Neal Stephenson on Predicting the Metaverse, Crypto, and AI Decades Ahead

About this episode:

Neil Stephenson's novels coined the term metaverse, laid the conceptual groundwork for cryptocurrency, and imagined a geoengineered planet. And nearly three decades before the release of ChatGPT, he presaged the current AI revolution.

In this episode of the Michael Shermer Show, Stephenson explains his writing process, the intricacies of speculative fiction, and the philosophical implications of technology and society. He also discusses the historical context of his new novel Polostan, the ethics surrounding the use of atomic bombs, and the future of AI and cryptocurrency. The conversation delves into the nature of human evolution, societal structures, and the philosophical perspectives on reality, making for a thought-provoking dialogue on the intersection of science, fiction, and human experience.

Neal Stephenson is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of several novels, incl. Termination Shock, Cryptonomicon, The Diamond Age, and Snow Crash. He holds a degree in geography and physics from Boston University.