Episode 44 - Metaverse

The one and only Aunt Norah is in town this week to see her favorite (?) nephew Ben, or perhaps it’s just to record a show about the word metaverse?  Who’s to say?  They do have differing views on what it is and what it could be; however, it’s a very interesting discussion from a generation X-er and a Baby Boomer just trying to make sense of it all. 00:00:21 - It’s a dry heat, and starting off the show with TWO questions from my Aunt! 00:01:30 - “What makes NFTs bad for the environment?” 00:04:05 - “What is augmented reality, and how is different from virtual reality?” 00:06:30 - Norah starts the metaverse conversation 00:08:30 - What does a successful metaverse look like? 00:11:15 - Origin of the Snow Crash book title  00:13:35 - Was Norah listening?  You decide! 00:15:25 - E-Bay experiences, Beanie Babies, and Norah says, “on point!” 00:19:00 - Auction houses for real art in the metaverse 00:21:05 - Embedding chips in humans, DNA, and disengaging from VR 00:27:00 - “Kids, don’t bring your guns to amusement parks,” the word meta, and Don Quixote  00:31:00 - In Hebrew meta means dead, and Ben says “the dog’s bollocks” 00:33:30 - Second Life, and facial expressions, emotes, and “don’t F with me…” 00:37:35 - Leveraging data mining in the metaverse, and Ben definitely wants those cat ears 00:40:05 - Unwieldy hardware, and is a conflict-free metaverse possible? 00:43:00 - Concerns about the development of the metaverse, and the evolution of bullying 00:47:55 - Will the development of the metaverse make humanity exponentially worse? 00:50:40 - Will the metaverse ever become the “real” world? 00:53:20 - The “Benaverse,” game evolution, and will Norah try VR? 00:57:10 - Ben’s concerns about crime, and Norah thinks the metaverse will alway be pretend 01:00:00 - “AI means artificial intelligence,” be careful, and favorite nephew… question mark?