Mark van Rijmenam - Step into the Metaverse

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“Mark has created a comprehensive introduction covering the history, the current state and a look into the future of the metaverse. This book is a fantastic dive straight down the rabbit hole whilst wearing a jet pack, and you'll come out the other side fully able to work out what it means for you, and your company or organisation.”

— Paul Hamilton, Ogilvy Managing Director Growth & Innovation and Founder of metaverse design agency vTogether

“I've been obsessed with the Metaverse since I first read Snow Crash many years ago. I've written thousands of words on the Metaverse, work in the industry, built VR experiences, and write a weekly newsletter covering the topic…. and yet I learned so much from Mark's book. There were still whole aspects of the Metaverse I hadn't considered. Even if you think you're educated on the topic, pick up the book. You'll come away from it filled with new things to research and explore, new connections you hadn't made in your mind yet.”

— Daniel Sisson, Writer, consultant, and XR developer

“Van Rijmenam provides an extremely thorough explanation of the many facets of the metaverse. If you're just starting to learn about the concept or you are already well-versed in some of its pieces but want to see the 10,000-foot gestalt, this book will be illuminating.”

— Rabindra Ratan, Associate Professor and researcher of metaverse technologies (i.e., avatars, online game4s, VR) since 2005

“A comprehensive and candid coverage of the opportunities and challenges posed by the metaverse and Web 3. A must read for entrepreneurs and business leaders.”

— Avinash Kaushik, Founder & CEO, Waka Metaverse Suite

“ Step into the Metaverse is a timely book as Web3 unfolds into a third dimension that promises new ways to interact, collaborate, and engage with other individuals, products, services, entertainment and more.”

— Raghu Bala, CEO, NetObjex

“[Mark van Rijmenam’s] illuminating book on the beginnings of the metaverse is a light in the darkness for the curious and the bold.”

— Matthew Brewbaker, CEO of VEU Inc./Enterverse

“Van Rijmenam takes us on a journey through the state of the art in the metaverse, exploring both the myriad opportunities presented by this evolution of cyberspace, as well as threats to its potential, including a lack of standardisation and regulation. This nuanced exploration of the fledgling industry is a must-read for anyone interested in the space, demonstrating The Digital Speaker’s deep knowledge as one of its first inhabitants.”

— Sam Johnston, investor and CEO at Acumino

“In Step into the Metaverse , Mark van Rijmenam takes a comprehensive view of the converging forces that will fuse and someday become a future paradigm for human growth, prosperity and existence. That is, unless we f* it up.”

— John Gaeta, Creator, Inventor, Executive

“A comprehensive tour of vital contemporary metaverse discussions!”

— Neil Trevett, President, The Khronos Group

“Van Rijmenam provides an extensive exploration of the metaverse. He surfaces timely questions of ethics and sovereignty. At this moment, while our next digital reality is still being constructed, this discussion is critical.”

— Tiffany Xingyu Wang, President & Co-Founder, Oasis Consortium

“Dr. Mark van Rijmenam does a masterful job sharing a promising vision of the nascent metaverse while also being pragmatic about the challenges and gaps in existing solutions.”

— Alec Lazarescu, Founder, VerseTech Metaverse

“The next chapter of human existence is being formed right now, and as you ‘step into the metaverse’ you’ll fully understand the power of the convergence of technology, consumer trends, brands and reinvention of personal self expression.”

— Justin W. Hochberg, CEO & Founder, Virtual Brand Group

Mark van Rijmenam

Dr. Mark van Rijmenamis The Digital Speaker. He is a future tech strategist who thinks about how emerging technologies change organizations, society and the metaverse. Dr. Mark van Rijmenam is an international keynote speaker, 4x author and entrepreneur. He is the founder of Datafloq, and he hosts the Between Two Bots podcast with Dan Turchin, covering the cultural, technological, and ethical implications of artificial intelligence, technology and the metaverse. He holds a PhD in Management from the University of Technology Sydney. His research was on how organizations should deal with big data analytics, blockchain and AI.

The Digital Speaker is available for in-person keynotes as well as holographic presentations, and Van Rijmenam's avatar delivers talks in virtual reality. He is a recognized speaker by the Professional Speaker Association Australia, and he is a member of the Global Speakers Federation. He is the publisher of the ‘f(x) = e^x’ newsletter, read by thousands of executives, on the future of work and the organization of tomorrow. The Digital Speaker has spoken in 20 countries across the globe and collectively inspired over 100,000 managers, directors, and C-level executives.

Science-fiction stories such as Snow Crash or Ready Player One have described the metaverse as a virtual world of unlimited potential for entertainment and value extraction. In the metaverse depicted in these books, a centralized entity controls the metaverse, including all data, digital assets, and the people entering it. This is a dystopian future that by no means is impossible to happen in the real world, given that we have already built a centralized, closed, proprietary, and extractive internet. The current Web is governed by shareholder supremacy instead of user centricity, and we all have become addicted to “free” access to these platforms.

The downside of all these “free” services has been the degradation of privacy and the lack of control over our own data and identity. That is why I started Outlier Ventures in 2014, because I felt the need for a different story. It is a story where end users can regain control over their digital lives, driven by the convergence of technologies such as blockchain, crypto, artificial intelligence, and mixed reality, among others. Over the years, we have invested in dozens of companies that are building Web 3.0 technologies across all three key layers of Web 3.0 innovation: infrastructure, middleware, and applications.

Web 3.0 technology will enable a decentralized, permissionless, open digital economy centered around the user and identity and data portability. It will allow us to create a fairer, more inclusive internet. It is vital that we embrace this paradigm shift toward decentralization, especially now that we are at the dawn of the metaverse, or the next iteration of the internet.