fact that the current, fourth wave of computing innovation can be regarded as driven by immersive, spatial technologies, the Metaverse as the so-called post-reality universe and multi-user virtual environment has a considerable potential to become the future of the digital discourse. With Natural Language Processing (NLP) conceptualized as a subfield of artificial intelligence and linguistics, the following paper argues for the inclusion of NLP-based methods in the developing discourse revolving around the transformative idea of the Metaverse. At the same time, computer-mediated communication (CMC), can potentially be extended to the new context of the extensive online world of the Metaverse.