Neal Stephenson, the author who coined the term “metaverse” 30 years ago, is launching a metaverse-focused blockchain project called LAMINA1.
He has also explained his vision of the metaverse, stating that the experience is likely to be geared more towards 2D flat screens than virtual reality or augmented reality technology.such as headphones and glasses, as in the model proposed by Meta and Microsoft.
Stephenson is a popular speculative fiction author who explored the concept of a virtual reality world called the Metaverse in his 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash.. Aside from writing, the 62-year-old was also the futuristic head of an augmented reality (AR) company called Magic between 2014 and 2020.
According to a Wednesday announcement from crypto investor and former president of the Bitcoin Foundation, Peter Vessenes, he and Stephenson have co-founded a new layer 1 blockchain called LAMINA1 which they hope will act as the “base layer for the Open Metaverse”.
“A place to build something a little closer to Neal’s vision: one that privileges creators, technicians and artists, one that provides support, spatial computing technology, and a community to support those who are building the Metaverse” wrote Vessenesadding that the network will “probably” be carbon negative.
Specific details of the project are scarce at the moment. However, Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin is a notable name in the list of early investors in the project.
Commenting on what the roles of the co-founders will be at LAMINA1, Vessenes stated:
“Neal brings his vision, his wisdom, his experience and some fundamental goals: to help artists and other value creators receive a fair compensation for their work, to help the environment […] and see how a true Open Metaverse is built instead of seeing the vision of the Metaverse co-opted by the monopolies.”
Vessenes noted that he will focus on getting blockchain off the ground quickly while working to get “the necessary governance, technology, node operators, IP partners, artists, business partners, and funding.”.
Stephenson’s 1992 novel describes the Metaverse as a virtual urban environment accessed via a worldwide network of fiber optics and VR headsets.. There are themes such as social inequalities, centralized control and constant advertisements, while the concept of virtual real estate also appears in the book.
Stephenson shared some thoughts on the metaverse on Twitter early Thursday; predicted that much of the metaverse will be created for screens and not VR headsets.
The assumption that the Metaverse is primarily an AR/VR thing isn’t crazy. In my book it’s all VR. And I worked for an AR company–one of several that are putting billions of dollars into building headsets. But…
—Neal Stephenson (@nealstephenson) June 8, 2022
The assumption that the Metaverse is primarily an AR/VR thing is not crazy. In my opinion, everything is VR. And I’ve worked for an AR company, one of several that are pouring billions of dollars into building headsets. But…
Stephenson noted that when he first wrote on the subject three decades ago, he did not anticipate high-quality video games reaching consumers on a massive scale in the future.:
“Thanks to games, billions of people feel comfortable navigating 3D environments on 2D flat screens. The user interfaces they dominate (eg WASD + mouse) are not what most science fiction writers would have predicted. But that’s how path dependency works in technology.”
The author went on to add that modern game development remains screen oriented, both for developer and consumer, and that in any case a hybrid approach will be used for the Metaverse encompassing both 2D screens and AR/VR technology, in versus pure VR.
“We fluidly navigate and interact with extremely rich 3D environments using keyboards that were designed for mechanical typewriters. It’s steampunk come true. A metaverse that sidelined those users and the developers who build those experiences would be starting off on the wrong foot.” “, said.
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