I realize the headline for this article sounds bombastic and not the least bit clickbaity but when I say that Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants control over the world and is moving to make that happen, I’m not actually kidding. The path to it is going to look far different than what human history is used to, but it’s control over everything he’s after nonetheless.

In September, I wrote an article about what we can realistically expect in the not-so-distant future with one of these things being something called “The Oasis,” a virtual world that exists in the 2011 book by Ernest Cline called “Ready Player One.”

I won’t go too far into the plot of the book but it’s important to know about it because Zuckerberg wants his employees to know about it. In fact, he hands this book out to them because “The Oasis” is Zuck’s ultimate goal.

(READ: My Weird Thoughts on How Humanity and Technology Will Grow Together)

To understand his endgame, you have to understand what “The Oasis” is.

The book takes place in the year 2045 and highlights the exploits of the “missing generation,” so called because most of them spend their time in the virtual world of “The Oasis.” Due to a fuel/economic crisis, the vast majority of the world spends its time working, playing, and socializing in this virtual world created by an eccentric man named James Halliday.

“The Oasis” is a world where anything is possible. In fact, it’s not a virtual world, it’s a virtual universe. Entire planets can be dedicated to anything such as a Lord of the Rings or old recreations of 1980’s living. You can get to each planet by teleporting or even taking a spaceship, such as an X-Wing or the Serenity from Joss Whedon’s Firefly.

But while it’s a grand place to have an adventure or two, it’s also the place where people work as well as play. One planet within “The Oasis” is wholly dedicated to public school, and instead of loading up your kid on a bus to go to a building nearby, they just throw on their headset and attend class with their fellow students there. Major corporations can buy out an entire planet and have their employees come into the office on that planet while they work from home within their headsets.

“The Oasis” has its own in-game economy where goods are bought and sold from stores that are run by real people within the virtual world at various locations. It even has its own internal government where presidents over the entire system are elected. You may spend your entire life in “The Oasis” and never engage in the video game aspect of it because you’re too busy working there to do so.

I strongly suggest you read the book so you can get a much larger idea about it, but this is the basic thing you need to understand about “The Oasis” because it’s what Zuck is trying to bring about with “The Metaverse.” In fact, Zuck wants it so badly that he even brought in Cline to get his opinion.

Zuck wants the “Metaverse” to be the place where corporations and universities set up shop. He wants to be able to have a universe where everything goes through him be it business, information, entertainment, and more. Instead of going to the theater, he wants you to slip on the headset and walk into a virtual movie theater to see the latest flick. He wants you attending class on a school planet, working your 9-5 at an office building on a virtual moon, and then speeding off to planet DOOM in your Millenium Falcon to kill demons for fun.

Everyone will pay for the privilege and all Zuck will have to give back are ones and zeroes. Corporations will jump at the chance to move their operations into the Metaverse because it means they can cut down on all sorts of costs. Their offices will now be virtual, their transportation will now be virtual, and the only thing they may need that involves brick and mortar is a warehouse from which they ship their goods via drone.

In fact, Zuck is aiming at businesses specifically. According to Fox News, Meta unveiled a $1,500 headset geared specifically toward businesses on Wednesday:

The new headset costs $1,100 more than Meta’s Quest 2 headset (formerly known as Oculus Quest 2) and contains new technologies like high-resolution sensors that let people see mixed virtual and augmented reality in full color. It also has new eye tracking technology and “natural facial expressions” that mimic the wearer’s facial movements, so their avatars appear natural when interacting with other avatars in virtual-reality environments.

To be clear, this is exactly what “The Oasis” headset does too, only Zuck is a bit behind on the tech.

And that’s the only thing holding him back. The tech isn’t quite up to “The Oasis” standards…yet. Meta is working on this with all the fire and fury of a company possessed and they’re getting closer and closer with each passing day.

Zuck revealed where Meta is when it comes to face tracking and realism. He admitted that as of now, the heights they’ve reached aren’t exactly doable with the current state of technology, but it shows that they’ve arrived at a place that we’ve only dreamed about.

The avatar quality here is quite amazing pic.twitter.com/PgY38mXCJq

— Chris Fralic (@chrisfralic) October 12, 2022

All Meta has to do is unlock the tech that opens the door and “The Oasis” will come into being. This isn’t a distant-future event. Meta is knocking on that door as you read this. When it opens, Zuckerberg will become one of the biggest powerhouses on the planet. Nearly everything will go through him. There won’t be a bit of information that doesn’t pass through his servers, and he will have control over all of it.

He will effectively become the most powerful man in existence with control over the world, just not the one you think. It won’t be tangible, but it will be the one future generations will spend just as much time in, if not more time in, than the real one. Along with them will be every business from the goliath to the mom-and-pop. Every industry will attempt to merge its product with Metaverse, including the entertainment industry.

It will become the center of commerce, socialization, learning, and adventure. It will encompass almost every aspect of life and will change the world.

We’re no longer dealing with sci-fi concepts. The Metaverse will be reality very soon.