WEBVTT - The Future Right Now 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.760 Welcome to tex Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.080 --> 0:00:14.960 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:15.160 --> 0:00:17.880 John Than Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:21.160 Radio and how the tech are you today? We're going 0:00:21.239 --> 0:00:26.080 to talk about the future, and I've got jokes about that, 0:00:26.160 --> 0:00:28.440 because the future is where you and I will spend 0:00:28.760 --> 0:00:32.519 the rest of our lives. For those plan nine from 0:00:32.520 --> 0:00:34.839 other space fans out there that shout out as to you, 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:38.760 this episode is sponsored by Nissan. Nissan asked me if 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:42.920 I could talk about the future, and it was really 0:00:42.920 --> 0:00:46.559 exciting to get that opportunity and I'm happy to seize 0:00:46.560 --> 0:00:49.880 it now. I've talked a lot in recent episodes about 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:53.560 stuff like the metaverse, uh, the concept of web three 0:00:54.080 --> 0:00:56.640 some people call it web three point oh, and the 0:00:56.800 --> 0:00:59.600 controversial subject of n f T S. And I've been 0:00:59.640 --> 0:01:03.920 pretty critical of how things are going so far. But 0:01:04.120 --> 0:01:06.920 I thought this is a good opportunity for me to 0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:11.240 take a step back, try and take a more objective look, 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:14.959 talk about what the premise is behind all of these 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:18.800 semi related topics, and to get an idea of what 0:01:19.360 --> 0:01:23.840 could be. Because again we're going to talk about the future, 0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:26.400 We're also going to talk about how things are going 0:01:26.680 --> 0:01:30.800 right now and give some unfortunate examples of fumbling the bag, 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:34.399 because that has happened. It tends to happen whenever there's 0:01:34.480 --> 0:01:40.759 a massive transition in tech. So this is not me saying, hey, 0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:43.360 remember all that stuff I said that was critical of 0:01:43.400 --> 0:01:47.760 these technologies, forget it. This is saying, all right, there 0:01:47.760 --> 0:01:52.880 are problems right now, but what could we expect assuming 0:01:52.920 --> 0:01:55.880 we work out all the problems, what could be the 0:01:55.920 --> 0:01:58.280 future now? In order to do that, we're gonna have 0:01:58.280 --> 0:02:00.800 to talk about a lot of different cons ups. One 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:04.720 of those a big important one is the blockchain, which 0:02:04.760 --> 0:02:08.440 of course was made famous by cryptocurrency. One of the 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:12.200 earliest descriptions of blockchain came out of a white paper 0:02:12.240 --> 0:02:14.320 written by someone who was going by the name of 0:02:14.400 --> 0:02:18.240 Satoshi Nakamoto. So this was the same white paper that 0:02:18.440 --> 0:02:24.200 first introduced the concept of bitcoin. So what is a 0:02:24.280 --> 0:02:28.200 block chain? Well, as simply as I can put it, 0:02:28.200 --> 0:02:32.000 it is a shared ledger that is made up of 0:02:32.040 --> 0:02:36.240 blocks of transactions or other data. Transactions don't have to 0:02:36.280 --> 0:02:39.480 be you know, I spent as much money to buy 0:02:39.520 --> 0:02:43.560 that thing. Transactions can be I sent a message to 0:02:43.680 --> 0:02:47.520 this other person but they are blocks of transactions that 0:02:47.560 --> 0:02:51.600 are arranged in a chain, with the earliest transactions at 0:02:51.680 --> 0:02:55.000 the far end or beginning of the chain, and the 0:02:55.040 --> 0:02:58.200 most recent transactions being in a block that's at the 0:02:58.400 --> 0:03:03.399 end of the chain. Each block along that chain depends 0:03:03.560 --> 0:03:07.360 in part upon the values of the blocks that came 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:11.240 before it. This is really important because it means you 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:14.000 cannot make a change to an earlier block in the 0:03:14.120 --> 0:03:18.120 chain without affecting all the blocks that come after it. 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:21.560 So I'll use an example. Let's say that I was 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:25.239 one of the first folks in on bitcoin. I wasn't, 0:03:25.840 --> 0:03:28.640 or else i'd be a bazillionaire. But let's say that 0:03:28.760 --> 0:03:33.040 I was, and I get some bitcoin one way or another. 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:35.840 We don't really have to go into cryptocurrency mining or 0:03:35.840 --> 0:03:39.480 crypto exchanges in this episode. And I use that bitcoin 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:42.600 to buy something like a pizza. And at the time, 0:03:42.640 --> 0:03:46.440 because bitcoin are worth practically nothing, it takes thousands of 0:03:46.480 --> 0:03:49.440 bitcoin for me to buy this pizza. And I'm so 0:03:49.520 --> 0:03:52.720 early in the bitcoin days that this transaction takes place, 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:55.520 and say just the third block on the chain, which 0:03:55.520 --> 0:03:58.440 means within thirty minutes of bitcoin hitting the scene, I 0:03:58.520 --> 0:04:02.960 have been part of it. Now flash forward a few years. 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:07.400 All right, it's several years since my eventful pizza purchase 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:10.720 with bitcoin, and I'm reflecting on how I spent I 0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:13.920 don't know, like fifty thousand bitcoin to buy a pizza, 0:04:14.440 --> 0:04:19.600 but now a single bitcoin is worth thousands of dollars. 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:22.560 Back then, it was worth a fraction of a penny. 0:04:22.600 --> 0:04:25.600 So I'm sitting there thinking, Hey, if I had just 0:04:25.760 --> 0:04:29.840 held onto those bitcoin that I owned, I'd be so 0:04:30.000 --> 0:04:34.040 dang wealthy. Now i'd be I'd be crazy rich. So 0:04:34.160 --> 0:04:37.400 maybe I want to be all sneaky and I want 0:04:37.400 --> 0:04:40.640 to go back and delete my pizza transaction that I 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:43.800 did so many years ago so that I can repossess 0:04:44.240 --> 0:04:48.880 the money that I had spent. Well, that would mean 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:52.680 I'd have to go into this public ledger and change 0:04:52.800 --> 0:04:56.120 block number three in the chain. And now there are 0:04:56.240 --> 0:04:59.279 hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of blocks that are after 0:04:59.400 --> 0:05:02.320 number three. So the big problem, of course, is that 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:06.800 block number four and every block after it depends in 0:05:06.880 --> 0:05:09.680 part on the value represented by block number three. So 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:13.360 if I make a change in block three, it affects 0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:16.919 the whole chain after that. And because the chain is 0:05:16.960 --> 0:05:20.159 a ledger and this ledger is shared with everyone in 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:24.760 the system. Everybody can see that the ledger has been changed, 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:27.839 that someone has tried to alter it, so the system 0:05:27.880 --> 0:05:31.000 can then be corrected and my nefarious crypto heist will 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:35.919 be thwarted. So one thing that makes block chains useful 0:05:36.160 --> 0:05:40.560 is that they represent a trustworthy chain of custody. If 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:42.960 the data in a system is in the form of 0:05:42.960 --> 0:05:49.120 a block chain, it is effectively immutable, unchangeable. This could 0:05:49.160 --> 0:05:53.400 be useful for all sorts of transactions. Imagine real estate 0:05:53.560 --> 0:05:57.080 deeds that are stored on a block chain. It would 0:05:57.080 --> 0:06:00.520 be clear who owned the rights to any particular estate. 0:06:00.800 --> 0:06:03.479 If the deed were to change hands, it would be 0:06:03.520 --> 0:06:07.240 reflected in this ledger. You could avoid situations where you 0:06:07.240 --> 0:06:11.120 have multiple parties all claiming ownership of the same thing. 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:15.560 Because the record of transactions would be viewable and unchangeable, 0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:19.200 you would know for sure who has ownership of it. 