METAVERSE
less a substitute for location and more a complement to it . Even as the Metaverse enables a far more realistic experience of the digital world and enables us to do many more things online — expanding access to rich content and broader pools of talent , lowering switching costs between locations and transaction costs in general , and vastly augmenting data-based decision making and personalisation , it will still be unable to replicate the emotional cues , body language , serendipity , and diversity that happen when human beings cluster and collaborate in real places .
Academic studies have found that collaborative work among colleagues suffers when they work remotely . Exchanges over email or Slack increasingly replace realtime in-person conversations , hampering communication .
Google itself has claimed that informal chats at coffee machines and lunch tables on its campus were responsible for innovations such as Street View and Gmail . But with remote working , this kind of opportune encounter all but disappears .
“ Business leaders expect the Metaverse to have a transformative effect on hybrid working . It will enable better collaboration for people working worldwide , reducing the need to commute and allowing greater flexibility in people ' s daily working schedules ."
And of course , there are costs to remote working in terms of individual well-being . Stanford University researchers have found that so-called Zoom fatigue is driven by a combination of intense eye contact , lack of mobility , selfconsciousness about one ' s video
160 SEPTEMBER 2022 SA Real Estate Investor Magazine