[Podcast] Exploring a Betterverse with Bill Johnston & Dr. Lauren Vargas
The current Metaverse is a mirage. The pursuit of the Metaverse vision could lead us to a better Internet.
On the first episode of Season 3 of the Cohere podcast, we (Bill Johnston and Dr. Lauren Vargas) frame of this season’s topic: the Metaverse.
As they did with “community”, Facebook’s announcement of the company’s move to focus on the Metaverse, and rebranding to “Meta”, set off a frenzy of conversation, speculation, and investment. Made in a move remarkably similar to their 2017 announcement that Facebook was a “community” company, it remains to be seen if Meta follows through with creating their version of the Metaverse. It is interesting to note that Zuck’s “Community” announcement from 2017 appears to have been taken down at some point in the past year (archive.org version here).
But this season of Cohere isn’t about Meta. It’s also not (solely) about VR, AR, XR, or related Web3 technologies - it is about the combinatorial effects all of these technologies and trends interacting to shape the next generation of the Internet, and more importantly, how we create a better Internet that is safe, equitable, accessible and inspires the best of human nature instead of exploiting the worst.
There is a lot of hype and insider-drama around the topic of ‘web3’ and all it may entail. As people who helped shape ‘web 2.0’, we are curious about how we might take a more considered and thoughtful approach to the role of exponential technologies and get curious about how people are shaped by and are shaping what comes next.
In this episode, we breakdown key terms and concepts we will be discussing this season.
Key Quotes:
“My number one concern right now is that for this next wave of internet experiences and technologies, which we’re loosely bundling as “the metaverse”, I’m worried we’re going to take bad habits, bad practice and bad actors forward with us into this (new) world.
And this is a break point in my opinion, and this is a tremendous opportunity to reset a lot of things.
That’s why I’m digging in and why I care. ”
Definitions shared in this episode:
Metaverse: “The Metaverse is a massively scaled and interoperable network of real-time rendered 3D virtual worlds which can be experienced synchronously and persistently by an effectively unlimited number of users with an individual sense of presence, and with continuity of data, such as identity, history, entitlements, objects, communications, and payments.” - Matthew Ball, The Metaverse Primer
(Web1, Web2) Web3 “is an idea for a new iteration of the World Wide Web based on the blockchain, which incorporates concepts including decentralization and token-based economics.” in contrast to Web 1.0 refers roughly to the period from 1991 to 2004, where most websites were static webpages, and the vast majority of users were consumers, not producers, of content.[8][9] Web 2.0 is based around the idea of "the web as platform"[10] and centers on user-created content uploaded to social media and networking services, blogs, and wikis, among other services.[11] Web 2.0 is generally considered to have begun around 2004 and continues to the current day.[10][12][6] - Wikipedia
Blockchain: A blockchain is a growing list of digital records, called blocks, that are linked together using cryptography (secure communication in the presence of adversarial behavior.) The blockchain is distributed across a network, maintained by an anonymized peer group and the incentive structures for hosting and validating blocks are designed to reach consensus in a zero-trust environment. - Wikipedia
Crypto / Cryptocurrency: a digital currency designed to work as a medium of exchange through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. - Wikipedia
Note: One primary use case of cryptocurrency incentivizes chain-related functions (validating / mining, curating, maintenance) - BillDigital identity: set of validated digital attributes and credentials for the digital world, similar to a person's identity for the real world. - Thales Group
Resources from this episode:
The False Promise of Web3 - No Mercy No Malice
Digital identity trends – 5 forces that are shaping 2022 - Thales
10 NFT collection communities compared! - Community Coach
NFTs in 2021 by the numbers - NFT Now
Regulate the Metaverse - Louis Rosenburg
Advertising in the Metaverse - Ad Tech Explained
Andy Warhol, Clay Christensen, and Vitalik Buterin walk into a bar - Tim O’Reilly
What Studying Consciousness Can Reveal about AI and the Metaverse (with Anil Seth) - The Exponential View podcast w/ Azeem Azhar
The Metaverse Primer - Matthew Ball
Pace Layering: How Complex Systems Learn and Keep Learning - Stewart Brand
Curated Articles (the big list)
We’ve been curating a list of articles related to the metaverse since Q2 of 2021. To get access to the list, we are doing a Web3 experiment of sorts. The file with 150+ articles and abstracts can be downloaded for free and is pinned on the IPFS (Interplanetary File System). If you are unfamiliar with IPFS, this resource will get you started. If you are familiar, the file’s CID is bafybeibb5z4lbk6lckqbdvfvq4mhmjaj5xgply3rq6pxlk2yjpf7qo5v24 .
Please send me a note and let me know about your experience downloading the file.
Metaverse Working Group
During the show, we mentioned convening a small workgroup for discussion, learning and sensemaking. If you would be interested in participating, please fill out the short form here to be considered.
