metaverse

As VR technology inches forward, completely new experiences loom on the horizon.

In today’s episode, we expose listeners to the very real-world use cases already present on these devices, from fitness to education.

First up is Gym Class VR, one of the top-rated apps on the Quest. Cofounder, Paul Katsen, shows us how to dribble and dunk in the metaverse, but more importantly, discusses the social impact of VR, the technological prerequisites to get there, and the role of AI as we progress.

Following on is a founder on a mission to revolutionize education. Anurupa Ganguly from Prisms VR, explores how virtual reality has the potential to close the gap – one where 70% of US 8th graders are not proficient in foundational math.

Head over to our YouTube channel to see two a16z Podcast firsts: a full interview in VR, and host Steph slam dunking on an NBA court. 

Topics Covered: 

00:00 - The current state of VR

03:38 - How do you build the #1 VR app?

05:56 - How will VR become an everyday activity?

07:37 - The social and the technical arc of VR

11:47 - Untapped opportunities in VR

13:24 - Integrating AI into VR

17:09 - Prisms VR

20:10 - Why it’s critical to fix America’s math problem

21:12 - Why put VR in classrooms now?

23:23 - The successes of VR in the classroom

26:03 - Stats from the impact report

27:44 - Other curriculums could benefit from VR 

31:04 - Opportunities for AI in VR

Resources:

• Find Paul on Twitter: https://twitter.com/pavtalk
• Learn more about Gym Class: https://www.gymclassvr.com
• Find Gym Class in Meta Quest: https://www.meta.com/experiences/3661420607275144/
• Find Anurupa on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anurupa-ganguly-92790379
• Learn more about Prisms VR: https://www.prismsvr.com

Stay Updated: 

Find a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z

Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio

Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

When Neal Stephenson coined “the metaverse” three decades ago, his book Snow Crash was found on the shelves of “science fiction”. While the book remains in that category, many of its concepts are now found in reality…

Fast forward to 2022, where numerous companies are now building toward their version of the metaverse, including Neal himself – working on Lamina1 – a blockchain company oriented toward creators. 

While the present metaverses don’t perfectly mimic that from Stephenson’s early imagination, we get the unique opportunity to discuss the various design decisions that he’s making, but also the intersection between the metaverse and gaming, the involvement that AR/VR might play, the evolving role of IP, how artificial intelligence fits in, what he’s building and why, and where he gets all of his ideas from.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

1:20 - Tech's highest impact position

4:35 - What is the metaverse?

6:46 - Interoperability

8:52 - Incentive alignment

13:06 - Immersion requirements

16:30 - VR engineering challenges

20:09 - Skeuomorphism

24:17 - Commercial VR/AR applications

27:26 - AI and gaming

30:51 - The value chain

38:13 - Right of refusal

42:05 - Good and bad tech

46:05 - Fighting “free”

49:16 - Building Lamina1

58:07 - Neal’s design designs

1:03:40 - Inspiration for Snow Crash

1:09:16 - Looking ahead from 2022

1:11:59 - Science fiction writing

1:13:46 - Carbon removal

Resources: 

Neal’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/nealstephenson

Lamina1’s website: https://www.lamina1.com/

Stay Updated: 

Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z

Find us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app:https://a16z.simplecast.com/

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio

Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

The long-standing (and chart-topping) a16z Podcast returns to cover the most important topics within the world of technology. Brought to you by the minds at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and hosted by Steph Smith, each episode goes beyond headlines, giving listeners insider access to the edge of innovation.

Subscribe to be the first to receive upcoming episodes featuring industry leaders like Steve Wozniak, Marc Andreessen, Balaji Srinivasan, and Neal Stephenson, and covering a range of topics, from AI to space to the metaverse to genomics, and beyond.

Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z

Find us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.com/podcasts

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio

Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

The next frontier of the internet is the metaverse. That's why Mark Zuckerberg changed the name of his company from Facebook to Meta, and just sold $10 billion in corporate bonds to raise money for metaverse-related projects.

How might we learn from our experience with social media, and anticipate the harms of the metaverse before they arise? What would it look like to design a humane metaverse — that respects our attention, improves our well-being, and strengthens our democracy?

This week on Your Undivided Attention, we talk with two pioneers who are thinking critically about the development of the metaverse. Professor Jeremy Bailenson is the Founding director of Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, where he studies how virtual experiences lead to changes in perceptions of self and others. Dr. Courtney Cogburn is an Associate Professor at Columbia's School of Social Work, where she examines associations between racism and stress-related disease. Jeremy and Courtney collaborated on 1000 Cut Journey, a virtual reality experience about systemic racism.

CORRECTIONS: 

1. In the episode, Courtney says that the average US adult consumes 9 hours of media per day, but the actual number in 2022 is closer to 13 hours.
2. Finally, Aza mentions the "pockets of 4.6 billion people" — implying that there are 4.6 billion smartphone users. The global number of social media users is 4.7 billion, and the number of smartphone users is actually 6.6 billion.

