Speaker 1: Hi everyone, I'm Katie Kuric, and this is next question.
Speaker 1: You know, it suddenly feels like everyone is talking about
Speaker 1: the metaverse, doesn't it. This week we are looking at
Speaker 1: the rising trend of the metaverse, the metaverse, metaverse, which
Speaker 1: doesn't exist yet and no one really knows what it is.
Speaker 1: People and companies are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars
Speaker 1: into the vision of the metaverse, But what the hell
Speaker 1: is the metaverse and what could it mean for our
Speaker 1: collective future? Technically, it's defined as a network of three
Speaker 1: D virtual worlds focused on social connection. Thank you, Wikipedia.
Speaker 1: But otherwise the only real consensus seems to be that
Speaker 1: it's going to be huge. How huge? Well, Google, Apple, Snapchat,
Speaker 1: and Microsoft have all made mega meta investments, and Facebook
Speaker 1: founder Mark Zuckerberg even renamed his company Meta. I believe
Speaker 1: the metaverse is the next chapter for the Internet, and
Speaker 1: it's the next chapter for our company to Honestly, this
Speaker 1: meta moment kind of reminds me of another seminal moment
Speaker 1: in our tech evolution back in You know, a lot
Speaker 1: of people use it and communicate. I guess they can
Speaker 1: communicate with NBC writers and producers. Allison, can you explain
Speaker 1: what internet is. Yeah, that's right. I've always been on
Speaker 1: the cutting edge of technological revolutions. So I meet a
Speaker 1: date with Wall Street Journal tech columnist Joanna Stern. Is
Speaker 1: really nice and funny, by the way, to meet me
Speaker 1: in the metaverse, so I could see for myself what
Speaker 1: this whole thing is all about. A small spoiler alert,
Speaker 1: we and not just me seemed to be in the
Speaker 1: dial up stage of the metamorphosis. So I'm very excited, Joanna,
Speaker 1: to have you as a tour guide today for my
Speaker 1: exploration into the metaverse, because you're an old hand at
Speaker 1: this right, I will say I have spent quite a
Speaker 1: bit of time in the metaverse. Um, I you know,
Speaker 1: I had a twenty four hour stint in the metaverse.
Speaker 1: I have been frequently putting on my headset here in
Speaker 1: my office. So I'm I'm ready to show you wherever
Speaker 1: you'd like to go. I guess I know you wrote
Speaker 1: this article for the Wall Street Journal, and I'm curious
Speaker 1: what advice you would give me or anybody else who's
Speaker 1: sort of a metaverse novice. Yeah. I mean the first
Speaker 1: thing is kind of like understanding that the metaverse right
Speaker 1: now is is not really a thing. Right it's this
Speaker 1: potential of a future thing. So what I have written
Speaker 1: about is virtual reality and meta The company formerly known
Speaker 1: as Facebook has been saying is that virtual reality and
Speaker 1: other forms of our digital our devices are going to
Speaker 1: help us get to this metaverse, which is a digital
Speaker 1: virtual world where we have avatars that ourselves and we
Speaker 1: do things in this metaverse that we do in the
Speaker 1: real world. Right We work, we work out, we play,
Speaker 1: we play games, we do other sorts of activities, and
Speaker 1: so we can do it in this other world. And
Speaker 1: one of the ways to get there is virtual reality
Speaker 1: right now. And so right now what we kind of
Speaker 1: have a virtual reality headset um. There are a number
Speaker 1: of them out there, but the most popular one is
Speaker 1: made by Meta. It's called the Quest Too, and it
Speaker 1: really is virtual reality. There are some apps that give
Speaker 1: you a glimpse of what the metaverse could be or
Speaker 1: will be. One of them being a meeting room area
Speaker 1: where we could meet and we could have a conversation
Speaker 1: around a virtual conference room table um. There are others
Speaker 1: where they are sort of like playgrounds, virtual playgrounds and
Speaker 1: virtual campfires, and there's kind of other games and things
Speaker 1: like that. But right now, all of this is very
Speaker 1: it's in its infancy, and it's not quite the metaverse.
