{"id":6368,"date":"2026-04-16T06:54:45","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T05:54:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/?p=6368"},"modified":"2026-04-16T06:54:45","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T05:54:45","slug":"neal-stephenson-vs-the-metaverse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/neal-stephenson-vs-the-metaverse\/","title":{"rendered":"Neal Stephenson vs the Metaverse"},"content":{"rendered":"

https:\/\/nealstephenson.substack.com\/p\/my-prodigal-brainchild<\/a><\/p>\n

(…)<\/p>\n

I am, thank God, curiously detached from all this. Four and a half years ago I was minding my own business, cutting metal in my machine shop, when I received a text message from John Gaeta, a former colleague at Magic Leap, reading simply \u201cSorry for your loss.\u201d At first I thought that he\u2019d sent it to me mistakenly, but after a bit of Googling I became aware that Facebook had changed its name and announced that it was now going to build the Metaverse.<\/p>\n

In retrospect, John\u2019s message was prescient, since it marked the moment when the Metaverse really did break free and become my alienated, prodigal brainchild.<\/p>\n

In the following weeks I had to make a few Tweets trying to convince incredulous strangers that I had no connection with what Meta was up to; that they hadn\u2019t communicated with me in any way; that they hadn\u2019t paid me off; and that, no, I wasn\u2019t going to sue them. All of these things remain true.<\/p>\n

So there wouldn\u2019t have been any upside for me if Meta\u2019s Metaverse had succeeded. What remains to be seen is whether there\u2019s a downside for me now that it has failed. I think I\u2019m standing clear of the blast radius, but seeing the front page of the New York Times\u2019s business page dominated by the inevitable Metaverse tombstone image does give one pause.<\/p>\n

Since this is now water under the bridge, here is some free advice to future companies who might become interested in this topic when the tombstone cartoons fade once again from memory and the concept becomes hot again….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

https:\/\/nealstephenson.substack.com\/p\/my-prodigal-brainchild (…) I am, thank God, curiously detached from all this. Four and a half years ago I was minding my own business, cutting metal in my machine shop, when I received a text message from John Gaeta, a former colleague at Magic Leap, reading simply \u201cSorry for your loss.\u201d At first I thought that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"yoast_head":"\nNeal Stephenson vs the Metaverse | Artmaker Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Neal Stephenson vs the Metaverse | Artmaker Blog\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/neal-stephenson-vs-the-metaverse\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Neal Stephenson vs the Metaverse | Artmaker Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Neal Stephenson vs the Metaverse | Artmaker Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/neal-stephenson-vs-the-metaverse\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Artmaker Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-16T05:54:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bruce Sterling\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/\",\"name\":\"Artmaker Blog\",\"description\":\"on Toshareproject.it - curated by Bruce Sterling\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/neal-stephenson-vs-the-metaverse\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/neal-stephenson-vs-the-metaverse\/\",\"name\":\"Neal Stephenson vs the Metaverse | Artmaker Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-16T05:54:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-16T05:54:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/#\/schema\/person\/6f20726ed2761431f3e0ff4e096c3085\"},\"description\":\"Neal Stephenson vs the Metaverse | Artmaker Blog\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/neal-stephenson-vs-the-metaverse\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/neal-stephenson-vs-the-metaverse\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/neal-stephenson-vs-the-metaverse\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Neal Stephenson vs the Metaverse\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/#\/schema\/person\/6f20726ed2761431f3e0ff4e096c3085\",\"name\":\"Bruce Sterling\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c390e8ed4db57a34278dcf667f928a643cf769a865c8a8632dcd310412bb9a99?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c390e8ed4db57a34278dcf667f928a643cf769a865c8a8632dcd310412bb9a99?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Bruce Sterling\"},\"description\":\"Art director at Share Festival, author and journalist\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/toshareproject.it\/tomorrowart\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/author\/brucesterling\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Neal Stephenson vs the Metaverse | Artmaker Blog","description":"Neal Stephenson vs the Metaverse | Artmaker Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/neal-stephenson-vs-the-metaverse\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Neal Stephenson vs the Metaverse | Artmaker Blog","og_description":"Neal Stephenson vs the Metaverse | Artmaker Blog","og_url":"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/neal-stephenson-vs-the-metaverse\/","og_site_name":"Artmaker Blog","article_published_time":"2026-04-16T05:54:45+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bruce Sterling","Estimated reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/","name":"Artmaker Blog","description":"on Toshareproject.it - curated by Bruce Sterling","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/neal-stephenson-vs-the-metaverse\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/neal-stephenson-vs-the-metaverse\/","name":"Neal Stephenson vs the Metaverse | Artmaker Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-04-16T05:54:45+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-16T05:54:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/#\/schema\/person\/6f20726ed2761431f3e0ff4e096c3085"},"description":"Neal Stephenson vs the Metaverse | Artmaker Blog","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/neal-stephenson-vs-the-metaverse\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/neal-stephenson-vs-the-metaverse\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/neal-stephenson-vs-the-metaverse\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Neal Stephenson vs the Metaverse"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/#\/schema\/person\/6f20726ed2761431f3e0ff4e096c3085","name":"Bruce Sterling","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-GB","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c390e8ed4db57a34278dcf667f928a643cf769a865c8a8632dcd310412bb9a99?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c390e8ed4db57a34278dcf667f928a643cf769a865c8a8632dcd310412bb9a99?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Bruce Sterling"},"description":"Art director at Share Festival, author and journalist","sameAs":["http:\/\/toshareproject.it\/tomorrowart"],"url":"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/author\/brucesterling\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6368"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6369,"href":"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6368\/revisions\/6369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toshareproject.it\/artmakerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}