“Field Notes from the Metaverse” will be a book that documents the history, perspectives, and narratives of the metaverse and virtual worlds.

The last week or so I have been working on the overall structure of the book. I read through everything to see if there are gaps anywhere, or if some sections feel too padded.

I wanted to work on other things, but somehow I felt like doing the chapter around the crypto casino. And I’m glad I did because it really helped me draw a clear line between the casino side of crypto, and the original aspirations and visions around cryptocurrencies, NFT’s, and Web3. It now feels like they…

I wrote a lot about the Web 2.0 / Webified Metaverse era, which really are feel-good chapters for me. I think back fondly at this time, remembering the good vibes, the positive outlook on the Web, the collaboration, the barcamps and so on. And it’s interesting to look back where we were right about things,…

I really need to clean up this blog. I want to do a new about page with the updated pitch & abstract for the book. The structure-page also needs an update. Maybe I should create a dedicated page for both, not just a post.

I am still hacking away at the Web3-related chapters. I want to talk about Bitcoin as the first digital currency without a central authority, born out of the cypherpunk movement and an ideological view of economics. Ethereum built on that to apply similar concepts to cloud computing. And Web3 was the effort to apply these…

I am currently working on capturing the more ideological aspects of the Metaverse. Since the early days of the home computer revolution in the 1980s, there has always been a vocal group that shared an unwavering belief in the ability of computers to empower individuals and communities, to the point where they would usher in…

I have published a first work-in-progress look into the book. The sample chapters are lifted from the section “A new subculture is born”, which describes what led to the cyberpunk genre, how cyberpunk spawned different visions for digital virtual worlds, and how these visions influenced the development of the emerging Internet.