Neal Stephenson's Lamina1 Launches Fund to Invest in Open Metaverse Projects (businesswire.com) 25
Neal Stephenson coined the phrase "metaverse" in his 1992 book Snow Crash. 30 years later, Stephenson is part of a blockchain startup "optimized for the Open Metaverse" called Lamina1. This week they announced their "first-of-its-kind fund" for investing in early stage Layer 1 blockchain projects ("largely focused" on the Open Metaverse).
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The goal is "to provide broad economic access to global accredited investors looking to support the next era of the internet," according to the announcement — and to also provide Web3 builders "a vehicle for raising capital for their Open Metaverse ventures." The fund will be led by Lamina1's co-founder Peter Vessenes (who, among other things, was the first Chairman of the Bitcoin foundation), "offering investors a chance to join him at the forefront of the emerging Open Metaverse economy..."
"Investors and builders can both apply to participate immediately." The fund launch will be closely followed by the much-anticipated launch of Lamina1's testnet.... The L1EF fund works by allowing accredited investors to access and co-invest in companies and entrepreneurs through quarterly subscriptions.
Investments will be largely focused on the technology and experiences users can access in the Open Metaverse, ranging from immersive computing to open AI at scale. To support the rapid advancement and expansion of the Open Metaverse, L1EF is simultaneously focused on investing in builders and creators who will foster the quality tech and infrastructure necessary to support the protocol, and create immersive experiences that bring Lamina1's vision of an Open Metaverse to life. Some of these early stage projects include layer 2 protocols, DeFi, GameFi, marketplaces, bridges, and many more.
"We're thrilled to introduce L1EF to serve both creators and investors who are actively promoting the development of an Open Metaverse," said Rebecca Barkin, President of Lamina1. "Peter has a deep understanding and demonstrated success of growing economies around a chain, and his approach to grant builders early access to capital — right as we're preparing to place testnet in their hands — is in perfect alignment with our mission to build the open infrastructure that brings together the most powerful creative community on the planet...."
In addition to capital, projects that are part of L1EF will receive early access and support for Lamina1 developer tooling through the forthcoming Lamina1 Early Access Program.
"The team has a front row seat to all happening in the ecosystem," Vessenes said this week, "and essentially gets a 'first look' at what many of the most compelling creators and storytellers of our time are doing, building, making, and producing around the world.
"We want to share that front row seat with as many people as possible."
In 2004 Neal Stephenson answered questions from Slashdot's readers.
The goal is "to provide broad economic access to global accredited investors looking to support the next era of the internet," according to the announcement — and to also provide Web3 builders "a vehicle for raising capital for their Open Metaverse ventures." The fund will be led by Lamina1's co-founder Peter Vessenes (who, among other things, was the first Chairman of the Bitcoin foundation), "offering investors a chance to join him at the forefront of the emerging Open Metaverse economy..."
"Investors and builders can both apply to participate immediately." The fund launch will be closely followed by the much-anticipated launch of Lamina1's testnet.... The L1EF fund works by allowing accredited investors to access and co-invest in companies and entrepreneurs through quarterly subscriptions.
Investments will be largely focused on the technology and experiences users can access in the Open Metaverse, ranging from immersive computing to open AI at scale. To support the rapid advancement and expansion of the Open Metaverse, L1EF is simultaneously focused on investing in builders and creators who will foster the quality tech and infrastructure necessary to support the protocol, and create immersive experiences that bring Lamina1's vision of an Open Metaverse to life. Some of these early stage projects include layer 2 protocols, DeFi, GameFi, marketplaces, bridges, and many more.
"We're thrilled to introduce L1EF to serve both creators and investors who are actively promoting the development of an Open Metaverse," said Rebecca Barkin, President of Lamina1. "Peter has a deep understanding and demonstrated success of growing economies around a chain, and his approach to grant builders early access to capital — right as we're preparing to place testnet in their hands — is in perfect alignment with our mission to build the open infrastructure that brings together the most powerful creative community on the planet...."
In addition to capital, projects that are part of L1EF will receive early access and support for Lamina1 developer tooling through the forthcoming Lamina1 Early Access Program.
"The team has a front row seat to all happening in the ecosystem," Vessenes said this week, "and essentially gets a 'first look' at what many of the most compelling creators and storytellers of our time are doing, building, making, and producing around the world.
