Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Matthew Ball on the metaverse: We've never seen a shift this enormous

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

Matthew Ball is a Amazon Video executive-turned-VC who has written a book on the metaverse, so it's not surprising to see him tout it as an enormous shift, comparing it to the launch of the internet itself. Maybe not. But the interview is useful in clearing up some misconceptions. For example,  the idea that the metaverse is immersive virtual reality. "That's an access device," he says. "It would be akin to saying the mobile internet is a smartphone." The metaverse is the interoperability (and hence, as I've said before, persistence of objects) between one virtual environment and another. This was the dream decades ago of interMUD and possibly an important innovation of the future. But this history tells me it won't be - can't be - one single company that implements it. Anyhow, this interview is far too short but still worth thinking about.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
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Last Updated: Dec 22, 2024 1:56 p.m.

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