Speaker 1: We seem to be in a very meta moment though,
Speaker 1: I think, Joanna, and when I hear you say we
Speaker 1: can work out in the metaverse, that sounds absolutely ludicrous
Speaker 1: to me, because you know, I am a physical being.
Speaker 1: If I have my avatar doing a pilates class, oh,
Speaker 1: isn't that great? But it's my avatar getting into shape
Speaker 1: and and working on its core instead of me as
Speaker 1: a human being doing the same. Well, this is where
Speaker 1: we can get really meta, as you say, we can
Speaker 1: get really deep and psychological and philosophical. Will these avatars
Speaker 1: be us? Will we be different people in these avatar bodies?
Speaker 1: But again, like sort of, this is the word about
Speaker 1: the metaverse, right like people are talking about in these
Speaker 1: vague ways right now. Actually, one of my favorite things,
Speaker 1: if not my only thing I actually really like doing
Speaker 1: and VR is working out. And I know that sounds crazy,
Speaker 1: but there's an album you mean, like playing tennis or box. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so there's an app, paper and troll and you don't
Speaker 1: actually have an avatar. It's just you just see arms, right,
Speaker 1: and you see your hands and yeah, like I'm working
Speaker 1: out I'm at the base of Machu Picchu with some
Speaker 1: instructor who, like every other instructor, is you telling me
Speaker 1: and motivating me like my peloton instructors, like my soul
Speaker 1: psycho instructor to keep hitting the things and pick up
Speaker 1: my space, my pace and do all of these things.
Speaker 1: Um again, Like, is that the metaverse or is that
Speaker 1: just the virtual reality game that's kind of working out? Okay,
Speaker 1: so let's do this thing. Okay, let's let's see if
Speaker 1: we can do this thing. Let's go into the metaverse, Joanna,
Speaker 1: I will see you as an avatar Katie, so join
Speaker 1: us wet too in the metaverse right after the break. Hi, Joanna,
Speaker 1: Hi Dad, Getting me I am and getting here has
Speaker 1: not been half the fun. I mean, this has been
Speaker 1: a bit of a ship show. We had to do
Speaker 1: a lot of behind the scenes tech work and put
Speaker 1: this on hold while we figured it out. So I
Speaker 1: guess to say the metaverse isn't quite ready for prime
Speaker 1: times a bit of an understatement. Huh. I'm not happy
Speaker 1: you experienced all this, but I am also sort of
Speaker 1: happy you experienced this because this is what it's like
Speaker 1: right now. And so where are we, Joanna? In terms
Speaker 1: of the development of the metaverse early stages. Well, funny
Speaker 1: enough that you asked us on stage, literally we are
Speaker 1: on the early stages of this kind of weird looking stage.
Speaker 1: But as you have experienced and just trying to put
Speaker 1: your avatar and my avatar in one virtual room, it's
Speaker 1: a lot. It's hardware that you've got to put on
Speaker 1: your head. You've then got to navigate this weird software
Speaker 1: and figure out on top of that a social network
Speaker 1: layer where we both look like avatars. And so all
Speaker 1: of that right now is just early days in terms
Speaker 1: of the technology. And then you have to think about,
Speaker 1: just like any technology, then there's the adoption, right the
Speaker 1: how do people accept this technology, how do they think
Speaker 1: of this as a thing that they would like to use,
Speaker 1: what is the reason they want to use it? And
Speaker 1: then looming over all of that, I like to say,
Speaker 1: is this question of trust. Are we going to trust
Speaker 1: this technology? And is again back to that second point,
Speaker 1: is there enough here that makes it worth us trusting
Speaker 1: in us doing so all of that is to say,
Speaker 1: is it's a lot, Katie, It's a lot. It is
Speaker 1: a lot. It's a lot, Joanna. Meanwhile, your hands are
Speaker 1: kind of floating looks like you have handcuffs that are
Speaker 1: not attached to your You don't have any arms, first
Speaker 1: of all, and you don't have any legs, Joanna, I'm
Speaker 1: sorry to tell you, Katie, you don't have You don't
Speaker 1: have arms or legs either, and you're wearing like shorts.
