Benefits of Meditation are innumerable and it surely is hot topic in fight against mental stress and illness induced during pandemic. Group meditation is considered even more helpful, especially for beginners, as it helps in garnering feedback and developing the habit. Digital media allowed virtual sessions and on-screen presence to overcome the barriers of physical meetings. Taking a cue from gaming world, an encounter in the virtual world of metaverse can add all together new dimensions to these intensely personal experiences, hitherto available only in physical reality.
First usage of the term metaverse came in Snow Crash, a 1992 novel by Neal Stephenson. This was used by him to describe the successor of the Internet, a vision of how a virtual reality–based Internet might evolve in the near future. This concept in the novel along with William Gibson’s Neuromancer, which describes a virtual reality dataspace called the matrix, created a genre of literature in itself which went on to changing the gaming industry. With availability of Virtual Reality(VR), Augmented Reality(AR), Brain-Computer Interfaces(BCI), AI/ML tools explosion, big data and quantum computing, these imagined concepts are now ripe to change the way we play, meet and even remain healthy.
Not just video calls, but AR has also been actively used to impart training to COVID-19 respondents. VR has also been used now by medical education institutions as well as mental health experts for treating post-traumatic stress (PTS). Metaverse is likely to build on these experiences for treatment of various brain issues like Phobia, anxiety, delusions etc. Treatment of addiction to VR using metaverse is certainly an interesting proposition.
Metaverse holds huge potential for the domain of medical education, training as well as diagnostics part of a treatment. In a lab setting, creating human body via AR can make the examination of anatomy altogether a different experience. Usage of electrodes along with VR headset to real-time provision of body vitals to Metaverse can remove the need of travel and related expenses .
As a concept, metaverse has already started to incorporate Web3 technology enabled through blockchain technology (like NFTs and Cryptos). It will soon be replacing phones and desktops as the central platforms of our daily lives. Hence, it is not difficult to predict that the future metaverse would be very similar to real world in many aspects and even replace real-world activities like gaming, working or even hanging out. The strong sense of mutual presence will transform the doctor-patient relationship in unimaginable ways.
Samir Kumar – Head PBNS
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