TIMELINE
WAKE UP AND SMELL THE
METAVERSE !
IT ’ S THE CYBERPUNK
2020 ’ S
A central theme of cyberpunk fiction is the blending of “ reality ” with hyper-immersive digital space . This new decade is already blurring the lines between sci-fi and reality , as AR / VR , social media , smartphones , and the IoT push us ever deeper into new virtual worlds , shared digital spaces - a metaverse pushed by tech companies to augment , or even replace , our physical lives .
1992 Snow Crash and the Origin of the Metaverse
The term “ metaverse ” is coined in Neal Stephenson ’ s science fiction novel Snow Crash . Later popularised further by the book Ready Player One , a metaverse is a fully-realised digital space existing beyond the physical one in which we live - sometimes upheld as a utopia of infinite possibility , but more frequently used to paint a picture of a society in denial of a dying or unjust physical world .
2003 Second Life : the First Metaverse ?
Created by San Francisco-based developer Linden Lab , Second Life was ( and still is , I guess ) an online virtual world where people could work , play , and interact socially through an online avatar . The game boasted over a million active users at its peak and is often held up as both a precursor to social media , and the world ’ s first metaverse .
14 September 2021