By Sharan Kaur Phillora and Joe Pan
Popular science fiction author Neal Stephenson, who coined the word “metaverse” for the first time in his 1992 book “Snowcrash,” bought his first NFT.
Here’s what we know:
Stevenson’s first NFT artwork is “Neo Combat MMXXII # 94“ by artist Sterling Crispin. The generative work is of course impressed and Artwork block platform, 25% of the primary gross sales of NFTs had been despatched to Native Animal Rescue, a corporation that rescues and rehabilitates wildlife in Santa Cruz County.
The sale was announced on Thursday night In a tweet by Crispin, he stated, “I am very proud and humble.”
Stephenson purchased the work For .888 ETH ($ 1,864) and instantly after purchased one other Generated artwork for .27ETH ($ 567) from the Terraforms assortment. Each NFT at the moment resides in the Ethereum address nealtstephenson.eth which is another NFT that was purchased before the artworks.
“I became aware of Sterling Crispin’s work while thinking about a generative art project that I’m collaborating on,” Stephenson said in an email to Motherboard. “As an artist, I like it when artists get paid. So I bought some of his art!”
The book Snow Crash imagines a bleak future: The global economy has collapsed, and federal governments have lost most of their power to a handful of giant corporations.
The metaverse is an escape, and the novel’s main character — a nearly broke computer hacker and pizza delivery driver who bears a tongue-in-cheek name, Hiro Protagonist — spends much of his time there. He accesses the metaverse by wearing goggles and “earphones,” and appears within the digital world as his own customized avatar.
Once there, avatars can stroll down a single wide street, tens of thousands of miles long, and home to amusement parks, shops, offices, and entertainment complexes. People with lesser means often use public terminals to access the metaverse and are generally looked down upon by users with superior technology.
About the authors
Sharan Kaur Philora is the freelancer writer at Blockchain Asset Review.
Joe Pan is a contributing editor at Blockchain Asset Review.