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:22.560 Of course, there's still other things you have to worry about, 0:06:22.640 --> 0:06:25.520 like people tricking each other into giving up access to 0:06:25.560 --> 0:06:30.640 their digital wallets that's where digital assets live, like cryptocurrency, 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:35.680 for example. So while the blockchain itself is secure, that 0:06:35.760 --> 0:06:40.040 doesn't mean the system as a whole is secure. You've 0:06:40.080 --> 0:06:43.400 still got weak points that batties can target. This is 0:06:43.440 --> 0:06:46.400 why we hear about stuff like hackers stealing bitcoins and 0:06:46.640 --> 0:06:48.400 n f t s and stuff like that, because the 0:06:48.440 --> 0:06:55.719 hackers typically target either individual users or they target cryptocurrency exchanges, 0:06:56.240 --> 0:07:01.760 but the chain itself remains steady. Okay, now I just 0:07:01.839 --> 0:07:04.719 mentioned n f t s, so let's really get into 0:07:04.760 --> 0:07:07.160 that because the way people have behaved around n f 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:10.480 t s people and companies has given n f t 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:13.720 S really bad name, So we're gonna talk about that too. 0:07:14.280 --> 0:07:19.200 N f T stands for non fungible token. Fungible means 0:07:19.240 --> 0:07:22.480 something that is interchangeable, Like if you have one of them, 0:07:22.640 --> 0:07:25.400 you can interchange it with any other one of those 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:29.400 things and you walk away with the same value. Uh. 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:32.840 Here's a here's a simple example. Let's say that I 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:36.480 buy a toy, but the toy doesn't work out of 0:07:36.480 --> 0:07:39.000 the box, so I take the malfunctioning toy back to 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:41.120 where I bought it and exchange it for a new 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:45.120 working one. The two toys are essentially identical, ignoring that 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:48.160 one works in one doesn't, and so from the store's 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:50.440 point of view, they're interchangeable as long as I have 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:52.360 proof that I bought it from there, I can switch 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:56.640 it out. This is getting close to fungible. It's not 0:07:56.720 --> 0:08:00.480 quite because you couldn't just exchange your broken toy for 0:08:00.520 --> 0:08:04.240 a working toy with anybody, because they'd say, no, it's 0:08:04.280 --> 0:08:06.320 not the same thing. You just doesn't work. So it's 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:12.280 not truly fungible. Uh. However, a dollar is fungible. So 0:08:12.360 --> 0:08:15.040 let's say that I've got a five dollar bill. I 0:08:15.080 --> 0:08:19.120 can swap my dingy, tattered five dollar bill at a 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:21.600 bank for a crisp, new five dollar bill. In fact, 0:08:21.600 --> 0:08:23.440 banks do this all the time, where they will take 0:08:24.680 --> 0:08:28.640 cruddy money out of circulation. It's a way of getting 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:33.280 rid of dollars that are falling apart. So I bring 0:08:33.320 --> 0:08:35.920 my ratty five dollar bill into the bank and I 0:08:36.000 --> 0:08:38.760 exchange it for a nice, crisp five dollar bill. Even 0:08:38.760 --> 0:08:41.960 though my five dollars is ratty and the other ones crisp. There, 0:08:42.000 --> 0:08:44.560 they both represent the same value that are interchangeable. They 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:47.720 are fungible. I can also switch that five dollar bill 0:08:47.800 --> 0:08:50.600 for five one dollar bills and that would be the 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:54.839 same thing. It remains fungible across all these variations. Now, 0:08:55.000 --> 0:08:57.920 let's say that I have a classic rare baseball card, 0:08:58.800 --> 0:09:01.720 and my baseball card a bit beat up. It's you know, 0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:06.080 it's in good condition, but it's not perfect. Well, I 0:09:06.120 --> 0:09:10.600 can't just take my good condition, rare baseball card and 0:09:10.640 --> 0:09:13.280 go exchange it for the same baseball card that's in 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:17.480 mint condition, because the actual condition of the cards affects 0:09:17.520 --> 0:09:21.280 their value. The baseball cards are non fungible. They are 0:09:21.360 --> 0:09:28.000 not interchangeable. Non fungible tokens are also not interchangeable. Uh, 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:33.240 they represent something unique, or really, I should say they 0:09:33.280 --> 0:09:38.160 represent a unique instance of something. Essentially, an n f 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:44.000 T is a digital token that represents some other digital information. Now, 0:09:44.040 --> 0:09:45.960 a lot of n f t s that we've been 0:09:45.960 --> 0:09:50.400 hearing about involves stuff like digital art, where people are 0:09:50.440 --> 0:09:54.520 sometimes spending tens of thousands of dollars to acquire a 0:09:54.559 --> 0:09:59.079 digital token representing some form of image or maybe it's 0:09:59.080 --> 0:10:02.840 a tweet or what ever, and the token represents ownership. 0:10:03.440 --> 0:10:06.839 But what about beyond that? What does it mean beyond that? 0:10:07.320 --> 0:10:09.640 Because I've often said n f t s are kind 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:13.720 of like a digital receipt, that it's not the thing itself, 0:10:14.080 --> 0:10:17.920 it's the receipt showing you own the thing. So on 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:21.080 its own, a digital token just means you own that 0:10:21.200 --> 0:10:25.520 instance of that digital asset. Nothing stops someone from minting 0:10:25.640 --> 0:10:29.199 multiple digital tokens for the same asset. They can do that, 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:32.720 but this is kind of like someone creating a limited 0:10:32.920 --> 0:10:36.959 edition item. If you've ever shopped around for limited edition stuff, 0:10:36.960 --> 0:10:39.319 you know a lot of them are numbered, right, You'll 0:10:39.360 --> 0:10:43.280 have a lot of limited edition items and each one 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:45.720 will be individually numbered. So you might see that you 0:10:45.760 --> 0:10:48.520 have like number four hundred twenty eight out of a 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:51.960 run of one thousand of whatever it is. Well, you 0:10:52.000 --> 0:10:55.760 happen to know that there are nine other instances of 0:10:55.800 --> 0:10:58.720 the same thing that you own, and each of those 0:10:58.800 --> 0:11:02.280 has a number from on to one thousand, excluding number 0:11:03.000 --> 0:11:05.400 because that's the one you own. And n f T 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:07.600 s can be the same way. Owning an n f 0:11:07.640 --> 0:11:10.160 T doesn't mean you are the sole owner of a 0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:12.880 piece of digital art. You are the sole owner of 0:11:13.000 --> 0:11:16.880 one instance of that digital art. And it gets a 0:11:16.880 --> 0:11:21.040 bit mind bindy right now. You can buy and sell 0:11:21.280 --> 0:11:24.320 n f T s and the transactions are on top 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:28.000 of a block chain, So again, by referencing a blockchain, 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:30.480 you can see when and how often an n f 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:33.960 T changes hands. This also prevents someone from trying to 0:11:34.000 --> 0:11:37.400 sell the same n f T multiple times. N f 0:11:37.440 --> 0:11:41.640 T s also confused people a lot. There was a 0:11:41.679 --> 0:11:44.439 lot of uncertainty about what an n f T actually 0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:49.680 allows you to do with the thing you purchased. I mean, sure, 0:11:49.679 --> 0:11:52.040 there's a record on a ledger that shows you are 0:11:52.080 --> 0:11:55.160 the person who owns that digital token, which in turn 0:11:55.240 --> 0:11:59.120 represents some digital asset. But what good does that do? 0:11:59.280 --> 0:12:01.360 What does that give you the right to do? Does 0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:03.440 that mean you have the right to start putting up 0:12:03.840 --> 0:12:06.920 like T shirts featuring the artwork you bought? Right, maybe 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:09.360 you bought n f T representing a piece of digital art, 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:13.719 does that mean now you can merchandise that art? Or 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:16.559 if you purchased an n f T representing digital audio, 0:12:16.720 --> 0:12:19.480 does that mean you can charge licensing fees for people 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:22.960 playing that audio? Now? The answer to those questions is 0:12:23.679 --> 0:12:28.720 not necessarily, and typically they fall into probably not. There 0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:31.760 are ways to include licensing rights and other i P 0:12:32.000 --> 0:12:35.640 rights in an n f T transaction, so that is possible, 0:12:35.679 --> 0:12:40.319 but it's not mandatory, it is not standard. A basic 0:12:40.520 --> 0:12:43.880 n f T transaction just represents a simple purchase of 0:12:44.280 --> 0:12:47.360 an instance, if I went out to a bookstore and 0:12:47.400 --> 0:12:50.440 I bought a copy of the book The Hobbit. That 0:12:50.520 --> 0:12:53.040 doesn't mean that I now own the publishing rights and 0:12:53.120 --> 0:12:55.880 other i P rights to the Hobbit. Right, I can't 0:12:56.160 --> 0:13:00.520 sell Hobbit merchandise. I can't print copies of the Hobbit myself. 