The metaverse was created by Neal Stephenson, at least in terms of imagination. Although earlier science fiction authors had similar concepts, Stephenson’s 1992 book Snow Crash presented the notion of fleeing to a realm where digital replaced the physical with a name.
Yet, Stephenson’s ambient, persistent, and immersive alt-reality suddenly gained notoriety as the cutting edge of computing in the latter part of last year. The term “metaverse” gained popularity, and Big Tech rushed to commercialize it. Most notably, Facebook changed its name to Meta after investing billions in its Reality Laboratories. Suddenly, everyone from Microsoft to Amazon is developing a metaverse strategy, despite the fact that the enabling technologies are still out of reach.
“Monopolization in the Metaverse must be Avoided at all Costs”
Yet there’s an odd turn here. Now that he has entered the market, Stephenson is offering his own interpretation of how his fantastical idea may develop into a real-life make-believe universe. He’s collaborating with the chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation, Peter Vessenes, a cryptocurrency enthusiast, to launch Lamina1, a business that aims to provide a framework on which innovators may construct an open metaverse.
An uncomfortable recurring theme in the development of computing technology has been pressuring consumers and developers to take sides. In other instances, platforms have completely controlled a market, restricting innovation and simply plain usefulness by excluding competitors. This would be a catastrophe if it happened to the metaverse. The world in which we live, work, and play would be physically owned by a corporation that controlled the metaverse.
Lamina1 and Neal Stephenson are Working Towards a Common Goal
Lamina1 is striving to stay away from that. In the end, a single metaverse should exist, just like there is a single internet, according to both Stephenson and Vessenes. Yet that metaverse needs to be adaptable enough to support a wide range of experiences and virtual worlds. ”If there’s going to be an open source blockchain alternative for people who want to build metaverse stuff, what would that look like?” states Stephenson.
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