One of the concepts we hear most frequently lately is undoubtedly the metaverse. So, how did this concept suddenly find a place in our lives? Neal Stephenson was the first to use the concept of "metaverse" in his 1992 novel Snow Crash.
One evening in October 2021, we received the news that Facebook changed the name of its umbrella company to Meta. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg surprisingly announced that they would change their umbrella company name to Meta. Zuckerberg also stated that their next priority is the metaverse. So, in fact, the metaverse has been in our lives for a while, with developing technology. However, Facebook's decision was very effective in turning this concept into "hype", so to speak. Speaking with evidence, when we look at the Google Trends results, we see that after Facebook's decision was announced on October 28, the search for "metaverse" peaked between 24 and 30 October 2021.
Yes, the metaverse has become popular lately, that's true. But when was this term first used? When the term was used, was it a world that came to mind just like it does now?
Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer known for his works of speculative fiction. His novels have been categorized as science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk, postcyberpunk, and baroque.
Metaverse enables human cognition to be included in an artificial physical environment thanks to computers, android devices, and three-dimensional devices. In other words, we can call the metaverse the perceptual universe in which people feel themselves completely mentally with augmented virtual reality devices, without making any physical effort. In summary, the metaverse may be a place in the future where we will live our lives more than reality, but this may just be a science fiction assumption. Because, according to Neal Stephenson, the person who first used the term metaverse, this universe was possible behind words in 1992, long before 2022.
Many things that were only utopian developments when they were written are now part of our daily lives. For this reason, it is possible that the book Snow Crash, written by Neal Stephenson and in which he used the term metaverse for the first time, will become a reality one day in the future.
Who is Neal Stephenson?
American writer Neal Stephenson was born in 1959. A member of a family of engineers and scientists, Stephenson's family was very influential in shaping his identity. He entered the physics department of Boston University and became interested in computers during this period. Stephenson first specialized in physics, then moved on to study geography at the same university after discovering that it would allow him to spend more time on his mainframe computer. In 1981, he received a bachelor's degree in geography and a minor in physics. Meanwhile, he started writing his first novel, The Big U. He published this book in 1984. Stephenson's second novel, Zodiac, was about a radical environmentalist's battle with corporate companies.
Metaverse definition according to Snow Crash and Stephenson
The novel that brought Neal Stephenson real success, Snow Crash, in which he used the term metaverse for the first time, was published in 1992.
As can be understood, Neal Stephenson's definition of metaverse in 1992 exactly matches the definition of today's metaverse. This work of science fiction, which was just a fantasy 30 years ago, has now become a reality.
Other works by Neal Stephenson
Neal Stephenson's book published after Snow Crash was Interface, which he wrote with his uncle J Frederick George. However, Interface was published under the pseudonym Stephen Bury. In 1995, he published the novel The Diamond Age: or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer, and in 1996, he published the novel The Cobweb, again with his uncle, using the same pseudonym.
Neal Stephenson's next novel was Cryptonomicon, published in 1999, focusing on Alan Turing's cryptography studies. The Baroque Cycle, one of Stephenson's most popular novel series, was published in three different volumes: Quicksilver (2003), The Confusion (2004), and The System of the World (2004). The System of the World won the Prometheus Award in 2005. Stephenson wrote Anathem, a long and detailed speculative fiction novel, in 2008. This novel also won the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel in 2009. Stephenson's novel READDE was published on September 20, 2011. On August 7, 2012, Stephenson published a collection of essays and other previously published fiction titled Some Remarks: Essays and Other Writing. Stephenson's next novel was Seveneves, published in 2015.
In May 2016, as part of his video discussion with Bill Gates, Stephenson revealed that he had submitted the manuscript of his historical novel, which he wrote with Mongolian author Nicole Galland. This novel later hit the shelves on June 13, 2017, under the name The Rise and Fall of DODO. Stephenson, Fall in 2019; or, Dodge in Hell, and Termination Shock in 2021. Neal Stephenson was nominated for the Hugo Award, one of the most prestigious awards in science fiction, four times and won the award once, for The Diamond Age.
Worked at companies such as Blue Origin and Magic Leap
While Neal Stephenson's literary career was following this path, the famous author also worked with many technology companies.
Stephenson worked as a consultant for Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin for seven years, from 1999 to 2006, but left the company after Blue Origin became a more standard aerospace company. In 2012, Stephenson launched a Kickstarter campaign for CLANG, a realistic sword-fighting fantasy game. The campaign's $500,000 funding goal was reached on Kickstarter on July 9, 2012, but funding options remained open and the project continued to accept contributions on its official site. The project ran out of money in September 2013. However, the CLANG project ended in September 2014 without completion.
Neal Stephenson was hired as Magic Leap's chief futurist in 2014 and left in 2020. Stephenson and his colleagues Sean Stewart and Austin Grossman released the Audible audio drama New Found Land: The Long Haul in June 2021, based on intellectual property they developed at Magic Leap.
Neal Stephenson's works have been on the agenda of many technology leaders from the past to the present. Many names such as Bill Gates, Peter Thiel, Sergey Brin, and John Carmack have mentioned Neal Stephenson's name more than once in their reading lists.
Let's see with our own eyes which science fiction works will be adapted into reality in the future.