'Father of the Metaverse' Neil Stephenson: The metaverse craze is exciting and confusing

The concept fire of the metaverse has spanned from 2021 to 2022, and many technology giants have successively entered the metaverse.

'Father of the Metaverse' Neil Stephenson: The metaverse craze is exciting and confusing

Earlier, Microsoft bought game developer Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, citing the so-called Metaverse, saying the deal would "provide the foundation for the Metaverse."

But what exactly is the metaverse? Opinions vary. In fact, the popular concept of the metaverse was proposed as early as 30 years ago, when it was still a science fiction concept.

In 1992, the famous American science fiction writer Neil Stephenson proposed the concept of the metaverse in his science fiction novel "Avalanche" and described the virtual world behind this concept. Of course, it's also mentioned in the book that there's chaos in the metaverse.

It has been 30 years since Avalanche was published, and many infrastructures of Stephenson's virtual world, such as social networks and artificial intelligence, have become a reality, and discussions in recent years about the infrastructure of the metaverse and whether the metaverse will cause chaos have also been discussed. increasing.

As the proponent of the concept of the metaverse, how does Neil Stephenson interpret the metaverse? The Beijing News reporter interviewed Neil Stephenson online to talk about his views on the pros, cons and development trends of the Metaverse.

The Development of the Metaverse: Exciting but Chaotic and Unpredictable

Beijing News: Now that a lot of money and technology are pouring into the Metaverse, how do you view the current phenomenon?

Neil Stephenson: The metaverse is a topic that excites a lot of companies because the metaverse is a new area where a lot of companies can develop new products to sell to consumers and profit from it.

Beijing News: What are the pros and cons of commercializing the concept of the Metaverse?

Neil Stephenson: We already know the pros and cons of the metaverse when combined with existing media technology.

The advantage of the metaverse is that you can communicate with people, get more information, try new games, etc. The disadvantage is that you may lose privacy, and you may lose social cohesion, because there is no consensus on what is true and what is false.

So my hope is that when the next generation of technology (metaverse) is unlocked, we can learn from the previous generation and try to do constructive and useful things with the new technology.

Beijing News: In your opinion, what is the development trend of the Metaverse?

Neil Stephenson: Now a lot of companies have started using the metaverse to describe their next-generation products, and a lot of that is marketing.

I think the metaverse will be an exciting new technology for some time to come. As people become more interested in and invest in the metaverse, there will be more types of products entering the market and more ideas to come.

But it can also be confusing and unpredictable. Some people may make a lot of money, some people may lose everything, and the ultimate winners are those companies that can provide products and services that solve problems and make consumers happy.

We cannot predict how the metaverse will develop, and we may be watching or participating in the coming years. So, opening the metaverse will be an adventure.

The Metaverse is a way for people to communicate