0:13:00.880 --> 0:13:04.199 I just own a copy of The Hobbit. And a 0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:06.560 basic n f T is like that. It's just a 0:13:06.640 --> 0:13:11.760 record of a transaction. But it is possible to include 0:13:11.960 --> 0:13:15.160 stuff like merchandizing rights in an n f T, and 0:13:15.240 --> 0:13:17.880 some n f T artists do this. They sell their 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:20.360 n f t s and they include the rights so 0:13:20.400 --> 0:13:23.480 that whomever buys that n f T will actually have 0:13:23.600 --> 0:13:26.559 the right to produce merchandise featuring that art if they 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:29.600 so choose. Also, because n f t s exist on 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:33.040 a blockchain, it is possible to build into n f 0:13:33.080 --> 0:13:36.479 T s a feature in which the person who originally 0:13:36.600 --> 0:13:39.360 minted that n f T in the first place will 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:41.800 get a cut every single time that n f T 0:13:42.080 --> 0:13:46.719 is sold to someone else. So the artist creates an 0:13:46.800 --> 0:13:49.120 n f T to represent a digital piece of art. 0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:51.680 They sell that n f T to Person number one, 0:13:52.040 --> 0:13:56.200 and they collect money from that transaction. Person one sells 0:13:56.200 --> 0:13:58.920 that n f T to person too, well, some money 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:02.480 from that transaction still goes back to the creator, and 0:14:03.120 --> 0:14:05.400 if I minted an n f T representing this very 0:14:05.440 --> 0:14:08.640 episode and then sold that n f T to someone, 0:14:08.960 --> 0:14:11.760 I could potentially get a cut of every subsequent deal 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:14.400 in which the n f T changed hands from that 0:14:14.440 --> 0:14:18.240 point on out. If I so designed my n f 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:22.240 T minting process that way, that's actually pretty cool because 0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:25.040 it represents a way for digital creators to receive long 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:30.120 tail compensation for their work. Now, early on, n f 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:33.240 T has got a really bad rap, and justifiably so, 0:14:33.480 --> 0:14:37.480 because there was just so much speculation around them. People 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:40.280 were treating n f t s like they were commodities 0:14:40.680 --> 0:14:45.280 or stocks. Uh, there was no real concept of actual value. 0:14:45.400 --> 0:14:49.240 The speculation just inflated everything. The hype was driving prices 0:14:49.320 --> 0:14:53.160 way up, which was really confounding some people and then 0:14:53.200 --> 0:14:56.360 exciting others, and it soured a lot of folks on 0:14:56.400 --> 0:14:59.760 the concept right away. Now we're going to take a break, 0:15:00.080 --> 0:15:02.560 but when we come back, I'll talk a little bit 0:15:02.600 --> 0:15:04.560 more about some of the issues with n f t 0:15:04.760 --> 0:15:06.720 s and then some of the ways that n f 0:15:06.760 --> 0:15:09.520 T s could be used in ways that I view 0:15:09.560 --> 0:15:20.200 as positive. But first, let's take a quick break Okay, 0:15:20.240 --> 0:15:22.880 so before the break I talked about how hype and 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:26.560 speculation really gave n f T s a black eye. 0:15:26.680 --> 0:15:29.360 But on top of that, you also had n f 0:15:29.400 --> 0:15:32.640 T scams to deal with. People were minting n f 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:35.440 T s for properties they didn't actually own, which is 0:15:35.480 --> 0:15:37.960 fraud right, Like if you don't own something and you 0:15:38.040 --> 0:15:42.720 sell it, you're you're being fraudulent. Uh. This is essentially 0:15:42.800 --> 0:15:45.720 the high tech equivalent of walking up to a tourist 0:15:45.720 --> 0:15:48.280 in New York and trying to sell them the Brooklyn Bridge. 0:15:48.760 --> 0:15:51.960 It's the same sort of thing. Uh. In other cases 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:55.560 you had people selling valid n f T s, but 0:15:55.680 --> 0:15:59.720 they were using other methods to artificially pump up enthusiasm 0:15:59.760 --> 0:16:01.480 around on those n f t s, and a classic 0:16:01.560 --> 0:16:04.880 pump and dump scheme. That's just when you weren't to 0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:08.760 inflate the value of something that you possess. Then you 0:16:08.840 --> 0:16:11.280 sell that stuff off when it's at the highest price 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:13.600 you think it can get, and you get the heck 0:16:13.600 --> 0:16:15.920 out of dodge while the price comes back down to 0:16:16.000 --> 0:16:22.200 reality once people realize that the the perceived value of 0:16:22.240 --> 0:16:27.080 that thing is much higher than its actual value value. 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:29.120 By the way, it gets super tricky to talk about 0:16:29.720 --> 0:16:32.400 because really, when it boils down to it, value is 0:16:32.440 --> 0:16:35.240 whatever people are willing to pay for something. Right If 0:16:35.240 --> 0:16:39.160 they're not willing to pay for something, then the you 0:16:39.200 --> 0:16:41.520 would argue that someone is trying to price something above 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:46.480 its value. But it's very fuzzy. It's not like it's 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:50.480 a hard and fast number that you can point to. Now, 0:16:50.520 --> 0:16:52.200 on top of all that, you had a lot of 0:16:52.200 --> 0:16:54.520 big companies that were really getting into n f t 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:59.240 s very quickly, sometimes without really considering why they were 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:03.000 doing it. Yawned it being no more than say, a 0:17:03.000 --> 0:17:07.360 cynical cash grab. That that's tricky, right like, And in 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:10.439 some cases it probably wasn't a cynical cash grab, but 0:17:10.520 --> 0:17:14.159 that's how it came across, and people reacted very poorly 0:17:14.240 --> 0:17:16.960 to that. Even in cases where n f t s 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:20.560 could arguably make sense, such as for in game assets 0:17:20.560 --> 0:17:24.000 for video games, there's been a huge backlash When you 0:17:24.040 --> 0:17:26.920 hear about games that are considering using n f t 0:17:27.160 --> 0:17:30.400 s for in game purchases. You're a lot of gamers 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:33.240 getting upset about that, and I think part of that 0:17:33.400 --> 0:17:37.040 is because of how n f t s have performed 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:40.640 up to this point. But I also don't think it's 0:17:40.840 --> 0:17:45.680 necessarily a bad thing, depending on how it's handled. That's 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:49.000 what is key, because it's absolutely and how it's handled. 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:54.480 So let's talk about a way of using n f 0:17:54.520 --> 0:17:58.600 T s in a video game that could potentially work. Now, 0:17:58.640 --> 0:18:01.240 a lot of video games out there offer up DLC, 0:18:01.480 --> 0:18:06.520 or downloadable content, and this is content that is supplementary 0:18:06.560 --> 0:18:10.240 to whatever the main core of the game is, and 0:18:10.480 --> 0:18:14.560 players have varying opinions about DLC. I think generally speaking, 0:18:14.680 --> 0:18:18.200 most folks think that an expansion to an original game 0:18:18.400 --> 0:18:22.040 can be absolutely fine unless they find out that that 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:25.399 expansion was always in the game and the DLC was 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:28.960 just to unlock what was already there. That tends to 0:18:29.000 --> 0:18:32.240 take gamers off because what that tells gamers is, oh, 0:18:32.440 --> 0:18:34.960 you always had this content. What you did was you 0:18:35.040 --> 0:18:38.359 sold me an incomplete game, and I have to pay 0:18:38.720 --> 0:18:41.159 in order to get the complete game. That's kind of 0:18:41.200 --> 0:18:43.920 how the perspective goes from the gamer's side. If in fact, 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:46.119 the DLC was always part of the core game and 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:48.440 you had to pay to unlock it. Now, if the 0:18:48.560 --> 0:18:54.560 DLC isn't more gameplay content, let's say it's just cosmetic features, 0:18:54.560 --> 0:18:57.919 such as a new character skin for the character you 0:18:57.960 --> 0:19:00.359 play in the game. I think most gamers are actually 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:03.760 okay with that, because if they want the cosmetics stuff, 0:19:04.160 --> 0:19:06.480 they can purchase a skin that they like for their 0:19:06.560 --> 0:19:09.120 character or for their in game items or for whatever. 