RECOMMENDED MEDIA: 

Experience on Demand: What Virtual Reality Is, How It Works, and What It Can Do

https://www.amazon.com/Experience-Demand-Virtual-Reality-Works/dp/0393253694
Jeremy Bailenson's 2018 book exploring how virtual reality can be harnessed to improve our everyday lives

Experiencing Racism in VR

https://www.ted.com/talks/courtney_cogburn_experiencing_racism_in_vr_courtney_d_cogburn_phd_tedxrva
Courtney Cogburn's 2017 TEDx talk about how using virtual reality to help people experience the complexities of racism

Do Artifacts Have Politics?

https://faculty.cc.gatech.edu/~beki/cs4001/Winner.pdf   
Technology philosopher Langdon Winner’s seminal 1980 article, in which he writes, "by far the greatest latitude of choice exists the very first time a particular instrument, system, or technique is introduced."

RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES: 

Do You Want To Become A Vampire? with LA Paul

https://www.humanetech.com/podcast/39-do-you-want-to-become-a-vampire

Pardon the Interruptions with Gloria Mark

https://www.humanetech.com/podcast/7-pardon-the-interruptions

Bonus - What Is Humane Technology?

https://www.humanetech.com/podcast/bonus-what-is-humane-technology

Your Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology. Follow us on Twitter: @HumaneTech_

I am once again in Amsterdam on this endless quest for wisdom to talk to you about a little history and little future with one of my great friends, Carlo van Lienden. Before we begin, consider watching this podcast on YouTube instead (or as well). It heavily complements the experience with additional photos and footage. Link is below.

When I wrote Solve for Happy, my agent told me to write an evergreen,  not a big hit that quickly burns away. That has been achieved successfully by all accounts, with the book selling more copies each year than the year prior. There were two major media appearances that kicked things off. The first was my Channel 4 interview in the UK, which went viral. The second was my appearance on RTL Late Night in the Netherlands. Behind the camera of the latter was Carlo, who discovered me and brought me to the public eye in a country that has embraced me and the One Billion Happy mission without parallel.

Possessing a phenomenal work ethic and having worked in media through many pivots, Carlo can best be described in one phrase: a spotter of the truth.

Listen as we discuss:

• How Carlo played a major role in jumpstarting our mission.
• Carlo's former life as a cyclist for the National Team and a resulting eating disorder.
• How he became a cameraman instead, and why it was a very fair trade.
• The real reason why I think I became Chief Business Officer at Google X.
• Stoicism, and revisiting my talk with Donald Robertson (Slo Mo episodes 67 & 68)
• How a sports psychiatrist changed his life.
• The sheer bliss of altitude training in the Sierra Nevada and the effects on the ego.
• Stress + Rest = Growth
• "Embrace the suck."
• Why Slo Mo hasn't been very slow lately.
• The impending merge of the virtual and real worlds.
• How do we know what's real and what's fake anymore?
• Can we even handle the truth anymore?
• Whatever comes our way, we need to find our place at the top of the mountain.

YouTube: @mogawdatofficial  (link to this episode: youtu.be/vcx3lOrzajM)
Instagram: @mo_gawdat
Facebook: @mo.gawdat.official
Twitter: @mgawdat
LinkedIn: /in/mogawdat
Website: mogawdat.com

Connect with Carlo van Lienden on Instagram @carlo_van_lienden

Don't forget to subscribe to Slo Mo for new episodes every Sunday. Only with your help can we reach One Billion Happy #onebillionhappy

YouTube: @mogawdatofficial
Instagram: @mo_gawdat
Facebook: @mo.gawdat.official
LinkedIn: /in/mogawdat
X: @mgawdat
Website: mogawdat.com

Don't forget to subscribe to Slo Mo for new episodes every Saturday. Only with your help can we reach One Billion Happy #onebillionhappy

True cloud-native games—those exclusive to and solely playable within the cloud—are poised to revolutionize gameplay and unlock new avenues of hyper-personalized storytelling and socializing. It's a vision that, though steadily advancing, is still in its early stages. Just one year ago this week, Google launched its cloud gaming service, Stadia, which shares the space with competitors including Microsoft's xCloud, Playstation Now, and Nvidia’s GeForce. 

In this episode, Jade Raymond, VP of Stadia Games and Entertainment, Jonathan Lai, formerly of Riot Games and Tencent, and host Lauren Murrow talk about the challenges in building cloud-native games, their potential to upend prevailing business models and pricing, and, most importantly, the spontaneous, social, super-shareable experiences that true cloud streaming  will reveal. Through the rise of user-generated content, AI, and the cloud, they believe we're inching ever closer to the Metaverse.

This episode is part of Social Strikes Back, a new series exploring the next generation of social networks and how they’re shaping the future of consumer tech. See more at a16z.com/social-strikes-back.