Speaker 1: Is my outfit based on what I'm wearing or did
Speaker 1: we select an output for me? Well, even if you
Speaker 1: selected an outfit for you, I will tell you that
Speaker 1: this app does not have very high fashion choices or
Speaker 1: many choices. We did have to do this in all
Speaker 1: of space, which is a little bit um. The experience
Speaker 1: here is is not as realistic as some of the
Speaker 1: other social VR platforms. But you, even with that, doesn't
Speaker 1: it sort of feel like we're in the room together.
Speaker 1: And do you feel a little bit uncomfortable when I
Speaker 1: come close to you? Um, you're you're well, I don't
Speaker 1: feel you're okay now, but come a little closer, Joanna. Right,
Speaker 1: but this is weird. Now You're definitely invading my personal space,
Speaker 1: Like yeah, right, And if I'm like screaming in your face,
Speaker 1: what if I'm saying something inappropriate or I'm yelling at
Speaker 1: you or I don't know, if we these were hands
Speaker 1: that actually had more movement and I punched you, it
Speaker 1: might feel a little real, yeah, and threatening, and it
Speaker 1: would feel more real than on a two D iPhone,
Speaker 1: right on a two D story. And so even though
Speaker 1: this is so rudimentary and basic, you are getting the
Speaker 1: sense of how real it could feel. And wow, that's exciting.
Speaker 1: It's also scary. Well, I have a question, Joanna. I mean,
Speaker 1: you look like a cartoon character, as do I. So
Speaker 1: the question is will these avatars eventually be replaced with
Speaker 1: real looking figures so I could actually be conversing with
Speaker 1: you instead of a cartoon character of you. So there
Speaker 1: are already some options that let you do that. One
Speaker 1: is called spatial and you actually really upload a photo
Speaker 1: of yourself and it it doesn't look great, but it
Speaker 1: will take your face and sort of try to make
Speaker 1: it a three D s scan on top of a
Speaker 1: avatar body. And so even when you speak, your mouth
Speaker 1: moves too. So that's one thing that they don't have,
Speaker 1: or we don't have enabled in this all space right now.
Speaker 1: And then there are lots of different technologies that are
Speaker 1: going to let us actually sort of scan ourselves and
Speaker 1: look like holograms. This is something Microsoft's working on. Lots
Speaker 1: of other big tech companies are working on this. So
Speaker 1: you would basically have a three D selfie of yourself,
Speaker 1: and right now it's tough to do. These are bigger files.
Speaker 1: You need special cameras. But imagine that sort of just
Speaker 1: coming to your iPhone or to your webcam and being
Speaker 1: able to scan your face and jump into here, and
Speaker 1: you look like you and maybe we also have some
Speaker 1: nicer clothes, and we sort of feel like this is
Speaker 1: our holograms. They're talking, well, let's let's kind of help
Speaker 1: listeners describe where we are and what we're scene. And
Speaker 1: then I want you to tell us about all the
Speaker 1: space because I don't even know exactly what that is.
Speaker 1: But we're basically in a small theater that looks like
Speaker 1: it would be maybe somewhere in Tribeca or the Village.
Speaker 1: It's got brick walls, Um, it's got a stealing with
Speaker 1: with lights, and we're at a sort of a semicircle
Speaker 1: desk with microphones, and there's a big screen behind us
Speaker 1: that says next question with Katie currct the name of
Speaker 1: this podcast, and um, it's almost as if we're at
Speaker 1: some kind of conference right a tech conference of some kind. Yeah. No,
Speaker 1: it feels like we're on there's a round table stage
Speaker 1: with microphones on the table. Um, I'm actually I'm sitting
Speaker 1: in a chair. Are you sitting in a chair in
Speaker 1: real life? Yeah, you're, well, you're you're kind of kneeling
Speaker 1: on because you don't have any legs and it doesn't
Speaker 1: show you sitting. You're kind of just you're the end
Speaker 1: of your dresses on the chair if and your blue shorts,
Speaker 1: and you have a sort of a heel shirt with
Speaker 1: polka dots and a nice haircut. I was going to say,
Speaker 1: what's my hair look like? Does it look good? Um?