0:19:09.760 --> 0:19:12.680 And if they don't want it, they just don't buy 0:19:12.720 --> 0:19:15.520 the stuff and they continue to play the game. And 0:19:15.560 --> 0:19:19.040 then you have DLC that includes in game features that 0:19:19.200 --> 0:19:22.880 change how the game plays to some extent. This has 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:26.440 a much more shaky reputation among gamers because it can 0:19:26.520 --> 0:19:29.720 lead to players spending money in order to get an 0:19:29.800 --> 0:19:33.600 in game advantage, and gamers will often call this pay 0:19:33.720 --> 0:19:37.320 to win, and generally speaking, it's looked down upon. If 0:19:37.800 --> 0:19:41.600 your DLC includes stuff like special weapons that you cannot 0:19:41.720 --> 0:19:44.400 get in any other way in the game, and those 0:19:44.400 --> 0:19:48.320 weapons give you an incredible advantage, that is frowned upon 0:19:48.400 --> 0:19:52.280 in the gamer community generally speaking. But all right, let's 0:19:52.280 --> 0:19:55.280 say that you are a video game publisher and you've 0:19:55.320 --> 0:19:59.479 created a franchise of games, and there's a long history 0:19:59.480 --> 0:20:02.239 of these and they're all kind of connected together, at 0:20:02.280 --> 0:20:06.840 least thematically, and let's say you start offering cosmetic DLC 0:20:07.200 --> 0:20:09.000 in the form of n f t s for the 0:20:09.119 --> 0:20:13.879 latest title in your franchise. Now, if a player buys 0:20:14.000 --> 0:20:16.879 that cosmetic upgrade, they get an n f T, a 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:21.719 digital token representing their purchase. And this means that maybe 0:20:21.760 --> 0:20:24.760 in future games that you create in the series, that 0:20:24.880 --> 0:20:28.359 same player will still have access to that cosmetic upgrade 0:20:28.720 --> 0:20:33.359 only within the new game because they have the n 0:20:33.400 --> 0:20:35.680 f T that shows that they've purchased it. It's they 0:20:35.680 --> 0:20:37.800 don't have to buy it again, They've already got it 0:20:38.000 --> 0:20:40.520 and it can be applied to the new game. There's 0:20:40.560 --> 0:20:42.440 there's nothing, by the way set in stone that says 0:20:42.480 --> 0:20:45.080 this would ever be the way this would work, but 0:20:45.119 --> 0:20:50.440 it's one potential way it could work. And also they 0:20:50.480 --> 0:20:54.240 could potentially even sell their n f T to someone 0:20:54.280 --> 0:20:58.000 else and sell the cosmetic asset to some other player. 0:20:58.680 --> 0:21:01.159 Let's say that it's a game franchise where they created 0:21:01.320 --> 0:21:05.560 a cool cosmetic three games back, but now they don't 0:21:05.600 --> 0:21:08.560 sell that cosmetic anymore. They don't they don't really that 0:21:08.760 --> 0:21:12.520 that game that's three games old isn't really heavily supported 0:21:12.560 --> 0:21:16.160 by the publisher. You still have access to that cosmetic 0:21:16.200 --> 0:21:18.280 skin because you purchased it three games ago as an 0:21:18.359 --> 0:21:20.760 n f T, and it's supported in the most recent 0:21:21.280 --> 0:21:23.720 version of the game, but you can't buy that new 0:21:23.760 --> 0:21:27.320 cosmetic skin from the publisher. Well, because you have an 0:21:27.400 --> 0:21:29.320 n f T, you might be able to sell that 0:21:29.440 --> 0:21:31.560 n f T on a on a market in the 0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:34.320 game or even outside the game, to someone else who 0:21:34.359 --> 0:21:37.440 really wants that cosmetic Maybe you make money off of it. 0:21:38.400 --> 0:21:41.520 That's a possibility and one that I don't think is 0:21:41.600 --> 0:21:45.520 necessarily bad. It could work, but it would have to 0:21:45.560 --> 0:21:49.280 be done well, and unfortunately, in the early days of 0:21:49.359 --> 0:21:52.040 n f T S things weren't done very well, and 0:21:52.080 --> 0:21:55.040 they have cast a pretty dark shadow on the concept 0:21:55.040 --> 0:21:57.879 in general. But let me present another possible use of 0:21:58.000 --> 0:22:00.520 n f T S. This is one that could potentially 0:22:00.520 --> 0:22:04.000 be transformational. Let's say that you are a developer, you're 0:22:04.000 --> 0:22:08.399 a programmer, and you write some really cool code, and 0:22:08.440 --> 0:22:10.960 that code is useful. It could be adapted for lots 0:22:11.000 --> 0:22:15.080 of stuff, and traditionally it's pretty darn hard to ascribe 0:22:15.240 --> 0:22:19.360 credit two lines of code, particularly for projects in which 0:22:19.400 --> 0:22:22.480 you have a lot of different people programming code for 0:22:22.560 --> 0:22:26.440 that project. But if you could mint an n f 0:22:26.480 --> 0:22:32.159 T representing the code you created, now you have credit 0:22:32.440 --> 0:22:35.240 for that code. Of course, for that to work, you 0:22:35.240 --> 0:22:37.480 would also need a system in place to verify that 0:22:37.560 --> 0:22:40.359 the person minting the n f T actually has ownership 0:22:40.400 --> 0:22:43.520 of the code itself, and it might not be the programmer. 0:22:44.160 --> 0:22:47.439 In fact, for really big projects, I imagine that this 0:22:47.440 --> 0:22:51.359 would be kind of the company behind that project. That 0:22:51.400 --> 0:22:54.560 would meant the n f T not the programmer themselves, 0:22:55.000 --> 0:22:57.840 unless we saw a massive change. But it still could 0:22:57.840 --> 0:23:01.280 be a big benefit in the programm or community if 0:23:01.320 --> 0:23:05.440 it were deployed properly. There are a lot of qualifiers 0:23:05.480 --> 0:23:09.199 for this. So my point is n f t s 0:23:09.280 --> 0:23:14.080 aren't inherently bad, but the way that companies and people 0:23:14.240 --> 0:23:17.800 have been treating them hasn't really been that great, and 0:23:17.880 --> 0:23:22.120 so they have a bad reputation understandably so, I mean, 0:23:22.280 --> 0:23:25.679 I have been one of the people critical of the 0:23:25.720 --> 0:23:27.520 way n f t s have been handled so far, 0:23:28.240 --> 0:23:30.840 But I think n f t s will eventually settle 0:23:30.920 --> 0:23:35.160 down at some point and potentially become really useful. It's 0:23:35.200 --> 0:23:38.640 just gonna take some time, and this often happens in tech. 0:23:38.720 --> 0:23:41.440 We see it happen in tech all the time. In fact, 0:23:41.720 --> 0:23:45.040 back in the nineties, we saw it happened with the 0:23:45.119 --> 0:23:49.400 dot com bubble, right we saw all these companies spring up, 0:23:49.600 --> 0:23:55.119 these web based companies. We saw crazy speculation which ultimately 0:23:55.240 --> 0:23:59.320 drove unsustainable business practices, and then the whole thing came 0:23:59.359 --> 0:24:03.760 crashing down when the bubble burst. But after the crash 0:24:03.840 --> 0:24:06.639 it was an instant but after the crash there was 0:24:06.720 --> 0:24:12.040 recovery and slowly we established the web that we know today. 0:24:12.240 --> 0:24:15.639 I think n f T S could potentially be on 0:24:15.680 --> 0:24:19.920 a similar path as long as folks layoff the speculation, 0:24:20.600 --> 0:24:24.879 the crass cash grabs, and people are more alert to 0:24:24.960 --> 0:24:29.520 things like n f T scams. So not a ringing 0:24:29.600 --> 0:24:31.640 endorsement for n f T S, I understand, But I'm 0:24:31.680 --> 0:24:36.200 saying like the technology makes sense if it's properly used. 0:24:36.240 --> 0:24:39.760 We just haven't seen very many cases of that as 0:24:39.800 --> 0:24:43.040 of yet. All right, now, let's switch gears from n 0:24:43.080 --> 0:24:46.080 f T S and talk about Web three. So the 0:24:46.119 --> 0:24:49.800 concept of Web three is one that sounds interesting and 0:24:49.960 --> 0:24:55.199 appealing on the surface. Uh. It's about a decentralized version 0:24:55.320 --> 0:24:59.119 of the web built on top of the blockchain. Data 0:24:59.200 --> 0:25:02.560 exchanges will be transactions which themselves will be part of 0:25:02.600 --> 0:25:06.520 a public ledger. It will allow for direct communication without 0:25:06.560 --> 0:25:09.479 the use of an intermediary, so you can communicate with 0:25:09.520 --> 0:25:13.200 your friends without going through a platform like Facebook, or 0:25:13.320 --> 0:25:15.920 you can send someone money directly without it passing through 0:25:15.960 --> 0:25:19.200 a payment services app, that kind of thing. The argument 0:25:19.240 --> 0:25:22.159 here is that Web two point oh, which used to 0:25:22.200 --> 0:25:27.240 be defined as UH websites that had user generated content, 0:25:27.520 --> 0:25:32.000 they had dynamic elements in them, they were changeable, that 0:25:32.080 --> 0:25:35.200 kind of thing. The way Web three views Web two 0:25:35.320 --> 0:25:38.800 is that it's an It's a web where massive companies 0:25:38.840 --> 0:25:44.520 like Meta and Google absolutely dominate the experience because these 0:25:44.520 --> 0:25:48.959 are the companies that gather user information to modify it, 0:25:49.280 --> 0:25:52.960 sell it off to advertisers, target those users with advertising, 0:25:53.359 --> 0:25:56.639 and so it's companies like Google and Meta that determine 0:25:57.040 --> 0:26:00.800 what you see when you're on the web. That that's 0:26:00.840 --> 0:26:04.080 why you see the ads that you see. It's why 0:26:04.200 --> 0:26:07.040 when you go to Facebook, it's why your your news 0:26:07.280 --> 0:26:10.399 feed is the way it is. When you and a 0:26:10.440 --> 0:26:14.120 friend who might have very similar interests compare your news feeds, 0:26:14.160 --> 0:26:17.200 they could look totally different because of all the data 0:26:17.760 --> 0:26:21.560 that Meta is gathering and then using to determine what 0:26:21.760 --> 0:26:26.280 to feed you and win and how that's the concept 0:26:26.320 --> 0:26:29.840 Web three says about Web two, and that Web three 0:26:30.320 --> 0:26:32.879 will not be that you will not be going through 0:26:33.200 --> 0:26:36.719 these massive companies. They will not be the entities that 0:26:36.800 --> 0:26:40.960 dictate what your experiences and what you see. Now this 0:26:41.000 --> 0:26:45.240 is all hypothetical. There are actually conflicting visions of what 0:26:45.320 --> 0:26:48.480 Web three point oh will be and how it will manifest. 0:26:49.040 --> 0:26:53.520 So we don't have a set in stone definition of 0:26:53.560 --> 0:26:58.320 Web three. But generally the idea is that these ledgers, 0:26:58.400 --> 0:27:01.280 these blockchains, which would i there be public, or they 0:27:01.320 --> 0:27:04.679 would be viewable by some designated group of entities. A 0:27:04.720 --> 0:27:07.320 blockchain does not have to be public, by the way, 0:27:07.560 --> 0:27:10.280 it does have to be viewable by all the parties 0:27:10.320 --> 0:27:15.320 that are part of the not a regulatory but oversight board. 