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  • 1.  Would You Design (or Buy) a Bridge in the Multiverse?

    Posted 09-10-2022 02:44 PM

    Will the metaverse transform our world as the internet did? Is it a real thing or just techno-hype? Some metaverse descriptions sound like "The Matrix" movie come to real life, with people interacting with each other, buildings, bridges, and cars in cyberspace. (See link.) It's hard to imagine, but the World Wide Web was beyond my imagination when I used a slide rule to calculate bridge truss loads.

    What should engineers expect from the metaverse 10 or 20 years from now?



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    William McAnally Ph.D., P.E., D.CE, D.NE, F.ASCE
    ENGINEER
    Columbus MS
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  • 2.  RE: Would You Design (or Buy) a Bridge in the Multiverse?

    Posted 09-12-2022 01:47 PM
    William:
    I don't really equate the metaverse to the internet. People try to equate it to the Matrix. For the matrix to exist as depicted in the movie, the computing power would be need to be say millions of times more powerful. It would require AI to meet the singularity. So, I don't see it in multi generations. Today as in AI it is hype. AI today is not cognitive computing. One more detailed algos. Whether you use slide rules or computers its only different tools. Imagination will be by humans. Computation will be by machine.

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    Vito Rotondi, (Retired)
    Arch. S.E. P.E. Life M ASCE
    Westmont Illinois
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  • 3.  RE: Would You Design (or Buy) a Bridge in the Multiverse?

    Posted 09-13-2022 02:35 AM
    After some contemplation and having listened to all the colorful adjectives that precede my name or "engineer", I would argue that general contractors and shop foremen have always believed that the structures civil engineers design were better suited for the metaverse and not the planet. 

    We have been developing virtual 3-D structural models and design since the 80s. It is probably not a stretch that they will eventually assign weight to the avatars and other physical components of these meta-worlds and have structural limitations assigned or analysis programs running in the background. 

    I eventually see us transferring and/or sharing our 3-D models or BIM with the meta-verse and eliminating the physical structure and verbal abuse from the construction crew. I may have to figure out how to set up a meta-consulting firm and develop the tools for interfacing with the servers.

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    James Williams P.E., M.ASCE
    Principal/Owner
    POA&M Structural Engineering, PLC
    Yorktown, VA
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  • 4.  RE: Would You Design (or Buy) a Bridge in the Multiverse?

    Posted 11-27-2022 08:26 PM
    Hello James,

    Although as a student, I stayed away from the meta-verse hype as long as I could, I am also anticipating alliances in some shape or form.

    I have not compared the meta-verse to the internet, because the circumstances and trustworthiness of their births are nowhere near the same. The internet came about as a military technology that was gradually released to the public until its content and popularity exploded into all kinds of terrains and applications. Whereas for the meta-verse, I have been hearing about the founder, Mark Zuckerburg, resorting to this as an upgrade to Facebook, instead of assisting his customers with continuous privacy issues and news about its dark web contents.

    Nevertheless, like the internet before it, legitimate concerns like the evolution of privacy and who's in charge do not seem to have stopped the meta-verse from achieving notoriety in public eyes. To that end, I am sure several more companies will build alliances with the meta-verse before any of these primary problems are fixed.

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    Alexander Granato A.M.ASCE
    Student
    Bexley OH
    granato.3@...
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