Neal Stephenson explains: What is the metaverse?

a16z2023-01-14

2K views|1 years ago

💫 Short Summary

The concept of the metaverse is causing confusion and disagreement, with some seeing it as future advancements and others including current online activities. The focus is on a singular metaverse with various experiences interconnected for a cohesive online space. Companies are exploring and developing the metaverse, with games like Fortnite, Roblox, and Minecraft offering glimpses of metaverse-like experiences. Collaboration among companies with massive user bases is crucial for bridging different virtual experiences, leading to an inevitable evolution towards a unified online space.

✨ Highlights

📊 Transcript

✦

Confusion and disagreement surrounding the concept of the metaverse.

00:29

Some believe it refers to future advancements, while others think it includes current online activities.

Emphasis on the idea of a singular metaverse with different experiences within it.

Interoperability between experiences is crucial for creating a cohesive metaverse.

Various companies are exploring and developing the metaverse concept to create a unified online space for different interactions and experiences.

✦

The Evolution of the Metaverse

03:17

The metaverse is evolving without a centralized authority, through ad hoc arrangements of people working together.

Games like Fortnite, Roblox, and Minecraft provide examples of metaverse-like experiences.

Companies with large user bases and revenue are expected to lead the development of the metaverse.

Collaboration among these companies is essential for connecting different virtual experiences in the metaverse.

00:02this idea of the metaverse and many

00:05people are using this term I think

00:07there's a degree of disalignment in

00:09terms of what the hell that actually

00:11means I mean to give a couple examples

00:13are we in the metaverse as we're

00:15recording this conversation if there's

00:17an online auction is that in the

00:18metaverse if I'm staring at my phone for

00:21an hour intently watching Tick Tock am I

00:24in the metaverse and so as someone who

00:26coined the term and I know not everyone

00:28will agree with your definition or your

00:29perspective but I am curious to hear

00:31from you what do you think of as the

00:34metaverse per se in general to address

00:37the specific things that you mentioned

00:40um I think anything that's being used a

00:42lot today

00:44um uh probably is not very metaverse

00:48like because in general when people talk

00:50about the metaverse they're talking

00:51about the next thing that's coming along

00:53and so if it exists today that suggests

00:57that maybe it's a pre largely a

00:58pre-metaverse thing but there are some

01:01exceptions that we can talk about in

01:03certain kinds of games and other

01:04experiences

01:06uh that I think are kind of on-ramps you

01:09know one of my one of the most basic

01:11ones is do we talk about the metaverse

01:14for it metaverse says plural and um so

01:19my my colleague Tony Parisi has got

01:22seven rules of the metaverse and rule

01:25number one is that there's only the

01:28metaverse there's not a bunch of meta

01:30verses so that for me is a strong

01:33indicator if I see someone talking about

01:36our metaverse or a metaverse yeah I

01:40immediately begin to question whether

01:42they really got it whereas if somebody

01:45talks about Arts the thing what we're

01:47building in the metaverse

01:49that gives me more of a warm feeling

01:51about what they're doing and I think

01:54that's because a central idea of the

01:57metaverse at least in the book is that

01:59there is just one of them and that

02:01doesn't mean that it's all kind of the

02:03same thing everywhere far from it it's a

02:06incredibly diverse range of experiences

02:09but you can always get from one to the

02:11other

02:13by moving around in a single unitary

02:16space right there's a degree of

02:17interoperability right between one and

02:20another I'm curious to hear your

02:22perspective on that though because I

02:24guess your point is that we haven't made

02:26it to the metaverse yet but many of the

02:30on-ramps you could say now whether it's

02:31gaming or social or degrees of immersion

02:34that we have online don't really have

02:37these connections right so so many of

02:39them are disparate from one another and

02:42so do you think that will change I know

02:44we're going to get into your company

02:45lamina one and I know there's other

02:47efforts by by parties in quote unquote

02:50the metaverse space I think there was a

02:51Consortium of 37 companies recently that

02:53came together to discuss this

02:55but to get back to the question do you

02:59see this changing because this has not

03:00been the precedent in the last you know

03:02couple decades I do see it changing

03:05there's not going to be one top-down big

03:08boss that says here's how it's all going

03:10to work it's going to be some ad hoc

03:12Arrangements of people trying to work

03:14together I think that the closest things

03:17that we currently can see to metaverse

03:19like experiences are games like fortnite

03:22Roblox Minecraft where you've got a

03:25bunch of people running around in a

03:27space they're all experiencing the same

03:30space at the same time I mean there

03:32might be shards

03:34um but but the idea is there that you're

03:37you're going to a place and you're

03:40sharing it with other people they've got

03:42huge user bases and and because of the

03:45the revenue that that those generate and

03:48just the sheer amount of experience that

03:50those companies can rack up by running

03:53those operations from day to day you

03:55know they're kind of the leading

03:57candidates for coming together to build

03:59metaverse type experiences and I know

04:01that they're all actively thinking about

04:04this and how to do it and I suspect that

04:06they're talking to one another about how

04:08do we build a bridge from our game or

04:11our experience to your game so that

04:14person could go from one to the other it

04:17may take some years to to really come

04:20together but but I think it will come

04:23together and um you know I'm excited to

04:27uh to see it happen and maybe be part of

04:29it

04:33[Music]

04:48thank you

04:49[Music]

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