Speaker 1: I mean I saw your hair in real life. It
Speaker 1: looked better in real life than it does it in virtual.
Speaker 1: But the nice thing is like, if there's a breeze here, nothing,
Speaker 1: nothing messes up your hair, so you never have to
Speaker 1: brush it and it always looks like this, So that's good. Um.
Speaker 1: But yeah, no, we're I. I I do actually feel
Speaker 1: like I'm sort of sitting next to someone. Um. And
Speaker 1: because I also hear your voice coming from that area,
Speaker 1: I know to look towards you over here and talk
Speaker 1: to you. Yeah. Almost, it feels like we're probably somewhere
Speaker 1: in Manhattan downtown, right, Yeah. And I've actually so I've
Speaker 1: gone to a number of virtual events and these kinds
Speaker 1: of spaces in all Space, and all Space is a
Speaker 1: social platform for virtual reality. You can think of it
Speaker 1: as sort of a early remember the AO ALL chat rooms,
Speaker 1: Uh huh. So I thought to think of it a
Speaker 1: little bit like that, because they are these can be
Speaker 1: pretty public. Me and you are in a private room
Speaker 1: right now, but we're talking, and people can join public
Speaker 1: rooms like this. And I've been to a couple of
Speaker 1: these rooms where people One of the ones that I
Speaker 1: went to in a project that I was working on
Speaker 1: was a comedy show where somebody stood on a stage
Speaker 1: like this, and then lots of other avatars were in
Speaker 1: the seats in the audience, and those people in the
Speaker 1: audience couldn't talk, but you could just hear the person
Speaker 1: on stage. You can make the room so everyone in
Speaker 1: the room can talk um. But there are all these
Speaker 1: different ways to configure what are really virtual events or
Speaker 1: virtual spaces where people can meet up. And so I
Speaker 1: kind of think of it as those like early days
Speaker 1: of the A O L chat rooms where you go
Speaker 1: in and you sort of meet random people and you
Speaker 1: just start chatting with them. So this is Mark Zuckerberg's
Speaker 1: new big at right, and tell me about what his
Speaker 1: dreams are for the metaphors and why Facebook wanted to
Speaker 1: plant their flag so early. Honestly, I think that he's
Speaker 1: looking at this sort of interaction that we're having right
Speaker 1: now in a virtual world together two people socializing as
Speaker 1: what Facebook needs to be doing. Right. If you think
Speaker 1: about what we did here, we went on, we made accounts,
Speaker 1: we dressed our avatars, we gave them names, we put
Speaker 1: on the headset, we came to a place to talk, right,
Speaker 1: That's what Facebook has been for the Internet, right, a
Speaker 1: place where people are congregating and socializing in a virtual space. Now,
Speaker 1: if the future is in headsets and we are all
Speaker 1: wearing glasses, let's say in five years down the line,
Speaker 1: what company is going to dominate there? How does Facebook
Speaker 1: make sure that it is one of the main companies
Speaker 1: dominating in that space, like Apple and Google have dominated
Speaker 1: in the phone space. So Facebook brings to the table
Speaker 1: their social networking, but they're also here making the hardware.
Speaker 1: The headset you're wearing right now is made by Meta
Speaker 1: Sorry I keep going on Facebook, but formally known as
Speaker 1: Facebook Meta makes that headset that you're wearing, and so
Speaker 1: they're here in the hardware business to sell you hardware,
Speaker 1: but then they want you to put on that headset
Speaker 1: and live in their social network. But Joanna, if I
Speaker 1: wanted to talk to you, why can't I just face
Speaker 1: time you on my phone? And I don't you know,
Speaker 1: I would prefer that. Is that just because I'm old.