0:27:15.359 --> 0:27:18.000 You might say it has to be viewable by all 0:27:18.040 --> 0:27:20.920 those parties, but it doesn't have to be for everyone 0:27:20.960 --> 0:27:26.000 in the system. In fact, Meta was proposing a blockchain 0:27:26.119 --> 0:27:29.960 based currency that would have only been viewable by the 0:27:30.040 --> 0:27:36.320 partners of that project. That all fell apart. Moreover, all 0:27:36.640 --> 0:27:40.800 people would have equal access to Web three. There'd be 0:27:40.840 --> 0:27:45.040 no gatekeeping, so there'd be no censorship in the sense 0:27:45.080 --> 0:27:48.240 of people being prevented from being on there. So Web 0:27:48.280 --> 0:27:52.159 three proponents are saying that platforms like Twitter and Facebook, 0:27:52.640 --> 0:27:57.639 which occasionally do ban people, would not have the authority 0:27:57.720 --> 0:28:01.640 to do that on Web three. So I'm sure that 0:28:01.760 --> 0:28:04.359 a lot of you have already seen some potential problems 0:28:04.480 --> 0:28:09.320 with this vision. One is that while idealistically it's great 0:28:09.760 --> 0:28:12.960 that everyone has access and no one has denied, it 0:28:13.040 --> 0:28:16.879 can very clearly lead to situations in which bad actors 0:28:17.080 --> 0:28:21.560 use such a platform such a Web three philosophy to 0:28:21.920 --> 0:28:27.680 ramp up misinformation or disinformation campaigns, or hate speech harassment, 0:28:27.840 --> 0:28:30.520 that kind of thing. You can easily see where this 0:28:30.600 --> 0:28:36.080 would be abused. Uh, and that is a big issue 0:28:36.200 --> 0:28:39.920 that would have to be worked out because, uh, it 0:28:39.960 --> 0:28:43.480 would just it would get too chaotic, and anyone who 0:28:43.560 --> 0:28:48.760 was from any kind of vulnerable population would be at 0:28:48.960 --> 0:28:52.680 very high risk of being abused in some way or 0:28:52.800 --> 0:28:57.320 multiple ways. Another Web three's features is that it gets 0:28:57.320 --> 0:29:00.200 away from those massive companies have been dominating the web 0:29:00.280 --> 0:29:03.880 so far, like I mentioned companies like Meta, Amazon, Google, 0:29:04.680 --> 0:29:07.720 and so you wouldn't have the data intermediaries anymore. The 0:29:07.760 --> 0:29:10.840 idea being that if you're on Web three, you own 0:29:11.120 --> 0:29:15.160 your data. You can choose to share your data or 0:29:15.240 --> 0:29:18.000 sell your data, but it is your data, you have 0:29:18.040 --> 0:29:21.920 control of it, and theoretically, if you're able to put 0:29:21.960 --> 0:29:25.160 something up, you're able to take it down. That's easier 0:29:25.160 --> 0:29:28.400 said than done. More likely than not, you put something 0:29:28.480 --> 0:29:31.480 up and it stays up, because otherwise you have a 0:29:31.600 --> 0:29:37.280 very fractured and unstable platform there. But the concept is 0:29:37.320 --> 0:29:40.160 that you have that ownership, it does not go through 0:29:40.200 --> 0:29:42.640 anyone else, and that is one of the big things 0:29:42.680 --> 0:29:46.800 that appeals to a lot of Web three point oh advocates. 0:29:48.160 --> 0:29:51.880 I've got more to say about Web three, including some 0:29:51.960 --> 0:29:55.080 other potential consequences, but before we get into all of that, 0:29:55.160 --> 0:30:06.320 let's take a quick break. So before we went to break, 0:30:06.360 --> 0:30:09.680 I talked about how Web three one of the big 0:30:09.720 --> 0:30:13.000 selling points is that it is not beholden to these 0:30:13.040 --> 0:30:17.160 massive companies like Google and Amazon and Meta and that 0:30:17.280 --> 0:30:22.520 sort of thing. Some people have pointed out that the 0:30:22.520 --> 0:30:26.680 the fact that this quote unquote decentralized is only decentralized 0:30:26.680 --> 0:30:30.720 to a certain extent, like kind of gets into a 0:30:30.760 --> 0:30:34.720 George Orwell animal farm kind of thing, like, yeah, it's decentralized, 0:30:34.800 --> 0:30:38.960 but some platforms are more decentralized than others. People have 0:30:39.040 --> 0:30:43.000 pointed out that the owners of the blockchain, that the 0:30:43.000 --> 0:30:46.160 the the exchange is not really owners, but the exchanges 0:30:46.200 --> 0:30:50.920 that exist that uh, that are facilitating these kinds of things. 0:30:51.560 --> 0:30:56.000 Will end up effectively taking a similar place to these 0:30:56.040 --> 0:31:00.120 massive companies. That really all you're doing is replacing the 0:31:00.200 --> 0:31:03.360 overlords for a new set of overlords. That's one of 0:31:03.360 --> 0:31:07.080 the criticisms. Of course, these things don't really exist yet, 0:31:07.160 --> 0:31:10.480 so it's it's hard to say whether that criticism is merited. 0:31:10.880 --> 0:31:15.240 It's simply been raised. Another big downside is that currently 0:31:16.240 --> 0:31:22.640 blockchain transactions are typically pretty slow. For example, Well in 0:31:22.720 --> 0:31:24.720 order for a transaction to go through, it has to 0:31:24.720 --> 0:31:28.840 be verified first, and on the Bitcoin blockchain, a transaction 0:31:28.960 --> 0:31:33.880 on average takes about ten minutes to verify. This is 0:31:34.680 --> 0:31:39.520 closely related with the crypto mining process for Bitcoin, but 0:31:39.720 --> 0:31:43.120 it's not the case across every blockchain. On on Ethereum, 0:31:43.280 --> 0:31:47.000 the average length of time actually varies widely, between fifteen 0:31:47.080 --> 0:31:50.960 seconds on the short end to verify a transaction up 0:31:51.000 --> 0:31:55.280 to five minutes on the long end of it. Uh. 0:31:55.360 --> 0:31:57.760 The amount of time it takes depends on lots of 0:31:57.800 --> 0:32:01.320 different factors, including network contolution, So the busier it is, 0:32:01.400 --> 0:32:05.840 the longer it's going to take for things to really complete. 0:32:06.400 --> 0:32:10.680 A web three that's built on top of blockchain transactions 0:32:11.360 --> 0:32:14.320 is going to need to solve some serious scaling issues 0:32:14.360 --> 0:32:18.000 to allow for faster verification or else we would see 0:32:18.000 --> 0:32:21.760 the experience of using Web three platforms as being far 0:32:21.880 --> 0:32:25.920 too clunky and clumsy and slow for people to see 0:32:25.920 --> 0:32:29.640 it as being worthwhile. Um. Anytime you encounter any kind 0:32:29.640 --> 0:32:33.080 of lag, people start to lose patients quickly. Like I'm 0:32:33.120 --> 0:32:36.520 sure you can all remember a time when accessing the 0:32:36.560 --> 0:32:40.400 Internet required more patients, right that you had to wait 0:32:40.440 --> 0:32:43.000 longer for a page to load, or for a video 0:32:43.040 --> 0:32:46.360 to buffer, or things of that nature. And then as 0:32:47.040 --> 0:32:51.400 connections improve and our access to those connections improve, we 0:32:51.520 --> 0:32:54.240 become used to being able to access things much more quickly, 0:32:54.760 --> 0:32:58.320 and if we ever encounter a situation where we can't 0:32:58.440 --> 0:33:03.040 do that is in credibly frustrating. That's one of the 0:33:03.360 --> 0:33:07.520 downsides to Web three is that right now blockchain transactions 0:33:07.520 --> 0:33:10.200 are slow, and I think a lot of people would 0:33:10.240 --> 0:33:13.560 find it very off putting to have an online experience 0:33:13.600 --> 0:33:17.040 that requires that much waiting. Um. But that's not to 0:33:17.080 --> 0:33:21.320 say that these are problems that are unsurmountable. So we 0:33:21.400 --> 0:33:24.200 might find solutions to these problems, and Web three may 0:33:24.280 --> 0:33:28.240 well be the future of the Web. I have my doubts, 0:33:28.480 --> 0:33:31.320 largely because I worry about some of the consequences of 0:33:31.320 --> 0:33:33.960 Web three, particularly when it comes to things like keeping 0:33:34.000 --> 0:33:36.920 a handle on hate speech. But that's not to say 0:33:36.920 --> 0:33:40.160 that by the time we actually start seeing real Web 0:33:40.200 --> 0:33:45.240 three factors emerging beyond just the theoretical and the pilot programs, 0:33:45.760 --> 0:33:48.480 maybe by then we'll have an approach to dealing with 0:33:48.520 --> 0:33:50.920 this sort of stuff. So it's it's too early to 0:33:50.960 --> 0:33:55.800 pass judgment. In other words, I have my concerns, but 0:33:55.880 --> 0:33:58.720 that doesn't mean that those concerns won't be met. Right 0:33:58.760 --> 0:34:03.240 we might be able to address them, So I'm trying 0:34:03.240 --> 0:34:07.600 to keep an open mind. Now, let's talk about the metaverse. Okay. 0:34:07.640 --> 0:34:13.200 Generally speaking, a metaverse is a persistent online world in 0:34:13.239 --> 0:34:15.360 which you can do pretty much all the stuff you 0:34:15.360 --> 0:34:19.520 can do in the real world plus more. Or it's 0:34:19.560 --> 0:34:25.440 an it's an online series of touch points that can 0:34:25.480 --> 0:34:28.400 spill over into the real world if you're using something 0:34:28.440 --> 0:34:33.640 like augmented reality glasses. Now, there are examples of limited 0:34:33.680 --> 0:34:38.719 metaverses today right now. One that's been around for ages 0:34:38.960 --> 0:34:41.960 is Second Life. That's a virtual world in which people 0:34:42.080 --> 0:34:45.920 can own virtual real estate, they can interact with one another. 0:34:46.719 --> 0:34:49.120 At one time, there was this kind of general belief 0:34:49.320 --> 0:34:52.879 that businesses we're going to go all in on Second Life, 0:34:52.880 --> 0:34:54.920 and a few actually really did spend quite a bit 0:34:54.920 --> 0:34:58.960 of money to establish a presence in Second Life, building 0:34:58.960 --> 0:35:03.920 out a virtue will storefront, or virtual customer experiences, so 0:35:04.040 --> 0:35:08.400 Second Life users could visit these these companies presence in 0:35:08.440 --> 0:35:11.919 Second Life and then interact with the business in some 0:35:12.320 --> 0:35:16.000 presumably meaningful way. You can do things like go to 0:35:16.080 --> 0:35:19.960 concerts in Second Life, or you could hold business meetings, 0:35:20.040 --> 0:35:21.680 or you know, just hang out with your friends. You 0:35:21.719 --> 0:35:24.360 could do all sorts of stuff, at least in theory, 0:35:25.080 --> 0:35:28.040 and Second Life got a lot of interest, but it 0:35:28.120 --> 0:35:31.120 wasn't able to sustain it, at least not on a 0:35:31.160 --> 0:35:34.760 wide scale. I mean, Second Life still exists, people still 0:35:34.880 --> 0:35:37.960 use it, but it never took off to become the 0:35:38.000 --> 0:35:42.719 future of business, communications, socialization, the Internet. Like a lot 0:35:42.760 --> 0:35:44.959 of people were predicting that back in the early days 0:35:45.000 --> 0:35:49.720 of Second Life, it did not achieve that by any means. 