Wagner James Au / New World Notes

Image credit: Christopher Michel

While it's true that Metaverse developers typically dismiss the technology's dystopian origins, it does not therefore follow that the Metaverse's original creator, Neal Stephenson, considers the technology itself to be dystopian. That was implied in a recent Vice essay, and now more recently by The New Yorker's Kyle Chayka, who tweeted, "[W]henever some tech person says 'the metaverse' please remember that the term was coined by Neal Stephenson in 1992 to describe an exploitative, corporatized, hierarchical space that ultimately kinda sucks."

Not exactly and not necessarily, especially the "sucks" piece. Because in 2014, I asked Neal Stephenson what he thought about companies like Facebook/Oculus referencing the Metaverse as their end goal.

Here's my entire exchange with him on the topic, including my questions:

What do you think about the fact that the leaders of Oculus Rift are explicitly trying to create the Metaverse with their technology?

"Metaverse" has turned into a sort of golem, capable of wandering the earth on its own, out of the purview of its creator. So I am always surprised to see where it turns up and what it's doing. Ten years ago that wasn't the case. Anyone who wanted to use it in front of a normal audience would have had to say "Metaverse, an idea from the novel Snow Crash." Twenty years ago, they'd have had to add, "a novel by Neal Stephenson." Now apparently "Metaverse" can stand up on its own three feet and lumber about, at least in the setting of tech blogs. That is the kind of event that many writers hope will happen at least once in their career. It is gratifying. 

 

I have known Michael since his days working on the Xbox and I can't think of anyone better qualified to be the chief scientist on a project like this. [Michael Abrash is chief scientist at Oculus and referenced the Metaverse when he joined the company. -  WJA] He has a rare combination of being wishful but never engaging in wishful thinking. I don't know the other participants, but the fact that they hired him suggests they understand the nature of the challenges that are facing them.