英语听力｜扎克伯格宣布Facebook改名为Meta

Mark Zuckerberg: Hey, and welcome to Connect!

Today, we’re going to talk about the metaverse. I want to share what we imagine is possible: the experiences you’ll have, the creative economy we’ll all build, and the technology that needs to be invented, as well as how we’re going to all do this together.

The basic story of technology in our lifetimes is how it’s given us the power to express ourselves and experience the world with ever greater richness. Back when I started Facebook, that mostly meant text that we typed on computers. Then we got phones with cameras and the internet became much more visual. And recently, as connections got faster, video has become the main way that we experience content. We’ve gone from desktop to web to phones, from text to photos to video. But this isn’t the end of the line. The next platform and medium will be even more immersive, an embodied internet where you’re in the experience, not just looking at it. And we call this the metaverse. You’ll be able to do almost anything you can imagine, get together with friends and family, work, learn, play, shop, create, as well as entirely new categories that don’t really fit how we think about computers or phones today.

Now, since we’re doing this remotely today, I figured let’s make it special. So we’ve put together something that I think is really give you a feeling for what the future could be like.

We believe the metaverse will be the successor to the mobile internet. We’ll be able to feel present, like we’re right there with people, no matter how far apart we actually are. We’ll be able to express ourselves in new, joyful, completely immersive ways. And that’s going to unlock a lot of amazing new experiences.

When I send my parents a video of my kids, they’re going to feel like they’re in the moment with us, not peering in through a little window. When you play a game with your friends, you’ll feel like you’re right there together in a different world, not just on your computer by yourself. And when you’re in a meeting in the metaverse, it’ll feel like you’re right in the room together, making eye contact, having a shared sense of space, and not just looking at a grid of faces on a screen.

That’s what we mean by an embodied internet. Instead of looking at a screen, you’re going to be in these experiences. Everything we do online today, connecting socially, entertainment, games, work, is going to be more natural and vivid. This isn’t about spending more time on screens; it’s about making the time that we already spend better.

Screens just can’t convey the full range of human expression and connection; they can’t deliver that deep feeling of presence. But the next version of the internet can. That’s what we should be working towards, technology that’s built around people, and how we actually experience the world and interact with each other. That’s what the metaverse is all about.

Now the best way to understand the metaverse is to experience it yourself. But it’s a little tough, because it doesn’t fully exist yet. Some of the basic building blocks are here though, and others are starting to emerge as we speak. We’re starting to get a sense of how it could all come together and what it could feel like.

So, today, we’re going to do something a little bit different. Rather than just focusing on this year’s products, like a normal keynote, we’re going to talk about the future. So let’s start by exploring what different kinds of metaverse experiences could feel like, starting with the most important of all – connecting with people.

Imagine you put on your glasses or headset and you’re instantly in your home space. It has parts of your physical home recreated virtually. It has things that are only possible virtually. And it has an incredibly inspiring view of whatever you find most beautiful.

Akiko Hirata: Hey. Are you coming?

Mark Zuckerberg: Yeah, just gotta find something to wear. All right. Perfect.

Oh, boy!

Hey, Mark.

Hey, what’s going on?

Hi. What’s up, Mark?

Whoa! We’re floating in space? Who made this place? It’s awesome.

Right? It’s from a creator I met in LA.

Boz: This place is amazing.

Mark Zuckerberg: Boz, is that you?

Boz: Of course, it’s me. You know I had to do the robot, man.

Mark Zuckerberg: I thought I was supposed to be the robot.

Whoa.

I knew you were bluffing.

Hey, wait. Where is Naomi?

Mark Zuckerberg: Let’s call her.

Yes. Naomi!

Mark Zuckerberg: Hey, should we deal you in?

Hey.

Naomi: Sorry, I’m running late, but you’ve gotta see what we’re checking out. There’s an artist going around Soho hiding AR pieces for people to find.

Mark Zuckerberg: 3D street art, that’s cool.

Naomi: Send that link over so we can all look at it.

This is stunning.

That is something.

Mark Zuckerberg: It’s awesome.

I love the movement.

Mark Zuckerberg: Wait, it’s…it’s disappearing.

This is amazing.

Naomi: Hold on, I’ll tip the artist and they’ll extend it.

Wow, brilliant.

Boz: Did you guys like it here? I have another one that you’re gonna love. Check out this forest room.

Mark Zuckerberg: Come on, let’s see it.

Boz: Koi fish that fly? That’s new.

Mark Zuckerberg: This is wild. Hey, one sec, Boz. It’s Priscilla.

Priscilla: Hey, you have to see this. Beast is going crazy.

Mark Zuckerberg: Oh, I love that guy. We’ve got to show that to the kids. Can you also send that to my dad?

Priscilla: I’ll message him.

Mark Zuckerberg: All right, see you at home.

This place is great, Boz, but there’s something I’ve got to get back to.

All right, so that’s a glimpse of a few ways that we’re going to be able to get together and socialize in the metaverse. It’s a ways-off, but you can start to see some of the fundamental building blocks take shape.