0:35:50.640 --> 0:35:53.640 And some people will point to stuff like Roadblocks as 0:35:53.680 --> 0:35:57.839 a type of metaverse. Roadblocks is an online game platform, 0:35:57.920 --> 0:36:01.720 and really the appeal of Roadblocks is that it lets 0:36:01.960 --> 0:36:05.960 users create and play games of all sorts within this 0:36:06.080 --> 0:36:11.640 online world, and those games can be really sophisticated, and 0:36:11.760 --> 0:36:15.840 they can have complicated rules and incentives for play, or 0:36:15.920 --> 0:36:18.520 they can be way more loosey goosey. It can turn 0:36:18.560 --> 0:36:21.879 into essentially like a giant game of Make believes, sort 0:36:21.920 --> 0:36:24.160 of the the sort of stuff you would encounter if 0:36:24.200 --> 0:36:28.239 you were to, uh watch kids play on a playground 0:36:28.400 --> 0:36:31.359 and watch them makeup games on the fly. That can 0:36:31.400 --> 0:36:34.920 happen on Roadblocks as well. And Roadblocks has tools available 0:36:34.960 --> 0:36:37.239 for people to create stuff, and it serves as a 0:36:37.239 --> 0:36:40.760 place where those creations can then be experienced by other people. 0:36:41.360 --> 0:36:46.080 So it's a sort of unorganized metaverse in a way 0:36:46.120 --> 0:36:50.120 that is determined by its users. Uh. In a similar way, 0:36:50.160 --> 0:36:53.960 there are Minecraft servers that do something that's you know, 0:36:54.239 --> 0:36:57.399 similar to what you find in Roadblocks. Uh. There are 0:36:57.400 --> 0:37:00.400 people who play Fortnite who have gone to call SERTs. 0:37:00.480 --> 0:37:04.640 Within Fortnite, there are folks who like to role play 0:37:04.719 --> 0:37:07.960 in a grand Theft Auto five server, turning it from 0:37:07.960 --> 0:37:13.200 a game that's all about committing crimes into simulacrum of society. 0:37:13.280 --> 0:37:15.719 It's just an online society. Maybe you play the part 0:37:15.719 --> 0:37:19.000 of a shopkeeper or a cop or something, or just 0:37:19.120 --> 0:37:22.399 a you know, an average citizen. There are role play 0:37:22.400 --> 0:37:26.520 service for that which blows my mind. But the metaverse 0:37:26.560 --> 0:37:31.600 concept goes beyond these fairly narrow manifestations. You could you 0:37:31.600 --> 0:37:33.160 could point in these and say like this, this is 0:37:33.200 --> 0:37:38.680 almost more like a proto metaverse. Often the metaverse concept 0:37:38.760 --> 0:37:43.880 will incorporate technologies like mixed reality. That includes virtual reality. 0:37:44.120 --> 0:37:47.319 That's a system where a computer creates everything you see 0:37:47.360 --> 0:37:51.000 and interact with, and you use something like a headset 0:37:51.040 --> 0:37:55.200 in order to access it. And it also includes augmented reality. 0:37:55.320 --> 0:37:59.560 This is where a computer system overlays digital information on 0:37:59.640 --> 0:38:03.440 top of your actual real world experience. So the classic 0:38:03.480 --> 0:38:07.000 example is a pair of a R glasses that will 0:38:07.040 --> 0:38:09.920 overlay information as you look at the world around you. 0:38:10.040 --> 0:38:13.040 So you look at a building and it lists out 0:38:13.080 --> 0:38:15.800 the businesses that are in that building. That's an example 0:38:15.840 --> 0:38:19.839 of augmented reality. So imagine that you pop on a 0:38:20.000 --> 0:38:23.800 VR headset at home and you jump into a virtual 0:38:23.880 --> 0:38:27.560 environment and you meet up with your friends who similarly 0:38:27.600 --> 0:38:30.919 are there virtually, and you all spend time hanging out 0:38:30.960 --> 0:38:33.880 together and you maybe you play some games, maybe you 0:38:33.960 --> 0:38:37.040 shoot the breeze with each other, maybe you sing some karaoke, 0:38:37.400 --> 0:38:39.520 Maybe you decide to put on a virtual sketch show 0:38:39.840 --> 0:38:42.880 like you actually put on a play in this virtual environment, 0:38:42.960 --> 0:38:47.399 with each person playing other characters. Really, the possibilities are 0:38:47.480 --> 0:38:51.640 only limited by whatever the platform can support, and even 0:38:51.680 --> 0:38:55.880 in cases where a platform can't natively support whatever it 0:38:55.920 --> 0:38:58.520 is you're trying to do, people tend to be creative 0:38:58.640 --> 0:39:00.719 enough to find ways to make it work by kind 0:39:00.719 --> 0:39:03.120 of jerry rigging a solution. We see this happen all 0:39:03.160 --> 0:39:05.960 the time. The g t A five role playing servers 0:39:06.000 --> 0:39:08.960 are a great example of that. It was not meant 0:39:09.000 --> 0:39:12.440 to be a role playing game, but people turned it 0:39:12.520 --> 0:39:14.840 into that. That's the same sort of thing we should 0:39:14.840 --> 0:39:20.400 expect with the emergence of more robust beta versus. Maybe 0:39:20.760 --> 0:39:23.280 you'll use your VR headset so that you can virtually 0:39:23.280 --> 0:39:26.880 attend a huge concert. So imagine being able to go 0:39:26.960 --> 0:39:30.880 to an enormous venue with thousands of other people, but 0:39:30.920 --> 0:39:35.240 in reality you're at home, sitting in a air conditioned room, 0:39:35.280 --> 0:39:37.319 maybe standing in it if you want to be up 0:39:37.320 --> 0:39:40.080 on your feet, depending on the band. Um. I used 0:39:40.120 --> 0:39:42.680 to think that this was a really goofy use of technology, 0:39:42.719 --> 0:39:44.440 but the more I think about it, the more it 0:39:44.560 --> 0:39:49.080 actually appeals to me. See, I'm not comfortable in large crowds, 0:39:49.160 --> 0:39:52.359 I I get a little agoraphobic. Um, if I'm not 0:39:52.640 --> 0:39:54.760 near the edge of the crowd, I start to feel 0:39:54.840 --> 0:39:58.480 very trapped and my anxiety starts to rank way high. 0:39:58.880 --> 0:40:00.920 I don't quite get to the point I can't function, 0:40:01.320 --> 0:40:05.080 but I am very uncomfortable and I rarely enjoy myself. 0:40:05.120 --> 0:40:10.200 So I actively avoid big concerts for that reason. I 0:40:10.239 --> 0:40:12.640 do not go to them. I'll go to smaller ones, 0:40:13.160 --> 0:40:15.839 but I can't like big outdoor venues things like that. 0:40:15.920 --> 0:40:18.840 I just can't do them. However, if I could attend 0:40:18.960 --> 0:40:22.439 virtually where I'd be able to see the act and 0:40:22.560 --> 0:40:24.759 the audio that's being fed to me would be from 0:40:24.960 --> 0:40:27.280 a soundboard, so the audio is going to be great 0:40:27.320 --> 0:40:31.320 no matter where I am in virtual virtually in relation 0:40:31.360 --> 0:40:34.600 to the act, that would be a big appeal to me. Like, 0:40:34.640 --> 0:40:36.719 I don't even know how I would handle that. From 0:40:36.760 --> 0:40:40.719 a programming standpoint, what I program it so that wherever 0:40:40.880 --> 0:40:45.080 I am virtually in relation to the stage, I get 0:40:45.280 --> 0:40:48.719 sound that reflects that. Like, if I'm further away, would 0:40:48.719 --> 0:40:51.400 it be quiet if I'm closer to the left side, 0:40:51.400 --> 0:40:53.640 would the left side speakers be louder to me than 0:40:53.680 --> 0:40:56.239 the right side? I don't know, I would probably just 0:40:56.360 --> 0:41:02.000 want to have the cleanest audio possible from the live performance. 0:41:02.520 --> 0:41:05.399 That would be my own personal preference, but I don't 0:41:05.400 --> 0:41:09.480 know if that's how it would ever feed out anyway. 0:41:09.480 --> 0:41:11.799 To me, that is a little bit more exciting than 0:41:11.840 --> 0:41:16.960 just watching a flat video of a concert online, right 0:41:17.040 --> 0:41:20.320 being able to see a virtual representation of it, and 0:41:20.360 --> 0:41:23.160 in fact, like we have the technology where the act 0:41:23.440 --> 0:41:28.279 could be appearing as actual video representations as opposed to 0:41:28.360 --> 0:41:31.600 say a cartoonish avatar. Like I think of being able 0:41:31.640 --> 0:41:34.960 to see the struts Um perform live. I've seen them 0:41:34.960 --> 0:41:38.480 perform lives several times, really really enjoy their live shows. 0:41:39.000 --> 0:41:42.280 I would much prefer to see them perform live as video. 0:41:42.600 --> 0:41:45.000 Then I don't know now that I think about it, 0:41:45.120 --> 0:41:47.759 if they were appearing as like Roadblock style characters, that 0:41:47.800 --> 0:41:50.520 has its own kind of charm too, But anyway, you 0:41:50.560 --> 0:41:53.440 would have lots of options, uh, And that that would 0:41:53.440 --> 0:41:56.200 mean that you would be able to kind of be 0:41:56.320 --> 0:41:59.560 there virtually in person and be able to see the 0:41:59.600 --> 0:42:03.279 interactctions between the act and the crowd. To me, that's 0:42:03.280 --> 0:42:05.080 a big part of the fun of going to live 0:42:05.160 --> 0:42:09.600 events and seeing that interactivity or heck, imagine using VR 0:42:09.680 --> 0:42:12.640 to explore places that you would otherwise never be able 0:42:12.719 --> 0:42:16.600 to go to. Not just like other places around the 0:42:16.600 --> 0:42:19.399 world right now, you could go to places that no 0:42:19.440 --> 0:42:23.920 longer exist, like a virtual recreation of historic sites that 0:42:24.000 --> 0:42:28.080 have long since been demolished. Being able to explore those 0:42:28.120 --> 0:42:31.359 would be amazing. Or maybe you could visit the Moon 0:42:31.840 --> 0:42:35.320 or Mars, or maybe a fantasy setting that never existed 0:42:35.320 --> 0:42:39.000 in the first place. All of these are possibilities in 0:42:39.320 --> 0:42:44.000 a metaverse. Meanwhile, you still have the opportunity to incorporate 0:42:44.080 --> 0:42:48.759 commerce into this experience. Companies could establish an existence in 0:42:48.800 --> 0:42:52.480 the metaverse, giving you the chance to interact virtually with products. 