mirror world

{{Short description|Digital representation as a software model of real-world environments}}

{{Cleanup rewrite|date=July 2023}}

A mirror world is a representation of the real world in digital form. It attempts to map real-world structures in a geographically accurate way. Mirror worlds offer a software model of real human environments and their workings.{{cite web | url = https://www.technologyreview.com/2007/06/18/272040/second-earth/| title= Second Earth| last = Roush| first = Wade| date = 2007-06-18 | website = MIT Technology Review}} It is very similar to the concept of a digital twin.{{cite web | url = https://www.wired.com/story/mirrorworld-ar-next-big-tech-platform/ | title= AR Will Spark the Next Big Tech Platform—Call It Mirrorworld| last = Kelly | first = Kevin | date = 2019-12-02 | website = Wired }}

The term in relation to digital media is coined by Yale University computer scientist David Gelernter. He first speaks of a hypothetical mirror world in 1991.Gelernter, D. Mirror Worlds: The Day Software Puts the Universe In a Shoebox... How it Will Happen and What It Will Mean?, 1991.