The metaverse now has a heart.

Make that a heartbeat, courtesy of Teddy Pahagbia, who calls himself the chief executive druid of BLVCK PiXEL, a consultancy that helps brands navigate the metaverse. Pahagbia is on a deep exploration of what human identity means in avatar form and used his presentation at The Economist Metaverse Summit in San Jose, California recently to unveil his digital representation, Agent0.

To bring Agent0 to life, Pahagbia embedded his physical heartbeat into his avatar using biometrics. In computer science, biometrics like facial and fingerprint recognition are used as a security layer to uniquely authenticate users and grant them access. In this instance, Pahagbia has used the unique rhythm of his heartbeat as the identifier, meaning only he can gain access to his avatar. By connecting his smartwatch to this biometric protocol as long as Pahagbia’s heart beats Agent0 will continue to exist in the metaverse.

While it sounds like something out of Blade Runner, Agent0 may be the next technological evolution of the avatar as it enables people to design and secure their digital representation in the metaverse. 

“The metaverse is the real name of the digital age,” Pahagbia said to me recently. “We are entering into the next step for humankind from Homo sapiens to Homoversians. Homoversians can finally use technology to transcend beyond physicality and open the doors to all the dimensions.”

Agent0

As you may have gathered, Teddy Pahagbia is a creative technologist who sees the world as an artist wanting to bring imagination to life using technology. For metaverse environments which are immersive and virtual and experienced by people in avatar form, it seems the sky is the limit now for Pahagbia’s ambition.

“The dimension of thoughts, the dimension of ideas, the dimension of an intangible reality -- this is where we are heading,” he said. “This is what we can be. Now, what are you and how would you extend yourself beyond the limitation of your physicality?”

The metaverse experience is being enjoyed by over 400 million monthly active users as measured by browser-based and virtual reality-based worlds that may or may not involve a blockchain component. That’s led avatar creation companies like Ready Player Me to form creative partnerships with metaverse builders and fashion brands that enable users to customize their looks for this experience.

Over the past 18 months, luxury houses like Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Balenciaga, have been enthusiastically experimenting with both metaverse and phygital (a combination of physical and virtual experience) activations, investing millions of dollars in a combination of virtual land, customer games and experiences and the release of high-end digital fashion looks for avatars.

My digital twin is not just an addition, it’s my extension.

–Teddy Pahagbia

According to Global Data, the global metaverse market size was valued at $22.79 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow at a compounded annual rate of 39.8 percent from 2022 to 2030.

This is Teddy Pahagbia’s world. Describing himself as an afronaut futurist, Pahagbia’s vision of the metaverse extends beyond an immersive space brought about through a more immersive internet. To him, it represents the ultimate convergence of all things - a new paradigm that will radically alter humanity, identity, nature, space and time. 

“Now we can use technology to leverage and amplify in a more significant way everything we are and everything we do,” he said. “The barriers between the physical world and the digital realm are gone.” 

Pahagbia teased that there is more to come from Agent0, saying during the presentation in San Jose, “my starlight, my life essence -- regulated by my heartbeat -- is also the portal giving access to my inner world. My personal plane in a metaverse age, a place only I can give access to visit. The key to enter, my heartbeat.”

It is a world-first metaverse experiment that has led Pahagbia to herald Agent0 as the first true citizen of the metaverse age. 

Creating Agent0 has allowed Pahagbia to question himself deeply and has left him feeling empowered. He hopes it will prompt others to truly engage with the future Internet experience and how they will represent themselves there.

“The manifestation of humanity, when physical meets digital, is about how I can use technology to show my true self to the world in a more meaningful way beyond the limitation of physicality or reality,” he said. The possibilities get at questions of self-representation, self-sovereign identity and come down to controlling one’s own narrative, he said.

“My digital twin is not just an addition, it's my extension,” Pahagbia said.  “Being the first human to upload his heartbeat into the metaverse is a statement that we can all be here and express our true selves in this way.”