In the dynamic landscape of the Synthetic Minds podcast, where science fiction converges with real-world technology and societal evolution, we delve into the intricate layers of futurism through the lens of celebrated narratives.

Today, we are thrilled to host Richard K. Morgan, the visionary behind the seminal cyberpunk novel and Netflix hit, "Altered Carbon." This work not only revolutionized the genre but also pushed the boundaries of how we perceive identity and morality in a digitized future. Set in a future where human consciousness can be digitised and transferred between bodies, Morgan's work challenges our perceptions of identity, morality, and society. His storytelling captivates and prompts deep reflection on the ethical implications of future technologies. Join us as Richard shares insights into his creative process and the futuristic visions that shape his novels. Biography Richard Morgan: Richard K. Morgan is the acclaimed author of Thin Air, The Dark Defiles, The Cold Commands, The Steel Remains, Thirteen, Woken Furies, Market Forces, Broken Angels, and Altered Carbon, a New York Times Notable Book that won the Philip K. Dick Award in 2003.

Navigating technological change requires futures thinking, and science fiction can be a powerful tool, according to Karl Schroeder. The renowned author blends storytelling with foresight expertise, using narrative to explore emerging techs' societal impact. In the Synthetic Minds podcast, Schroeder delved into AI, mixed reality, blockchain economies, and governance challenges. He argues that narratives reveal unexpected interactions by playing out ideas against each other. Organisations can translate findings into stories for clearer communication. Schroeder's "Stealing Worlds" depicts an AI/blockchain future reshaping reality. He suggests radically decentralised economic models and evolving human-AI governance structures. Ultimately, he posits governance as the "killer app" for the next generation amid rapid change. Biography Karl Schroeder Karl Schroeder is an award-winning author and a member of the Association of Professional Futurists. He writes to entertain and also as a way of analysing and anticipating the future for institutional clients as diverse as governments, consultancies and multinational corporations. He is an engaging public speaker who has given talks about the intersection of technology and culture across North America, Europe and Eurasia. His current project is a near-future adventure novel about Arctic sovereignty and climate change. Karl lives in Toronto, Canada, with his wife and daughter. Links Newsletter: kschroeder.substack.com Website: www.kschroeder.com X: @Karl Schroeder Books:

Stealing Worlds - 2019

Lady of Mazes - 2006

In the last episode of the Step into the Metaverse Podcast, I had a chat with John Gaeta, a creator, inventor and an Academy Award-winning designer best known for his work on the Matrix Trilogy, where he pioneered form-bending innovations such as "Bullet Time", “Virtual Cinema” and "Volumetric Capture" to envision human, hero and god-like moments. He was also involved in The Matrix Awakens from 2021 as Executive Creative Development, Executive Producer, Writer, and in the Unreal Engine 5 demonstration featuring the universe of The Matrix, which is a great watch for anyone who wants to know how close the metaverse really is. Recent areas of exploration include “Photo Anime”, “Nuvies” (Natural User Movies), “Holo Cinema”, “Immersive Cinema”, Mixed Reality, and The "Magicverse".

In 2015, John co-founded Lucasfilm’s Immersive Entertainment division: ILMxLAB. “ILMxLAB seeks to “Develop, Produce and Release premium, story-based Immersive Entertainment Experiences for Star Wars and other imaginative universes”.He served as its Executive Creative Director, overseeing content strategy and multi-platform portfolio development. John and I discussed how important AR and VR are, especially regarding hyper-realistic content. We discussed the role of user-generated content in the metaverse and the infrastructure challenges of creating a hyper-realistic metaverse. Please tune in for more of our value-packed conversation.

If you are interested in learning more about the metaverse, you can order my book Step into the Metaverse here.

In this episode of the Step into the Metaverse Podcast, I had a chat with Tiffany Xingyu Wang, the Chief Marketing Officer at OpenWeb, a premium community engagement platform that serves 1000+ publishers and advertisers with 100M+ monthly active users. She was named a Forbes Most Entrepreneurial CMO, and the Most Innovative CMO by the CMO Club. She was previously the Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer at Spectrum Labs, a contextual AI platform set to build a safer internet and keep over 1 billion users safe online.

Tiffany also co-founded Oasis Consortium, a think tank to advance digital sustainability through ethical standards and technologies for Web3.0, which launched the first comprehensive User Safety Standards for Web3. She is the host of Brand Safety Exchange, a destination of thought leadership for Trust and Safety leaders. She has been published and featured for her work in digital trust and safety on TIME, Harvard Business Review, MIT Technology Review, Forbes, VentureBeat, Digiday, Protocol, etc.