"We want to share that front row seat with as many people as possible."
In 2004 Neal Stephenson answered questions from Slashdot's readers.
Oh god no, hey buddy (Score:5, Insightful)
Buddy, you're probably the best science fiction author of all time, but that doesn't make you a coder, or a savvy businessman, or a skilled grifter. This is likely to explode in your face. It's certainly not going to lead to you existing at the top of a sci-fi pyramid being kept alive immortal in your own personal cyberspace funded by the fortune you made from crypto. You'll wind up in a prison cell or, much more likely, outmaneuvered and fleeced by whoever's actually running the scam at the company. You'll lose a big chunk of money and and even bigger chunk of your reputation.
Pull up, pull up. Danger. Danger.
Re: (Score:2)
Was gonna ask, do you think Hiro Protagonist or Da5id invested?
Re: (Score:2)
In life, as with his (otherwise engrossing) fiction, Stephenson could use an editor.
Re: (Score:3)
It is not an unusual behavior, Samuel Clemens lost his ass on a number of speculative ventures [time.com] .
Would you demand that all creative sorts curb their tongue, or just Stephenson?
Re: Oh god no, hey buddy (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe you should get on the phone with Arthur C Clarke who held satellite communications patents based on a paper he wrote in 1945 [archive.org]
fwiw Stephenson has been kind of a thought leader in this area and has every right to capitalize on his prior art
Re: (Score:2)
you're probably the best science fiction author of all time
Of course, tastes differ, but I'd challenge that. Stephenson has too much trouble writing endings to be the best of all time. Maybe half of his books - for example Diamond Age, Cryptonomicon, even Seveneves or Anathem had poor or confusing endings. He's good, no doubt, maybe one of the best, but I don't personally see him as "the best of all times".
Re: (Score:2)
imo Stephenson does not write endings as much as lead-ins into future novelizations
Whole lotta BuzzwordsCrash.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Insert latest buzzwords from 30 years ago.
Mix until shaken.
Awake in 2022.
To No Particular Advantage (Score:5, Insightful)
https://www.shamusyoung.com/tw... [shamusyoung.com]
John Business returns to his printed notes. “When a visitor clicks on an item on a shelf, can we have it fall into their shopping trolley?”
I somehow resist the urge to make a horrified face at the suggestion.
People are going to push shopping carts around your virtual mall? Doesn’t that have the stench of low-end shopping? Will the carts collide with shelves? If so, then people WILL get stuck, frustrated, and log out without buying anything.If not, then expect people to navigate as if the cart didn’t exist, which means they will constantly end up clipping into walls. Everywhere you go, you’ll have the front ends of shopping carts peeking at you through walls and shelves. In addition to being really ugly and immersion-breaking, this will be confusing to people. And don’t even get me started on the ways people might confuse or harass each other with them. What if I leave a store without paying? Does my cart vanish, or is it cleared? Will the items be restored if I return later? We need to figure out what the “expected behavior” is going to be before we know how to design this.
Isn’t the advantage of a VIRTUAL mall the fact that you don’t need to worry about the physical hassles of carrying items? I know in your head you’re picturing people simply replicating real-world behavior, but that’s not going to happen. People will act in ways that don’t make sense. What if I click on an item that’s nowhere near my cart? Should the item fly across the room and land in the cart? If so, then expect new users to be confused by random items flying all over the place. Or you can give them an error message telling them to move closer. That will stop the flying merchandise, but now you’re inconveniencing people trying to buy stuff.
How will they get items back out again? Physics engines that operate in a shared space are years away, so making them rummage around a pile of loose items won’t work. What if they want to remove an item from the cart and it’s buried under others? What happens if I go to the other side of the store and then remove the item? Should it fly across the store to where it belongs, or should we replicate the real world where fickle shoppers constantly scramble your inventory by abandoning items in random parts of the store? Or should it just poof away?
What I actually said:
“Sort of. We can show an object falling into the cart.”
“But will the object disappear off the shelf?” This point seem to be awfully important to him.
You... you want to create a virtual store with scarcity?
The point of course is when Amazon or Buy.com stripped stuff away from the buying experience, it was usually for the better. Imagine having to create a 3D model of your product (instead of just taking some pictures) before you could sell it.
More generally, why is it better to do anything in a metaverse? At least the virtual store would presumably work on normal computer, without an expensive accesory that blinds you to the real world.
