Sci-fi titan Neal Stephenson, whose Snow Crash coined the term 'metaverse' and Cryptonomicon, which foreshadowed crypto in 1999, joins Friederike to discuss his "hard sci-fi" method: building immersive, consistent worlds, not prophecy. He's now co-founder of Lamina1, aiming to restore Web1's ethos and give creators IP sovereignty with direct micropayments, breaking free from Web2's "walled gardens."
Neal unpacks Web3's promise like "intent-casting" flipping ad models while citing its critical traps: abysmal UX, criminal stigma, and the "soul-crushing" risk of just upgrading incumbent systems.
Spotlighting Lamina 1's game "Artifact," he argues Web3's true success will be measured when the technology becomes invisible and safe, proving its value by restoring sovereignty to its users and creators, rather than through speculative hype.
Topics discussed in this episode:
- (00:00) Introduction to Decentralization and Blockchain
- (01:20) The Role of Storytelling in Technology Prediction
- (03:48) The Balance of Optimism and Pessimism in Fiction
- (06:27) Web3: Promises and Pitfalls
- (08:36) The Evolution of the Web: From Decentralization to Centralization
- (13:37) Metrics for a Decentralized Web
- (15:55) Lamina One: A New Vision for the Metaverse
- (23:44) Creating a Financial Layer for the Creator Economy
- (25:08) Legal Implications of Smart Contracts
- (27:38) The Strength of Smart Contracts
- (31:04) Decentralization vs. Centralization in the Creator Economy
- (36:21) The Decline of Centralized Platforms
- (41:23) Financialization and the Creative Economy
- (45:47) The Future of Web3 and User Experience
- (51:17) Potential Failure Modes of Web3
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Neal Stephenson, Co-founder Lamina1: https://x.com/nealstephenson
- Lamina 1: https://lamina1.com/home
Sponsors:
- Gnosis: Gnosis has been building core decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem since 2015. With the launch of Gnosis Pay last year, we introduced the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Start leveraging its power today at gnosis.io
This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst.