Speaker 1: The thing is that I actually did get into this
Speaker 1: sort of vur world, sort of communal space a lot
Speaker 1: during the pandemic, and so there was a couple of
Speaker 1: times where I would meet some colleagues around a conference
Speaker 1: room table like this, and it felt far more real
Speaker 1: than the zooms we had been doing day after day
Speaker 1: after your day. It did feel more real than a FaceTime,
Speaker 1: even if we were avatars. And that's because of the presence.
Speaker 1: That is, because you like, I'm looking at you right
Speaker 1: now here and I'm in my basement, but like, for
Speaker 1: some reason in my head, I also I'm like Katie's
Speaker 1: like kind of in the corner of my office on
Speaker 1: my printer. Like that's weird. You know, there's this melding
Speaker 1: of the virtual and the real world that that happens
Speaker 1: when you're wearing this that you don't have with FaceTime,
Speaker 1: but you could see the potential. And this is what
Speaker 1: augmented reality is about. Where your virtual hologram, as we
Speaker 1: talked about before, comes into my living room and you
Speaker 1: sit on my couch and I'm wearing my glasses and
Speaker 1: you're just sitting on my couch. You won't look like
Speaker 1: a cartoon. You'll look like a like you. Right, You'll
Speaker 1: be wearing what you're really wearing. Maybe you'll customize it
Speaker 1: and you'll have your real face, and you won't feel
Speaker 1: like a cartoon. And that might feel more real than
Speaker 1: holding up a phone or a tablet or you know,
Speaker 1: a sort of a green that you've put on your
Speaker 1: kitchen counter. So who else is getting into this space
Speaker 1: other than meta slash Mark Zuckerberg. Eventually all the tech
Speaker 1: companies are going to get into this space. Right now,
Speaker 1: Microsoft has started They have what they call a hollow
Speaker 1: lens headset that is more aimed at businesses and enterprise.
Speaker 1: They are working towards more of this. In terms of
Speaker 1: the metaverse, we expect Apple and Google. Lots of rumors
Speaker 1: already that Apple has been working on headsets and that
Speaker 1: augmented reality, which is different than virtual reality. This is
Speaker 1: virtual reality right now, so we both don't see anything
Speaker 1: around us, right, I just see this virtual space. Augmented
Speaker 1: reality would be you see your real space and some
Speaker 1: digital objects. So apples working on the latter part, the
Speaker 1: augmented reality part of that. Snapchat is working on this.
Speaker 1: They've already got some prototype glasses. They're working on augmented
Speaker 1: reality in their apps. Um some other big sort of
Speaker 1: startups that have received a lot of money, but all
Speaker 1: the big tech companies are going to be in this.
Speaker 1: More of my exploration of the metaverse with the Wall
Speaker 1: Street Journals. Joanna Starn coming up, I want to ask
Speaker 1: you about scary situations that can happen in the metaverse.
Speaker 1: This woman from the UK, there was a group of
Speaker 1: people and she says she was sexually assaulted in the metaverse.
Speaker 1: And what did you make of that? Well, let's let's
Speaker 1: look at this situation right now. Me and you are
Speaker 1: two avatars right and in here. This feels a little
Speaker 1: bit more personal than a text chat on a Facebook group,
Speaker 1: right right, or a text message back and forth. Earth
Speaker 1: when I come up to you and I'm gonna do
Speaker 1: this again, this this is a good answer to what
Speaker 1: we were talking about. But when I come up to you,
Speaker 1: it sort of feels like I'm in your space, right,
Speaker 1: Like I'm I'm invading your personal space and you're hearing
Speaker 1: my voice. So if I said some abusive things or
Speaker 1: some mean things, or I was yelling, that would probably
Speaker 1: feel worse than let's say, writing all caps in a Facebook,
Speaker 1: because you've got more of your senses, Like I'm looking
Speaker 1: at you even though your mouth isn't moving, I do
Speaker 1: feel like I'm talking to you in this weird space
Speaker 1: in my basement, but you're So this is all to
Speaker 1: say you can see how something like harassment or abuse
Speaker 1: in these areas, which has been a common thing on
Speaker 1: the Internet since the beginning of the Internet, can feel
Speaker 1: more real to people and think about the challenges on
Speaker 1: the internet. You can kick someone out of the group,
Speaker 1: right because immediately if you see some sorts of curse words,
Speaker 1: you can quickly say that's bad, right, right, that that
Speaker 1: that person is not abiding by our guidelines in this
Speaker 1: room or in this in this space on our platform.