Re: (Score:3)
I wonder if those virtual shopping carts will have virtual broken wheels too. And virtual slanted floors that make carts roll on their own, like one corner of a thrift store I visit regularly. It makes as much sense as having to virtually walk down a virtual hallway to get to the product instead of just showing it on your screen when you search for it.
I'll stick with the "meatverse" for now. The best part is how you don't have to wear a display on your head.
Never assume great people remain great forever (Score:2)
The genius author who (almost) singlehandedly defined cyberpunk and brought so much joy to generations of readers turns out to be...
Stephenson is part of a blockchain startup
Lamina1 is a Layer 1 blockchain optimized for the Open Metaverse. The brainchild of legendary futurist Neal Stephenson
...a mediocre moron.
Never assume their fantasies make a great person. (Score:2)
Never assume great entertainments reflect a great person.
The sensitivity which often helps make great artists can be a mental liability in real life. We can enjoy their FANTASIES (caps for emphasis because some people take fiction far too seriously out of psychological weakness) without imagining those are more than that or that they themselves are useful for anything but their amusing dreams.
I admire only actions, not humans. I don't need heroes but I'm an adult not a child and hold childish things in prop
Re:Never assume great people remain great forever (Score:4, Informative)
(almost) singlehandedly defined cyberpunk
Neal Stephenson single-handedly defined cyberpunk? Certainly not. Cyberpunk was a vigorous artistic movement, in literature, comics and movies years before Stephenson came on the scene.
I'd say the one who defined literary cyberpunk in its modern form is William Gibson, with Burning Chrome, Neuromancer, Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive, all published in the eighties. Also in the eighties, Ridley Scott directed the cyberpunk movie Blade Runner. Steampunk originated well before Stephenson too - Tim Powers, James P. Blaylock and others were already writing steampunk in the eighties, and Gibson (together with Bruce Sterling) wrote The Difference Engine in 1990 - a time when Stephenson was writing environmentalist thrillers. Stephenson only started writing cyberpunk in the nineties, with Snow Crash published in 1992.
Not open (Score:4, Insightful)
In an Open Metaverse I do not have to pay a single entity to get access to it. In an open world I can create my own thing, and connect to it.
Re: (Score:2)
Out of his element (Score:4, Informative)
Ten years back he tried to make a video game based on sword fighting like in Snow Crash. It was named Clang and it raised a half million on Kickstarter. It cratered. Then he was part of Magic Leap for a half dozen or so years. 20 years ago he was part of Blue Origin for a stint. I have no idea what he actually brought to either of these two companies but he did make some interesting works using what he learned there (New Found Land and Seveneves, respectively). He even wrote an interesting video game related book in the middle of the Clang effort (REAMDE). Yes, spelled like that. It makes sense if you read it.
Now he is doing blockchain for some reason. I expect similar results. A few years (or maybe only months, with the way crypto is going) of press releases, no real products, a smoking crater, and an entertaining book a year or three after that. I like his stuff and it is sure to be an interesting read, so I'll be sure to pick it up.
oof (Score:2)
For heavens sake, ditch the blockchain! (Score:5, Insightful)
Free Open Megaverse protocol with FOSS clients pushed by Neal Stephenson? Nice.
But please, for the love of God, unless you're rebuilding DNS, stay away from blockchain, it has very little utility except for very narrow and marginal applications. And it epically sucks as a currency too. ... I so wish this inane blochchain hype would finally die.
And do check out the Verse protocol project from ~20 years ago, it had some touching points with the blender project and is basically a Second Life 2.0 FOSS protocol for this exact sort of thing. ...
And have Eskil Steenberg of the loqarou and Love MMORPG projects build the UI.
Re: (Score:3)
Pretty clear he just signed his name away for a check, nothing will change. What needs to happen is that someone finds some way to pay for some high quality devs and content creators for OpenSim, but dress it up like a cryptoscam. Instead of a zero sum cryptoscam which produces nothing of value, like all the existing metaverse cryptoscams with terrible code and content, we need to get something useful out of it.
I still think a high production quality VR Second Life could pull in a lot of cash, not enough fo
share that front row seat (Score:3)
"We want to share that front row seat with as many people as possible."
Yes, both of them.
Let's combine two failures, VR AND crypto (Score:5, Funny)
This is the worst combination imaginable (Score:3)