December 2022

I remember exactly where I was when the reality of the metaverse - both as a potential for good and for harm, really dawned on me. It's one of those words that we increasingly hear and is, more often than not, surrounded by hype or wedded to a fictional sci-fi notion of technology.

The metaverse is neither hype nor is it the backstory to a Hollywood blockbuster. It is real and it is here. So, we have a choice, we either try and get to grips with it or we wait until it gets a grip of us. We have, unfortunately, been remarkably good at doing the latter as far as technological developments go. Maybe this time will be different?

I am far from an expert in the extraordinary technology that sits behind developments like the metaverse, but I do know that we all need to be part of the conversations, policy direction and legal developments that will shape it.

We must not allow non-technologists to be excluded and this wonderfully accessible book allows the reader to navigate the complexities of the metaverse because they are, at their heart, about questions of autonomy, privacy, dignity, power and equality – not just technology.

“The book’s core purpose is to offer a clear, comprehensive, and authoritative definition of this still inchoate idea. Yet my ambitions are broader: I hope to help you understand what’s required to realize the Metaverse, why generations will eventually move to and live inside it, and how it will forever alter our daily lives, our work and how we think”

Whether or not you are aware of it, whether or not you care about it, we surely have a collective responsibility to ensure that this realisation of the metaverse has human values, rather than exploitation, at its core. The first step for us must be to learn more and understand better. This book is a great way to do both.