Speaker 1: Here it's live audio, it's much harder to say, oh,
Speaker 1: that's a bad thing somebody saying or that's that's not true.
Speaker 1: That person saying information that's not true. We're sharing information
Speaker 1: that's not true, and now they were going about abusing people.
Speaker 1: That's that's a much harder thing to police and to
Speaker 1: moderate with live audio and eventually live video like this.
Speaker 1: But I wonder the idea that you're talking to what
Speaker 1: seems to be more of a real person instead of
Speaker 1: a thumbnail picture on some platform like Twitter or Facebook.
Speaker 1: Do you think that might reduce the amount of nastiness
Speaker 1: that we that is so prominent online. It's a really
Speaker 1: good question, and I think it will change some social
Speaker 1: Danna X. But the one of the biggest things we've
Speaker 1: learned on the Internet is that bad people in real
Speaker 1: life are bad people on the internet, right, I mean
Speaker 1: just and and sometimes the Internet can make it easier
Speaker 1: to be a bad person. Sometimes it could make it
Speaker 1: easier to be a good person. Right, But when you
Speaker 1: enter spaces with other people, people and human nature is
Speaker 1: going to happen. And what are the tools that some
Speaker 1: of these platforms give people. What are the rules and
Speaker 1: the regulations that make people act within the guidelines of
Speaker 1: the companies set forth. That's the big question about how
Speaker 1: they're going to be able to even moderate that. Well.
Speaker 1: The tech companies aren't really known for their sensitivity. I
Speaker 1: mean a lot of them are run by pretty brollique guys,
Speaker 1: and I'm curious if they're starting to think of some
Speaker 1: of these other issues that might be pervasive once this
Speaker 1: technology is perfective. They're definitely starting to think of it.
Speaker 1: But the and you have heard Mark Zuckerberk, he said
Speaker 1: already that we need to be smarter this time around.
Speaker 1: As we're creating this, think about the potential problems before
Speaker 1: the problems happened. As we know they did it in
Speaker 1: many cases with the last number of years. But with
Speaker 1: every new technology, there's going to be old problems. They're
Speaker 1: going to be new problems. And so are we all
Speaker 1: confident that there's not going to be problems now? They're
Speaker 1: going to be problems. So what is the difference between
Speaker 1: the metaverse and when people talk about web three? That
Speaker 1: is a very good question, and I wish more people
Speaker 1: even knew what either of those terms meant. I will
Speaker 1: say I am often confused now reading both of those terms,
Speaker 1: and I see them just sort of being thrown around
Speaker 1: like marketing terms. I will say, web three is this
Speaker 1: idea of the next generation of the Internet, and there
Speaker 1: are a lot of buzzwords that people are throwing around
Speaker 1: with that metaverse, blockchain, crypto, n f T S. Let's
Speaker 1: say that that is what people are saying, is this
Speaker 1: next generation of the Internet. There are some central tenants
Speaker 1: that kind of tie that all together, but the ideas
Speaker 1: that the biggest central tenant that I've heard and the
Speaker 1: most compelling thing is that we're more control right we
Speaker 1: we are not going to be run by big tech
Speaker 1: companies in this next version of the Internet. So I'll
Speaker 1: leave you with that. On the web. Three on metaverse,
Speaker 1: the idea is really a virtual world that we all
Speaker 1: have virtual selves and we live in it. So some
Speaker 1: people will actually say we already have a metaverse, right um,
Speaker 1: where you interact with anything online. We live in a
Speaker 1: in a virtual world. You'll hear like things like roadblocks
Speaker 1: or Fortnite or other places which are communities that are
Speaker 1: built around a virtual space. Are versions of the metaverse.
