Inside new military race to dominate the metaverse as US and China prepare for cyber warfare
A TECH race to build the most sophisticated and expansive metaverse could establish the next world power and change the future of war. The metaverse is still in its infancy, but its limitless potential is seducing companies to invest billions of dollars into its development. Most of the metaverse’s potential uses in the US have […]
A TECH race to build the most sophisticated and expansive metaverse could establish the next world power and change the future of war.
The metaverse is still in its infancy, but its limitless potential is seducing companies to invest billions of dollars into its development.
Most of the metaverse’s potential uses in the US have been tied to commercial and recreational civilian purposes.
But China is prepping for metaverse warfare that “affects the opponent’s thinking, cognition and action decision making,” according to a March 2022 report by an Air Force think tank.
Elmer Francisco, CEO of VetCoin Foundation, told The Sun that the metaverse the next evolutionary step in weaponry after drones.
“Before, people used swords to fight. Nowadays, people use guns and other weapons. Then countries used drones. It’s similar except now in the metaverse, soldiers are using computers to engage in cyber warfare,” Francisco said.
METAVERSE STORIES
“Soldiers won’t just need to know how to do hand-to-hand combat, but also how to code. Soldiers have to be able to manipulate the virtual domain.”
One military application, Francisco said, is creating real-life avatars or robots that can be controlled from a distance like one would use a virtual reality set.
Except, it would be XR – extended reality – technology that “you would use to manipulate the real world with machines even though you’re not there physically,” he said.
“In the military, there will be no soldiers who need to be amputated because it would be their robot that is blown up by explosives,” Francisco said.
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“It would be like a computer game. You’ll just spawn elsewhere. There would be a base where these robotics or avatars would be and some soldier from the United States controlling that robot.”
But, the VetCoin CEO said this is reactive. There’s an opportunity to be proactive and use the metaverse as a deterant like the atomic bomb did for decades.
“We have to make our systems ironclad and foolproof so competitors of the United States will be deterred,” he said.
“When you have the most advanced technology, which for the longest time after the Cold War, the United States has the most advanced technology in terms of many things, especially the military. That’s why other countries don’t mess with the United States before.
“Now, they do because the playing field has levelled. That’s why Russia and China are rushing to develop their own technology,” Francisco said.
In theory, the stronger the deterrent, the more this technology can be used for humanitarian purposes – like medical missions – rather than violent conflict.
“It’s technology and it depends on how you use it,” he said. “You can use your cell phone to call a loved one or you can use it to detonate a bomb.
“It’s so important to make the technology as advanced as possible so that no one will even think about doing something foolish like a war.”
CHINA PREPARING FOR ‘METAVERSE WAR’
The report – published by the Air Force China Aerospace Studies Institute – cites Chinese authors from the highest level research institute of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
What exactly the “metaverse warfare” will look like is unknown at this point.
But Chinese authors provide three styles of confrontation: “platform confrontation, system attack (supply chain) and indirect diversion,” according to the Air Force think tank report.
Platform confrontation is described in the report as attacks “to disrupt, delay, deter, destroy and eliminate the existence and operation of the opponent’s metaverse.”
System attack will “attack and block key nodes and technological operation chains that support an adversary’s metaverse.”
And indirect diversion can “impair communication technology devices and use deceptive means to alter the functionality of an adversary’s metaverse system.”
WHO’S WINNING THE ‘TECH RACE?’
With mega corporations like US-based Meta (formerly Facebook), and several Silicon Valley tech giants investing so much money into the metaverse, Francisco said he believes the US is leading the way.
“For many, many decades, the US has always been at the forefront in the virtual world and space,” he said. “And it’s my opinion – and the opinion of many others – that the US is still at the forefront.”
The Air Force think tank’s report – which cites a Chinese publication titled “Who Can Win the Metaverse?” – said the US is “far ahead in the metaverse.”
“But from a ‘cultural and substantive standpoint’ China is superior.”
“In another article, ‘New Battlefield–Metaverse’, the author places the metaverse as an extension of great power competition between the United States and China,” according to the Air Force think tank report.
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“The author writes, ‘In the future, China and the United States will inevitably compete in the metaverse.’
“The metaverse, while still in its infancy, will become a reflection of real society in the future and questions on jurisdiction will be one of many areas of conflict between the two nations.”
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