While most people associate the metaverse with Mark Zuckerberg, author Neal Stephenson invented the word in one of his books. Now, it seems that the author is interested in the online platform, announcing massive plans for his own virtual world.
Admittedly, it’s always a bit worrisome to hear about someone advocating the metaverse, even if it’s from the word’s creator. Still, Stephenson has some hope about differentiating his version of the platform when compared to Meta, Roblox, and other companies.
Neal Stephenson opens up his own metaverse
Revealed by Wired, Neal Stephenson will be opening his own version of the metaverse called Lamina1 with Bitcoin’s Peter Vessenes. Interestingly enough, the goal is to create an open metaverse platform that is more decentralized than everything from major companies.
Vessenes does acknowledge some of the skepticism surrounding the news, with people afraid that this is just a cash grab. The head of Bitcoin claims that this is a concentrated effort to give people an open-source blockchain alternative.
“That’s potentially the first question: Is Neal selling his brand out to some fucking metaverse company?” says Vessenes. “But when people talk to us they conclude this is a principled effort.”
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What does Stephenson think?
Naturally, there are comments from Neal Stephenson himself and the man is hoping that his metaverse lives up to the hype. Like Vessenes’ comments, Stephenson really wants people to believe that this is being made as an alternative and not for greed.
“If there’s going to be an open source blockchain alternative for people who want to build metaverse stuff, what would that look like?” says Stephenson. “What characteristics would it have as a technology and a social organization?”
Whether it's being made for money or intent, Stephenson’s upcoming Lamina1 is something to look out for.