0:42:52.880 --> 0:42:56.600 You could purchase virtual replications of stuff so that you 0:42:56.880 --> 0:43:00.880 can use it in your in metaverse avatar. Like you 0:43:00.920 --> 0:43:06.120 know Nike has made sneakers this way, virtual sneakers. I 0:43:06.160 --> 0:43:08.800 don't know that to me is gets a little silly, 0:43:08.840 --> 0:43:11.479 but then it might just not be for me that part. 0:43:12.120 --> 0:43:15.560 Or maybe you could actually order real goods and services 0:43:15.600 --> 0:43:18.680 through virtual storefronts to get a chance to see what 0:43:18.800 --> 0:43:22.360 something looks like in person or virtually in person, and 0:43:22.360 --> 0:43:25.000 then order it without having to seek out a store. 0:43:25.000 --> 0:43:27.759 This would be really useful for stores that don't have 0:43:27.800 --> 0:43:32.640 a presence in your particular region. Right There's some stores 0:43:32.680 --> 0:43:34.840 I hear about that I would love to visit, but 0:43:34.920 --> 0:43:37.840 there aren't any close to me. So being able to 0:43:37.880 --> 0:43:40.000 do that virtually and being able to get like a 0:43:40.040 --> 0:43:43.759 good feel for what the product looks like within a 0:43:43.840 --> 0:43:47.359 virtual world that could be really useful. So that's something 0:43:47.400 --> 0:43:49.399 that has a lot of companies really excited right now. 0:43:49.440 --> 0:43:51.359 And it's also a place where we're seeing n f 0:43:51.360 --> 0:43:54.200 t s come up in conversation. Again, so a n 0:43:54.239 --> 0:43:56.680 f T could represent a purchase of a digital item, 0:43:56.719 --> 0:43:58.759 giving you the use of that item as long as 0:43:58.800 --> 0:44:01.640 you possess the n f T or maybe you then 0:44:01.680 --> 0:44:05.200 decide to sell that on the market later on. You 0:44:05.239 --> 0:44:08.400 can do that in an n f T marketplace. You know, 0:44:08.440 --> 0:44:10.759 we just have to get through all the nonsense with 0:44:10.920 --> 0:44:13.239 n f t s right now that are giving the 0:44:13.239 --> 0:44:16.840 tech a bad name. And again, it will all depend 0:44:16.880 --> 0:44:19.680 on how it is deployed. It can still be deployed 0:44:19.680 --> 0:44:22.320 in a way that's just terrible, and n f T 0:44:22.520 --> 0:44:26.120 s never live up to their potential. That's dependent upon 0:44:26.400 --> 0:44:29.360 us making systems where the n f T s makes sense. 0:44:29.719 --> 0:44:32.440 They're not a scam and they don't become just a 0:44:32.560 --> 0:44:37.360 speculative investment pump and dump. And because there's this general 0:44:37.400 --> 0:44:39.640 notion that Web three could be the future of the 0:44:39.680 --> 0:44:42.279 web and the metaverse could be the future of how 0:44:42.360 --> 0:44:46.280 people interact with each other online, there's a real rush 0:44:46.719 --> 0:44:50.160 in these spaces to establish footholds there. And this is 0:44:50.200 --> 0:44:52.120 where we're seeing a lot of the stuff that's giving 0:44:52.160 --> 0:44:56.480 people a bad feeling about where things are going, because 0:44:57.560 --> 0:44:59.959 there's a lot of sloppy decisions that are being made 0:45:00.239 --> 0:45:04.680 on the way. So Meta slash Facebook has really pushed 0:45:04.840 --> 0:45:08.120 for the metaverse. You know, they've famously sunk billions of 0:45:08.160 --> 0:45:14.040 dollars into it already, and the company's reputation is you know, tarnished, right, 0:45:14.040 --> 0:45:16.879 I mean, that's that's arguably one of the reasons why 0:45:16.920 --> 0:45:21.399 Facebook changed its name to Meta because Facebook has got 0:45:21.400 --> 0:45:24.239 a bit of a stigma against it, so naturally a 0:45:24.280 --> 0:45:27.680 lot of people are wary of any metaverse that is 0:45:27.719 --> 0:45:31.760 spearheaded by Meta. And I think what Meta and several 0:45:31.800 --> 0:45:34.520 other companies are hoping for is to be the first 0:45:34.560 --> 0:45:38.600 to really establish a robust metaverse. Because if they can 0:45:38.640 --> 0:45:40.680 be the first to do it, and if they can 0:45:40.719 --> 0:45:44.240 prove they already have a large installed base of users 0:45:44.320 --> 0:45:47.960 interested in it, then they can attract all the other 0:45:48.080 --> 0:45:51.239 parties to join that particular metaverse. And by parties, i'm 0:45:51.280 --> 0:45:54.360 talking about like major companies and stuff. So if Meta 0:45:54.400 --> 0:45:57.799 can say, hey, we've got the metaverse platform and we 0:45:57.880 --> 0:46:01.520 already have three billion users be as they have accounts 0:46:01.520 --> 0:46:04.960 set Facebook, then that is a powerful selling point to 0:46:05.080 --> 0:46:07.719 get other parties on board. I mean, it sends a 0:46:07.760 --> 0:46:10.920 message to a company that they can't afford to ignore 0:46:11.000 --> 0:46:14.479 this place where everybody is already, they need to be there. 0:46:14.880 --> 0:46:18.080 So my guess is that's really Meta's game plan to 0:46:18.200 --> 0:46:22.680 establish a metaverse that effectively becomes the default. It's kind 0:46:22.719 --> 0:46:26.239 of the anti web three because it would be as 0:46:26.239 --> 0:46:29.480 if Meta owned the web, assuming, of course, that the 0:46:29.520 --> 0:46:34.000 metaverse actually became the primary way that people interfaced online 0:46:34.000 --> 0:46:37.920 with each other and with commerce. That's a big presumption, however, 0:46:38.320 --> 0:46:41.600 but assuming that that did happen, then that's kind of 0:46:41.600 --> 0:46:44.439 what Meta's goal is, just to be, you know, sort 0:46:44.480 --> 0:46:48.040 of the gatekeeper for the whole thing. So the anti 0:46:48.040 --> 0:46:52.040 web three. Meta is not the only company attempting to 0:46:52.080 --> 0:46:54.000 do this. I've been calling them out a lot because 0:46:54.040 --> 0:46:56.840 they're the most high profile company but there are lots 0:46:56.840 --> 0:46:58.640 of companies that are involved in this, and then there 0:46:58.680 --> 0:47:01.040 are some companies that are more interested in building out 0:47:01.080 --> 0:47:05.799 things that could be a foundational element of a metaverse 0:47:05.920 --> 0:47:10.600 rather than building out the whole metaverse themselves. Meanwhile, this 0:47:10.680 --> 0:47:12.920 is still all under the assumption that this is the 0:47:12.920 --> 0:47:15.720 future that people want and that people will be eager 0:47:15.760 --> 0:47:18.799 to interact with and able to interact with. So for 0:47:18.840 --> 0:47:20.600 all of that to happen, we're gonna need a lot 0:47:20.640 --> 0:47:23.080 of other things to fall into place. One is that, 0:47:23.480 --> 0:47:27.040 assuming the metaverse is going to require mixed reality hardware, 0:47:27.719 --> 0:47:31.440 that hardware has to be available and affordable. You probably 0:47:31.480 --> 0:47:33.960 also want it to be untethered. You know, you don't 0:47:33.960 --> 0:47:36.840 want to have to be connected or physically anchored to 0:47:36.880 --> 0:47:39.759 a computer in most of these cases. And for that 0:47:39.840 --> 0:47:43.759 to work, you need really good wireless connectivity solutions, and 0:47:43.840 --> 0:47:47.560 you need a strong edge computing system. We're gonna need 0:47:47.600 --> 0:47:49.560 to take one more quick break. When we come back, 0:47:49.800 --> 0:47:52.400 I'll talk a bit about what edge computing is and 0:47:52.480 --> 0:47:57.600 why it's important. Okay, let's let's do a quick overview 0:47:57.640 --> 0:48:01.920 of what edge computing is. Uh, it's related to cloud computing. Right. 0:48:02.000 --> 0:48:06.880 With cloud computing, you have these networks that are doing computations, 0:48:06.960 --> 0:48:11.760 maybe they're doing data storage, maybe they're hosting apps, maybe 0:48:11.800 --> 0:48:18.759 they are running processes. With edge computing, you locate computation 0:48:18.800 --> 0:48:21.600 and data storage systems as close to the end users 0:48:21.640 --> 0:48:25.720 as you can to cut down on latency and transfer speeds. 0:48:25.800 --> 0:48:29.680 So with edge computing, companies like Meta could use the 0:48:29.719 --> 0:48:32.839 computer systems that are at the edge near the end 0:48:32.960 --> 0:48:36.919 users to handle the bulk of computational work that would 0:48:36.960 --> 0:48:40.160 otherwise have to fall to the user's own hardware or 0:48:40.239 --> 0:48:42.040 it would be in the cloud. If it's just in 0:48:42.040 --> 0:48:45.240 the cloud, then there's going to be a delay because 0:48:45.560 --> 0:48:49.319 of the distance between user and cloud, and you don't 0:48:49.320 --> 0:48:52.520 want to delay. If it's at the user, well, then 0:48:52.600 --> 0:48:54.600 that means that you have just put the burden on 0:48:54.680 --> 0:48:58.840 the user to have a computer powerful enough to process 0:48:58.920 --> 0:49:01.480 whatever it is you're trying to do. So this is 0:49:01.480 --> 0:49:04.719 why a lot of earlier virtual reality systems were these 0:49:04.800 --> 0:49:09.400 tethered systems that required people to have a screaming fast 0:49:09.560 --> 0:49:14.040 gaming PC if they wanted to use the VR system, 0:49:14.080 --> 0:49:18.240 because all the hard work had to be done by 0:49:18.320 --> 0:49:22.200 the local system. Edge computing a very strong edge computing 0:49:22.200 --> 0:49:27.839 network paired with very fast wireless data transfers would allow 0:49:27.920 --> 0:49:30.799 you to do the heavy lifting at the edge and 0:49:30.840 --> 0:49:35.120 then beam that to the user with very low latency, 0:49:35.200 --> 0:49:39.320 so that you don't have to have a massively powerful 0:49:39.440 --> 0:49:42.880 VR system locally. You can have a lightweight v OUR 0:49:42.920 --> 0:49:47.799 system that depends upon these edge computing networks. That's one 0:49:47.880 --> 0:49:51.279 of the key components that will be necessary to make 0:49:51.320 --> 0:49:56.200 a metaverse of this type a reality. And we definitely 0:49:56.239 --> 0:49:59.279 have lots of examples of edge computing networks already. These 0:49:59.280 --> 0:50:03.360 are not, you know, hypothetical or futuristic things. They exist now. 0:50:04.040 --> 0:50:07.640 We're just gonna need a lot more of them. Now. 0:50:07.680 --> 0:50:09.960 There are a lot of other components that we will 0:50:10.000 --> 0:50:12.640 need to evolve for the metaverse to become a reality. 