First, the feeling of presence. This is the defining quality of the metaverse. You’re going to really feel like you’re there with other people. You’ll see their facial expressions, their body language, maybe figure out if they’re actually holding a winning hand – all the subtle ways we communicate that today’s technology today can’t quite deliver.

Next, there are avatars, and that’s how we’re going to represent ourselves in the metaverse. Avatars will be as common as profile pictures today, but instead of a static image, they’re going to be living 3D representations of you, your expressions, your gestures, that are going to make interactions much richer than anything that’s possible online today. You’ll probably have a photo-realistic avatar for work, a stylized one for hanging out, and maybe even a fantasy one for gaming. You’re going to have a wardrobe of virtual clothes for different occasions, designed by different creators and from different apps and experiences. Importantly, you know, you should be able to bring your avatar and digital items across different apps and experiences in the metaverse.

Beyond avatars, there’s your home space. You’re going to be able to design it to look the way you want, maybe put up your own pictures and videos, and store your digital goods. You’re going to be able to invite people over, play games, and hang out. You’ll also even have a home office where you can work. Your home is your personal space from which you can teleport to anywhere you want.

Now, speaking of teleporting, there are going to be all kinds of different spaces that people make – rooms like the ones we just saw, but also games and whole worlds that you can teleport in and out of whenever you want. Teleporting around the metaverse is going to be like clicking a link on the internet; it’s an open standard.

In order to unlock the potential of the metaverse, there needs to be interoperability. That goes beyond just taking your avatar and digital items across different apps and experiences, which we’re already building an API to support. You want to know that when you buy something or create something, that your items will be useful in a lot of contexts and you’re not going to be locked into one world or platform. You want to know that you own your items, not a platform. And this is going to require not just technical work, like some of the important projects that are going on around crypto and NFTs in the community now, it’s also going to take ecosystem building, norm setting, and new forms of governance, and this is something that we’re really going to focus on.

Privacy and safety need to be built into the metaverse from day one. You’ll get to decide when you want to be with other people, when you want to block someone from appearing in your space, or when you want to take a break and teleport to a private bubble to be alone. You’re going to be able to bring things from the physical world into the metaverse, almost any type of media that can be represented digitally, photos, videos, art, music, movies, books, games, you name it. And lots of things that are physical today, like screens, will just be able to be holograms in the future. You won’t need a physical TV; it’ll just be a $1 hologram from some high school kid halfway across the world. And you’ll be able to take your items and project them into the physical world as holograms in augmented reality, too. You’re going to be able to move across these different experiences on all kinds of different devices, sometimes using virtual reality so you’re fully immersed, sometimes using augmented reality glasses so you can be present in the physical world as well, and sometimes on a computer or phone so you can quickly jump into the metaverse from existing platforms.

There are going to be new ways of interacting with devices that are much more natural. Instead of typing or tapping, you’re going to be able to gesture with your hands, say a few words, or even just make things happen by thinking about them. Your devices won’t be the focal point of your attention anymore. Instead of getting in the way, they’re going to give you a sense of presence in new experiences that you’re having and the people who you’re with.

And these are some of the basic concepts for the metaverse. And while this may sound like science fiction, we’re starting to see a lot of these technologies coming together. In the next 5 or 10 years, a lot of this is going to be mainstream, and a lot of us will be creating and inhabiting worlds that are as detailed and convincing as this one on a daily basis. So even though it’s still a long way off, we’re starting to work on some of these foundational concepts today.

Horizon is the social platform that we’re building for people to create and interact in the metaverse. One part of this is Horizon Home, which is our early vision for a home space in the metaverse. Horizon Home is the first thing that you’ll see when you put on your Quest headset. Today, there are already a bunch of options to choose from, and in the future, anyone will be able to create one. We’ve just called it Home until now because it’s been missing something very important: people. Soon, we’re going to be introducing a social version of Home, where you can invite your friends to join you as avatars. You’ll be able to hang out, watch videos together, and jump into apps together.

Then there is Horizon Worlds, which is where you can build worlds and jump into them with people. Horizon is designed to make it possible for everyone to create, and we’re already seeing people build some really interesting experiences, from creating new games together to throwing surprise parties in VR that family and friends around the world can join. We started rolling out Horizon Worlds in beta last year, and we’re adding more people and more worlds every day. And we also just launched Horizon Workrooms earlier this year for collaboration.

Beyond Horizon, we’re also making it easier to communicate with your friends across different layers of reality. This year, we’re bringing Messenger calls to virtual reality. You’ll be able to invite your friends to a Messenger call and soon you’ll be able to go explore somewhere together or join a game. And these are the kinds of tools that need to get built so that you can jump into the metaverse with your friends from anywhere. And they’re going to unlock some unique experiences.

Now, let’s move on from some of these basic concepts and people just connecting, to a completely different set of experiences around entertainment and gaming.

Imagine your best friend is at a concert somewhere across the world. What if you could be there with her?