Alexander Savenkov Neal Stephenson, creator of the term “metaverse”, is not very bullish about its massive adoption anytime soon. That may come as a surprise given his role as co-founder of Lamina1, a blockchain metaverse company, but Stephenson believes that building experiences that millions of people consider worth having in virtual worlds is difficult. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at how the creator of the “Metaverse” term perceives its future adoption as well as how blockchain technology could potentially help speed up adoption.
Neal Stephenson’s Vision for the Future of Metaverse Adoption
Neal Stephenson is a celebrated author who is credited as being the creator of the general concept and term “metaverse”. This term refers to an online virtual world that interacts with the real world, connecting its inhabitants in ways that were previously impossible. It’s no surprise then that Stephenson has strong opinions on the future of the metaverse and he recently shared his thoughts on the matter.
When it comes to the future of metaverse adoption, Stephenson believes that mainstream adoption of the tech may be a way out, as the metaverse will need to offer quality experiences before becoming widely used. He believes the games industry will serve as the technological foundation for any future metaverse, since gaming technology has been heavily invested in by companies all over the world. The author cited John Carmack’s game Doom as one of the games that kickstarted the metaverse era.
Yet at the same time, according to Stephenson, creating worthy metaverse experiences for the masses can prove difficult, especially if they don’t have access to powerful hardware or software. To truly bring people into these virtual worlds, he recommends making them accessible and user-friendly and designing them such that users don’t have to have prior knowledge of computers or technology.
In conclusion, while Stephenson is optimistic about a possible future of metaverse adoption and integration with real life, he recognizes it will take time and effort to make it happen. He stresses that developers should focus on creating good experiences rather than rushing to churn out a product without proper thought put into it. Fortunately, advances in artificial intelligence and virtual reality are making this dream more likely every day.
Blockchain Interconnecting Virtual Worlds
Neal Stephenson, the creator of the term ‘Metaverse’, understands the natural relationship between the blockchain and these virtual worlds, which would enable them to be interconnected. He co-founded Lamina1 with the goal of setting a foundation for creating digital worlds. According to him, while designing a metaverse internally can be done centrally, moving data from world to world requires blockchain-based tools. He believes that people will move freely from one environment to another and it will require a decentralized network of interactions and financial transactions. In other words, he believes blockchain and decentralized finance are key to the metaverse being adopted on a massive scale.
The blockchain might be well-suited for this task due to its distributed ledger system, which guarantees the secure transfer of data from one application to another. This means that users could travel with their virtual assets from one world to another, as if they are just visiting different physical locations in our own world. For example, a user could purchase an item in marketplace A and take it with them when they move onto marketplace B. This type of free flow of data across multiple platforms is highly dependent on the security features that the blockchain provides.
Furthermore, blockchain-based applications have already found success in building digital currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. It’s plausible that virtual worlds can leverage this technology to create their own economies with its own currencies, rewards systems, markets and trading services. With this in mind, Neal Stephenson believes that one day we will be able to explore different universes using digital tokens created by a variety of blockchain protocols.
In conclusion, Neal Stephenson is not bullish about having mass adoption anytime soon but he has strong faith in the potential of blockchain technology and its ability to interconnect virtual worlds. He views it as an essential step in making his vision of metaverse a reality and firmly believes that it will provide many opportunities for people to explore new universes without having to worry about their data or assets being compromised.
In conclusion, Neal Stephenson’s vision for the future of Metaverse adoption is one that is slow-moving and slightly more complex than other virtual world concepts. He believes that the increase in blockchain technology, personal data privacy, and the ability to interact in a secure environment are all factors that will both shape and determine the way that these virtual worlds are adopted. While his view of the Metaverse is not as optimistic as some, it is still important to remember that he was one of the first to envision such a platform and encourages us to build on his original ideas to create something that is both secure, private, and engaging.