Speaker 1: You'll hear Mark Zuckerberg say he wants to build a
Speaker 1: metaverse like us where you have a virtual avatar and
Speaker 1: you can go to all these different apps and do
Speaker 1: things there. So I would say the two are cant
Speaker 1: line as in the metaverse can be the future in
Speaker 1: this Web three and may be a component of Web three,
Speaker 1: but they are not the same thing. And also, I
Speaker 1: just won't I'm not gonna bullshit you if no one
Speaker 1: really knows, they're just saying these terms because they want
Speaker 1: to get excited about some new technology on the horizon.
Speaker 1: And so how many years away are we from you know,
Speaker 1: feeling comfortable in the metaverse for a few hours doing
Speaker 1: some activity. Um is it? How five years away? Ten
Speaker 1: years away? It depends on who you ask. But even
Speaker 1: the biggest CEOs of these companies right now are saying
Speaker 1: augmented reality, where these glasses are smaller and more comfortable.
Speaker 1: And literally, I just got to pop up that says
Speaker 1: my battery is about to die in my headsets to
Speaker 1: the battery life lost last longer it all of this,
Speaker 1: they're saying five years at least, this is where we
Speaker 1: are right now. These are where we are right now,
Speaker 1: and this is the best we really have out right
Speaker 1: now in terms of accessibility, affordability. And these are not
Speaker 1: expensive headsets too. That's a nice thing about this. It's
Speaker 1: more accessible to people. This is not you know, this
Speaker 1: is maybe it's but yeah, like this is where we
Speaker 1: are right now, and my head hurts and my batteries
Speaker 1: about today. So my head hurts and and my battery
Speaker 1: is probably about to die too. And as much as
Speaker 1: I've enjoyed talking to your avatar, I prefer talking to
Speaker 1: you on a zoom honestly, And I I think this
Speaker 1: is interesting, but I'm pretty happy in the real world too.
Speaker 1: Same same me too. Well, Joanna, I know your battery
Speaker 1: is about to run out. Thank you so much for
Speaker 1: the tour. I'm gonna go play pickle ball on a
Speaker 1: on a real pickle ball court, um, which with fresh
Speaker 1: air and the sunshine and human beings hitting the ball
Speaker 1: back at me. And I'm excited to get out of
Speaker 1: this headset and get out of this virtual world. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go see my real sons in real life
Speaker 1: and hopefully not crashing into a wall trying to take
Speaker 1: this headset off. Thank you, Joanna. This was really fun
Speaker 1: and really interesting. Thank you. Okay, and I hope I
Speaker 1: get to meet you in person one day. I hope
Speaker 1: so too. I will wear a nicer outfit to my
Speaker 1: real interview with you. Okay, take care, tell your kids
Speaker 1: bye bye. Thank you so much, The Wall Street Journals,
Speaker 1: Joanna Stern for taking me on my first and probably
Speaker 1: last for a while tripped into the metaverse. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening everyone. Until next time, I'm Katie furring Ye. Next
Speaker 1: Question with Katie Kurik is a production of iHeartMedia and
Speaker 1: Katie Curic Media. The executive producers Army, Katie Couric, and
Speaker 1: Courtney Litz. The supervising producer is Lauren Hansen. Associate producers
Speaker 1: Derek Clements and Adriana Fasio. The show is edited and
Speaker 1: mixed by Derrek Clements. For more information about today's episode,
Speaker 1: or to sign up for my morning newsletter, wake Up Call,
Speaker 1: go to Katie Currek dot com. You can also find
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