0:50:13.280 --> 0:50:18.600 Intels Rajah Kaduri famously posted that he believed we are 0:50:18.640 --> 0:50:21.799 going to need one thousand times the computing power we 0:50:21.880 --> 0:50:25.080 currently have at our disposal in order to support a 0:50:25.120 --> 0:50:29.839 truly robust, persistent metaverse in the way that people are 0:50:29.960 --> 0:50:33.200 envisioning today. So we are talking about a future here, 0:50:33.600 --> 0:50:37.240 and because it's a future, it is uncertain. We don't 0:50:37.400 --> 0:50:43.200 really know how it will manifest or how many different 0:50:43.280 --> 0:50:47.400 kinds we're going to get. While Meta is absolutely determined 0:50:47.440 --> 0:50:50.400 to try and make it stamp the the one and 0:50:50.440 --> 0:50:53.920 only Metaverse. We're likely to see a lot of different 0:50:54.600 --> 0:50:57.600 versions of this, some of which will be much more modest. Right. 0:50:58.480 --> 0:51:00.440 Many of them will probably be in the form of 0:51:00.480 --> 0:51:03.360 the games that we've been talking about, like Minecraft and 0:51:03.440 --> 0:51:07.520 Roadblocks and Fortnite. That we are going to see more 0:51:07.719 --> 0:51:14.680 metaverse style concepts and features make their way into online games. Uh, 0:51:14.719 --> 0:51:17.360 and we might not immediately call those online games a 0:51:17.520 --> 0:51:21.359 metaverse in their own right, but rather say, these are 0:51:21.440 --> 0:51:26.879 games that incorporate philosophies that are things we associate with 0:51:27.040 --> 0:51:31.799 a metaverse. But you know, it may very well be 0:51:31.960 --> 0:51:34.640 that the meta one that gets offered ends up being 0:51:34.760 --> 0:51:38.640 the largely the one and only now that it really 0:51:38.719 --> 0:51:41.960 is one and only, but that because of Meta's footprint, 0:51:42.239 --> 0:51:46.600 because it has access to so many users, assuming that 0:51:46.680 --> 0:51:50.560 it finds a way to make the hardware affordable, and 0:51:50.600 --> 0:51:53.560 it may very well be that Meta's plan is to 0:51:54.120 --> 0:51:58.839 make the hardware affordable by selling it below cost and 0:51:58.840 --> 0:52:01.160 then making up the money the long run once it's 0:52:01.200 --> 0:52:05.920 able to um to generate revenue off the metaverse. Something 0:52:05.960 --> 0:52:09.720 that Mark Zuckerberg himself has said is years down the line. 0:52:10.680 --> 0:52:14.000 Maybe that's how it all involds. We just don't know yet. 0:52:14.280 --> 0:52:17.400 So will the metaverse really become how people interact online? 0:52:18.239 --> 0:52:21.120 Will Web three replace the system we have now where 0:52:21.200 --> 0:52:24.319 massive companies own most of the experience and determine what 0:52:24.440 --> 0:52:29.399 we see and what we don't see. I honestly don't know. 0:52:29.920 --> 0:52:33.799 It's certainly possible. Uh. There are people working very hard 0:52:33.920 --> 0:52:36.320 to make that become a reality. But there are also 0:52:36.360 --> 0:52:38.759 a lot of people who are very skeptical of it 0:52:38.880 --> 0:52:43.120 and critical of it and concerned about it, who, while 0:52:43.120 --> 0:52:48.680 not necessarily actively working against this possibility, or at least 0:52:48.760 --> 0:52:52.440 raising questions that they're demanding answers to. Before we just 0:52:52.760 --> 0:52:56.560 embrace this as the future, I'm sure we're gonna see 0:52:56.560 --> 0:53:00.520 a lot more controversy and missteps along the way. You know, 0:53:00.800 --> 0:53:06.000 reality is messy, and companies will often make terrible mistakes 0:53:06.200 --> 0:53:08.480 because they'll they'll have a vision of what they want 0:53:08.520 --> 0:53:12.120 to achieve and not have a full concept of what 0:53:12.200 --> 0:53:17.759 the consequences are of achieving that vision. But this is 0:53:17.760 --> 0:53:21.520 how technological revolutions happen. When you're in the middle of 0:53:21.520 --> 0:53:24.640 a technological revolution, you can't see the end of it. 0:53:25.360 --> 0:53:27.799 You can't see how it will work out, how it 0:53:27.840 --> 0:53:31.279 will all settle down, or even if it will work out, 0:53:31.360 --> 0:53:33.799 or if it will just be a failed experiment. You 0:53:33.840 --> 0:53:37.279 can't tell when you're in it. It's only in hindsight 0:53:37.600 --> 0:53:40.440 that we recognize what works. When we talk about Web 0:53:40.480 --> 0:53:43.520 one and Web two. The reason we're even able to 0:53:43.560 --> 0:53:46.080 talk about that is because we were able to stick 0:53:46.120 --> 0:53:49.640 around long enough to see how the web changed from 0:53:49.680 --> 0:53:53.640 the early days to post two thousand four or so. 0:53:54.480 --> 0:53:58.200 And I'm sure that the process of getting to this 0:53:58.360 --> 0:54:01.440 future is going to be very grad will so there 0:54:01.440 --> 0:54:04.359 will be milestones that we will pass that we won't 0:54:04.400 --> 0:54:07.840 recognize that we passed. It will only be in hindsight 0:54:07.880 --> 0:54:11.520 when we look back and say, oh, yes, when this 0:54:11.920 --> 0:54:15.800 product came out, that was the foundation for this critical 0:54:15.800 --> 0:54:17.880 component of the metaverse. But we won't be able to 0:54:17.920 --> 0:54:20.680 say that what it's happening, at least not in every case. 0:54:21.280 --> 0:54:24.279 So if I had messages for all of you out 0:54:24.280 --> 0:54:27.480 there when it comes to things like Web three, the metaverse, 0:54:27.520 --> 0:54:31.960 and f t S all of that, it is all 0:54:32.040 --> 0:54:35.920 right to be enthusiastic. It's okay to be enthusiastic, It's 0:54:35.920 --> 0:54:42.680 okay to be excited, use critical thinking, ask questions. Learn 0:54:42.760 --> 0:54:46.520 as much as you can before you start jumping into things, 0:54:47.120 --> 0:54:51.440 because if it's anything where it's going to require an investment, 0:54:51.520 --> 0:54:54.839 whether that's an investment of your money, of your resources, 0:54:54.880 --> 0:54:59.880 of your time, of your efforts, you should satisfy as 0:55:00.040 --> 0:55:03.120 much of your curiosity as you can that that investment 0:55:03.120 --> 0:55:07.279 will be worthwhile. It may not work out, but you 0:55:07.280 --> 0:55:13.319 should definitely be comfortable with the investment before you you 0:55:13.480 --> 0:55:16.399 commit it. Uh. I think a lot of people fell 0:55:16.400 --> 0:55:20.120 into a trap where they were making investments without fully 0:55:20.160 --> 0:55:23.560 appreciating what they were investing in, and some of those 0:55:23.560 --> 0:55:26.680 people got burned for that, and that's what has led 0:55:26.719 --> 0:55:31.160 to this very critical view of these these basic concepts. 0:55:31.800 --> 0:55:34.719 And plus we can't get around the fact that we've 0:55:34.760 --> 0:55:39.200 got some big companies that have a shaky reputation that 0:55:39.400 --> 0:55:43.919 um at least publicly, that also lead to that. So 0:55:45.520 --> 0:55:48.600 this future, I'm not as down on it as I 0:55:48.719 --> 0:55:51.320 used to be. I used to be really super critical 0:55:51.360 --> 0:55:55.320 of it, but I actually see how if deployed properly, 0:55:55.360 --> 0:55:59.680 it could be really really beneficial. But that's an if 0:55:59.719 --> 0:56:04.080 we have to push for the proper implementation in order 0:56:04.080 --> 0:56:07.799 for that reality to come to pass, that's it. For 0:56:07.800 --> 0:56:12.799 this episode. Hope you enjoyed learning about these topics and 0:56:13.239 --> 0:56:16.600 their implications. A lot of people say this is definitely 0:56:16.600 --> 0:56:19.520 where we're headed, So it's good to educate ourselves as 0:56:19.560 --> 0:56:21.960 best we can so that we can make sure that 0:56:22.040 --> 0:56:24.799 the future we do create is the best one we 0:56:24.880 --> 0:56:27.960 can possibly make, and the only way to do that 0:56:28.440 --> 0:56:32.360 is by educating ourselves. If you have suggestions for topics 0:56:32.360 --> 0:56:34.719 I should cover on future episodes of tech Stuff, I 0:56:34.840 --> 0:56:37.719 welcome you to reach out and let me know. The 0:56:37.760 --> 0:56:40.680 best way to do that is on Twitter. The handle 0:56:40.719 --> 0:56:44.120 for the show is text stuff H s W. Thank 0:56:44.160 --> 0:56:47.399 you again to Nissan for sponsoring this episode and giving 0:56:47.440 --> 0:56:52.440 me the opportunity to really dive in to this future concept. 0:56:52.920 --> 0:56:56.400 It is exciting. It is exciting both in the sense 0:56:56.480 --> 0:56:59.840 that there is incredible potential and that we have to 0:56:59.840 --> 0:57:03.200 be aware of possible drawbacks. To me, all of that 0:57:03.320 --> 0:57:06.160 is exciting. I hope it is to YouTube and I'll 0:57:06.160 --> 0:57:14.320 talk to you again really soon. Y. Text Stuff is 0:57:14.360 --> 0:57:17.480 an I Heart Radio production. For more podcasts from my 0:57:17.600 --> 0:57:21.200 Heart Radio, visit the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 0:57:21.320 --> 0:57:23.320 or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.