Neal Stephenson on The Future of the Metaverse

a16z Podcast

a16z

Science, Innovation, Business, Entrepreneurship, Culture, Disruption, Software Eating The World, Technology

4.4 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 22 November 2022

⏱️ 78 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When Neal Stephenson coined “the metaverse” three decades ago, his book Snow Crash was found on the shelves of “science fiction”. While the book remains in that category, many of its concepts are now found in reality… Fast forward to 2022, where numerous companies are now building toward their version of the metaverse, including Neal himself – working on Lamina1 – a blockchain company oriented toward creators. While the present metaverses don’t perfectly mimic that from Stephenson’s early imagination, we get the unique opportunity to discuss the various design decisions that he’s making, but also the intersection between the metaverse and gaming, the involvement that AR/VR might play, the evolving role of IP, how artificial intelligence fits in, what he’s building and why, and where he gets all of his ideas from.

Transcript

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0:00.0	We absolutely do not need AR and VR in order to build the Metiverse.
0:07.0	I have a feeling you for the term Metiverse.
0:10.0	Well, that term is actually 30 years old, originally coined by Neil Stevenson in his book, Snow Crash.
0:15.0	Fast forward to 2022, and numerous companies are now building towards their version of the
0:19.8	Metiverse, including Neil himself, working on Lammono1, a blockchain company oriented around creators.
0:25.2	And while the present metaverse doesn't perfectly mimic what Stephen Sid had envisioned,
0:29.3	we had to bring him in to discuss the design decisions he's making, but also the evolving
0:33.4	intersection between the Metaverse and gaming, the involvement of AR and VR, the
0:37.6	evolving role of IP, artificial intelligence, and of course we had to ask
0:41.8	him where he gets all of his ideas from. I hope you enjoy this episode.
0:46.0	The content here is for informational purposes only should not be taken as legal business tax or investment advice or be used
0:54.6	to evaluate any investment or security and is not directed at any investors or potential investors
0:59.9	in any A16Z fund.
1:01.8	For more details please see A16Z.com slash disclosures. Hey Neil, welcome to the podcast.
1:15.0	It's great to be here.
1:19.0	Thanks for inviting me.
1:20.0	Well, it's really great to have you and I'm excited to talk about the
1:23.9	Metiverse, probably the topic you're sick of talking about at this point.
1:27.4	I've heard of it. You certainly have heard of it. You coined it around three
1:32.1	decades ago, so we will definitely be diving into that. But before we do, I wanted to get your take on a tweet that I saw recently. I actually saw it last week. And tweet says science fiction novelist is the highest impact
1:45.6	position in the tech industry and we'll be of course crediting Francois Chalet who said that but
1:55.4	what's your take on that? Any immediate reactions to that? It's an interesting take and I think there might be something to it. I've been talking
	...

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