The interview is coming, how does the "father of the metaverse" see today's "meta-universe" boom?

The development of the metaverse: exciting but chaotic and unpredictable.

The full text is 1630 words, and it takes about 3 minutes to read

Beijing News reporter Zhu Yuehong Yao Yuan Editor Fan Yijing Proofreader Wu Xingfa

Nearly $70 billion! Microsoft announced the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which will become the third-highest-grossing gaming company in the world. Beijing News Our Video Production (ID: wevideo)

The concept of the metaverse has crossed from 2021 to 2022, and many technology giants have entered the metacosm.

Earlier, Microsoft bought game developer Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion on the grounds of the so-called metacosm, saying the deal would "provide the foundation for the metacosm."

But what exactly is the metaverse? Accounts differ and opinions vary. In fact, the concept of the current hot metaverse, which was proposed as early as 30 years ago, was still a science fiction concept at that time.

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

Thirty years after Avalanche was published, much of the infrastructure of Stephenson's virtual world, such as social networks and artificial intelligence, has become a reality, and in recent years there has been a growing discussion about the infrastructure of the metacosm and whether the metacosm will cause chaos.

As the proposer of the concept of metacosm, how does Neil Stephenson interpret the metacosm? The Beijing News reporter interviewed Neil Stephenson to talk about his views on the pros and cons and development trends of the meta-universe.

▲ Interview with American science fiction writer Neil Stephenson, who proposed the concept of metacosm. / The Beijing News knows that the video is produced

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The development of the metaverse: exciting but chaotic and unpredictable

Beijing News: Now that a lot of money and technology are pouring into the meta-universe, how do you think about the current phenomenon?

Neil Stephenson: Metacosms are a topic that excites many companies because metacosms are a new field where many companies can develop new products to sell to consumers and profit from.

Beijing News: What are the pros and cons of commercialization of the meta-universe concept?

Neil Stephenson: Combined with existing media technologies, we already understand the pros and cons of the metaverse.

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

So I hope that when we start the next generation of technology (the metaverse), we can learn from the previous generation of technology and try to use new technologies to do something constructive and useful.

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

Neil Stephenson: A lot of companies are starting to use metacosms to describe their next-generation products, and a lot of that is marketing.

I think the metaverse will be exciting new technology for some time to come. As people become more interested in the metaverse and invest in it, more types of products will enter the market in the future and are committed to providing more ideas.

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

We have no way of predicting how the metaverse will develop, and we may or may participate in the coming years. Therefore, opening the metaverse will be an adventure.

The metacosm is a way for people to communicate

Beijing News: In 1992, you created the concept of the metacosm and the virtual world behind it. What inspired you at the time?

Neil Stephenson: At the time, I was going to do an art project with computer 3D graphics, but computer equipment was very expensive, and I wondered if there was any way to buy a computer cheaply.

Later it was the change in the price of the TV that inspired me. Televisions were once expensive, but when TV shows like "I Love Lucy" became so popular that many people flocked to buy them to watch the shows, televisions became cheaper. I wondered, do computers follow the same principle?

Thus, the concept of the metacosm was born. I propose the concept of a "metacosm" that requires the help of computer programming. If the metaverse can attract as many people as TV shows, it can prompt more people to buy computers, make computers cheaper, and I can buy cheap computers.

Beijing News: Metacosm is a virtual online world where people can interact through virtual avatars (or "avatars"). Can something you create with the help of virtual avatars in the metaverse be used in the real world?

Neil Stephenson: Everything in the metaverse is virtual. Unless you use some new technology to create a way to connect, you can't connect directly to the real world. However, connecting the real world is not what we created the metaverse for.

Beijing News: In your initial vision, there were various problems in the metaverse. How did you envision these questions at the time? Are these problems expected to be solved?

Neil Stephenson: I'm a novelist, and my job is to tell interesting stories that people enjoy reading, and some of the ideas aren't quite realistic.

Often, to tell a good story, there needs to be drama, such as the hero must face and overcome challenges, which will make the story more exciting. In Avalanche, there are situations, such as computer viruses, and dangerous situations that I describe in the book, to make the story more interesting and exciting to read, but these situations are not exactly realistic.