12 When technology cynics hear the words, “The Metaverse”, they tend to roll their eyes. They might think the phrase comes with its own set of scare quotes to indicate how unrealistic, how college-dormroom-esque it is, or how much of a joke the concept seems to be. The technology cynics might then point out how, among the entrepreneurs and businessmen who employ the term, there is no one consistent definition of it. The phrase means different things to different executives, and it often seems to suit their own business ventures. To Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, the Metaverse will transform the “entire world into an app canvas”, and to Meta CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, the real-life application will be seen in immersive virtual reality. Meanwhile, out of the mouths of other aspirant tech executives and arrivistes, the phrase sounds like hollow buzzwords. As writer and tech analyst Matthew Ball points out, the concept of the Metaverse has its own rich history. With his book The Metaverse: And How It Will Revolutionize Everything (352 pgs, Liveright, 2022, $30), Ball offers a definitive account of what the Metaverse is and what will be required to realize the concept into the future. Ball serves as the CEO of Epyllion, a holding company that focuses on angel investments, advisory services, and the production of television, film, and video games. He also serves as a venture partner at Makers Fund, senior advisor to investment management company KKR, senior advisor to management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, and sits on the boards of several start-ups. Divided into three parts, his recent book builds on a series of his online essays on the Metaverse, which he started back in 2018, and introduces a brief history of the concept, sketches out the various structural and logistical components required, and considers the implications of how this new online landscape might impact society and the world we live in. The origins of the Metaverse begin in science fiction literature. The term itself, as Ball points out, was attributed to sci-fi writer Neal Stephenson, whose 1992 novel Snow Crash described the Metaverse as a virtual world alongside the real one. The concept arises in different forms even earlier in other gems from the sci-fi and speculative literature genres, including Stanley G. Weinbaum’s 1935 short story “Pygmalion’s Spectacle”, Ray Bradbury’s 1950 short story “The Veldt”, and Philip K. Dick’s 1953 story “The Trouble with Bubbles”, among others. Outside of the imagination of writers, there have been other attempts at building limited versions of the Metaverse, from text-based virtual worlds from the 1970s to more contemporary virtual world platforms such as Minecraft and Roblox, both of which have been successful popular entertainment outlets. With all of these various ideas around the subject, Ball acknowledges that much of the public discourse around the Metaverse is hazy and divergent. That’s why he proposes a definition: “A massively scaled and interoperable network of real-time rendered 3D virtual worlds that 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.” The italicized terms become key points in his definition of the Metaverse, and he builds on these terms as his criteria for the Metaverse as a set of specific technologies and features that create the experience. One of the most interesting parts of the book looks at the organizational and technological requirements to construct and maintain the Metaverse on a large scale. Such a project would require complex networking and computing capabilities, as well as intensive game engines and platforms for users to operate in the virtual worlds that would make up the Metaverse. In the chapters devoted to these ideas, Ball looks at real-world examples from the video game and software industries, wherein these more recent case studies suggest possibilities and solutions for the Metaverse. After reading The Metaverse, one has the sense that Ball is not such a starry-eyed idealist that he can’t see problems with the Metaverse.“Whatmakestechnologicaltransformation difficult to predict is the reality that it is caused not by any one invention, innovation, or individual, but instead requires many changes to come together.” In addition to the scope of constructing the Metaverse, Ball has acknowledged how it might raise new questions around data rights and usage, regulation, misinformation, and how private corporations and governments access personal data. Ball has written a comprehensive primer that outlines the history of the concept of the Metaverse. In some ways, The Metaverse is also his call to a shared vision of the future and asks not only tech aficionados but also leaders in various industries to join in. “The only way to prepare for what is coming is to focus on the specific technologies and features that together comprise it”, he writes. “Put another way, we have to define the Metaverse.” Tech entrepreneur and adviser Matthew Ball presents a clear-eyed proposal for the future of the Metaverse and explains what it actually is. Exploring the Metaverse: The Next Evolutionary Step of the Internet October 2023 Book Review By Luis Polanco What makes technological transformation dif cult to predict is the reality that it is caused not by any one invention ... but instead requires many changes to come together.
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