Tiffany shared her expertise regarding sustainability in the metaverse, the dangers of the metaverse and the need for ethical standards in the immersive internet. We also discussed the Oasis Consortium that she founded and its important role in creating an open metaverse. Stay tuned for more, and enjoy!

If you are interested in learning more about the metaverse, you can order my book Step into the Metaverse here.

In this episode of the Step into the Metaverse Podcast, I chatted with the Founder and CEO of VERSES Labs, Gabriel René. VERSES is a spatial web software development group. He is the author of the #1 International Bestseller "The Spatial Web - How Web 3.0 Connects Humans, Machines, and AI to Transform the World" Gabriel is a technologist, entrepreneur, and author with a 25-year career in the technology, telecom and media industries specializing in emerging technologies like AR / VR / AI / IoT / DLT and their applications for industrial, fintech, GovTech and global standards organizations.

René serves as the acting Executive Director of the Spatial Web Foundation, a non-profit organization developing standards for the ethical interoperability between Augmented and Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence, IoT, Robotics and Distributed Ledger technologies designed to power the Web 3.0 era and dedicated to the ethical, interoperable and equitable adoption of Spatial Web technologies across every major industry.

As a deep technology pioneer, Gabriel has architected enterprise and consumer software and services in partnership with multiple Fortune 100 companies. In our conversation, we discussed the importance of the spatial web and some of the challenges of the spatial web that we need to overcome if we want to create an open metaverse. Stay tuned for that and more.

If you are interested in learning more about the metaverse, you can order my book Step into the Metaverse here.

In this episode of The Step into the Metaverse Podcast, I interviewed the Co-Founder/Producer of Big Rock Creative (BRCvr), Athena Demos. BRCvr is an award-winning XR experience company creating groundbreaking experiences for global clients. Big Rock Creative won the Producer’s Guild Award for Innovation, the Aurea Award for creativity, the No Proscenium award for Best VR experience of 2020, and the Hermes' Platinum Award. With over 20 years of experience producing iconic events, like the LA Burning Man Decompression Arts and Music Celebration, as well as the Art of Change Inaugural Ball for President Obama in LA, she transitioned to the metaverse to produce BRCvr (Black Rock City Virtual Reality).

BRCvr is an official virtual Burning Man Experience whose scope is unprecedented in the VR space. Athena produced internationally recognized social impact projects such as Breonna’s Garden, which premiered at SXSW 2022. She has developed a philosophical approach to guiding humanity to build a foundational fabric for creative collaboration in the metaverse. As a result, she has been quoted in leading books and articles and has spoken at leading industry events.

She founded the LA League of Arts, a 501c3 organization created to foster community by facilitating the creative process through public art, education and events. She spent 8+ years as the Production Manager of the two-time Academy Award Winning documentary film company Moriah Films. Don’t miss out on our conversation as we discuss how brands can contribute to the metaverse and how governments should embrace the metaverse to develop public virtual spaces for everyone to enjoy.

If you are interested in learning more about the metaverse, you can order my book Step into the Metaverse here.

In this episode of the Step into the Metaverse Podcast, I had a chat with Benjamin Bertram Goldman. He is a producer, filmmaker, and media entrepreneur featured in The NY Times, CNN, WIRED, MSNBC, HBO, TechCrunch, BBC, FUJI TV, and Metavision. He has been exploring the metaverse creatively and professionally for over 10 years, with a particular focus on the intersection of the metaverse and the emerging world of virtual production.

Benjamin studied virtual production at NYU and CG Spectrum, built and moderated several online communities, and today leads the creation of a virtual production studio at the sustainable investing firm Ethic, in addition to serving as a metaverse advisor to multiple companies.

During the interview, we talked about avatars, identity in the metaverse, and how people interact with avatars. We also talked about how to deal with impostor avatars, some of the ethical challenges of the metaverse, and the role of NFTs in creating a rich and vibrant metaverse economy. Enjoy!

If you are interested in learning more about the metaverse, you can order my book Step into the Metaverse here.

In this episode of the Step into the Metaverse Podcast, I interviewed Bayan Towfiq, the Founder and CEO at Subspace, which is building a global private network for real-time applications and the new working-from-home reality as well as the metaverse. Subspace routes traffic over the world’s most highly available, ultra-low latency, global private network with a simple configuration change.

During the interview, we discussed the technical challenges of building an open metaverse and what we need to bring hyper-realistic volumetric data to VR and AR devices all around the world. We also covered in-network applications and why they are crucial for the metaverse, as well as the role of blockchain.

If you are interested in learning more about the metaverse, you can order my book Step into the Metaverse here.