Augmented reality might not feel quite as immersive as the virtual reality (VR) experiences that Zuckerberg wants to eventually bring to people's homes. But it nonetheless blurs the divide between the physical world and the digital one
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When Facebook unveiled a mock-up last week of the "metaverse" — supposedly the internet of the future — it showed people transported to a psychedelic world of flying fish and friendly robots.
But while even Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledges these kinds of experiences could be many years away, some enthusiasts argue that a more modest version of the metaverse is already here.
"We're in the early stages of the metaverse, in some ways," Peggy Johnson, CEO of Magic Leap, told AFP at the Web Summit in Lisbon on Tuesday.
Magic Leap makes augmented reality (AR) headsets, which have already been used by surgeons preparing to separate a pair of conjoined twins, and by factory supervisors carrying out site inspections.
In both cases, information popped up before the users' eyes about what they were seeing.