Original Snow Crash Manuscript Goes Up for Auction

According to a page that can be found on the official website of Sotheby’s, the original manuscript of Neil Stephenson’s Snow Crash, the novel that is credited with coining the phrase “metaverse,” will be put up for sale. The auction is a part of a series dubbed “Infocalypse” that will take place on February 23. The series will feature both physical and digital goods linked to the well-known novel.

Lot 2 of the series contains the original manuscript that was written. It is “wrapped in original Xerox 4200 Paper,” it is sealed with masking tape, and it has “corrections and notations throughout written in blue ink by Neal Stephenson in his hand.” Additionally, the author has inscribed the title of the book on the spine of the book using a sharpie marker.

In addition, there is a “updated typesetting document” up for auction in Lot 4 of the sale. This is a later version that was revised and supplemented by the author with extra handwritten notations and alterations.

Other real-world items are also being sold at auction as part of this series. These include the original painting that was used as the cover art for the 1993 mass-market paperback edition of the book; a leather jacket that was going to be used in a video promotion for the graphic novel; slides that were used for the concept of the graphic novel; and a real sword that was inspired by the one that the book’s protagonist wielded.

In addition to these tangible artifacts, the series will also include non-fiction tales (NFTs) of digital art that were created in response to the graphic book idea that came before Snow Crash.

The dystopian novel Snow Crash was first released in 1992 and takes place in a world where the majority of people reside in cramped storage facilities. The main character, Hiro, is a pizza delivery worker who needs to battle robbers in order to deliver pizzas to customers. The story chronicles his adventures. Hiro doesn’t have much of a social life since he spends all of his free time in a virtual world known as “the Metaverse,” which is a place where people go to get away from the stress of ordinary life. The inhabitants of the Metaverse, however, are transformed into “nothing more than a jittering cloud of negative digital karma” due to a computer virus. The journey that Hiro takes through the book to discover a cure for the virus is the driving force behind the story’s action.

According to the Washington Post, the book has racked up sales of more than one million copies on the continent of North America alone. Since the publication of the book, enthusiasts of virtual reality have been increasingly using Stephenson’s term “metaverse” to describe the developing virtual world that is being created by virtual reality technology. In recent years, the term has become a buzzword that is frequently searched for online.

The growth of the metaverse has provided some people with new job prospects and has contributed to the transformation of Web3 gaming.

Source

Tagged : / / / / / / / /

Real Vision CEO believes NFT will act similar to high-end property

Raoul Pal, CEO and co-founder of Real Vision, speculates that nonfungible tokens (NFTs) would behave similarly to “high-end property” in the old economy and will outperform Ether (ETH) during boom cycles in the cryptocurrency market.

The former executive at JPMorgan offered a rundown of what he felt most bullish about when it came to NFTs in a video that was uploaded to YouTube and published on February 20. The video lasted one hour and covered topics such as key use cases for the asset class, its underlying technology, and its potential performance in comparison to Ether.

According to Pal, in the same way that “high-end property” often outperforms the market when the “economy rebounds,” it is expected that the same will occur with specific NFTs during boom cycles in the cryptocurrency market.

“Therefore, I am able to transfer my ETH into a JPEG, which is an NFT. However, why? If you like, you can think of a [Crypto]Punk as a high-end property in London or New York or Hong Kong or wherever it is, and when the economy starts booming and people have more money, they tend to buy expensive high-end property. “Well, because much like high-end property and think of a [Crypto]Punk as a high-end property in London or New York or Hong Kong or wherever it is.

In addition to this, it has a history of outperforming the majority of the market. And I believe the same thing will take place in the ETH economy,” he went on to say.

He brought attention to the fact that major collections such as CryptoPunks and the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) have become status symbols in the cryptocurrency community. This is analogous to the fact that owning a luxury home, car, or item from a well-known brand provides access to exclusive clubs or what he referred to as “mini network-states.”

NFTs, he said, provide a “means of owning property in the ETH market.” He went on to say that humans are “stupid” and that we “love to socially signal things.” ETH is a cryptocurrency.

In retrospect, the former manager of a hedge fund stated that it was the year 2022 when non-fungible tokens (NFTs) first began to attract his attention because he began to “understand the power of what they are and what they can do.” This included the ability to transfer “value” using blockchains and automated smart contracts.

He also brought up the applications of NFTs in the resolution of contracts, saying that blockchain-based ledgers can offer verifiable transparency on what has been agreed upon between people, while smart contracts can, in essence, do away with the need for unnecessary third parties. He cited these applications as an example.

“Now, what’s interesting about the smart contract element of a networked financial transaction is the fact that it kind of allows for the settlement mechanism to be automated in code and resolves without the need for a third party, so you don’t need the courts, the lawyers, the notaries, and the accountants,”

Pal said that ever since he began investing in NFTs, he has placed around ten percent of his ETH holdings in “premium NFTs,” such as CryptoPunks and BAYC NFT.

As a result of the fact that such collections have been able to maintain a respectable level of value throughout the bad market, he hypothesized that they may possibly provide greater upside potential than negative danger. He is also of the opinion that there will be a rise in the price of ETH in the future.

“When measured in terms of ETH, the prices of CryptoPunks and Bored Apes have shown an astonishing lack of volatility over the last several days. Yes, they had a blow-off top, and once it subsided, they returned and have been trading about 65 ETH ever since. And the fact that they didn’t fall too much farther is something that fascinates me about it. During the large crypto market crash in June, they had a strong rise. Aside from that, though, they have just made a comeback and have maintained their position at 65 ETH. Therefore, whatever ETH does, they are just replicating it,” he said.

Source

Tagged : / / / /

Renewed interest in the Metaverse sends Decentraland (MANA) price 75% higher

The influence of blockchain technology on the ongoing digital revolution cannot be overstated as the rise of the Metaverse and the integration of virtual reality is transforming the way humans interact on a global scale. 

One project that is beginning to gain traction in its effort to bridge the old world with the new is Decentraland (MANA), a virtual reality (VR) ecosystem built on the Ethereum network that allows users to create, engage with and monetize digital content through a variety of interactive experiences.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that over the past two weeks, the price of MANA has climbed 70% from a low of $1.70 on Jan. 22 to a daily high of $2.90 on Feb. 1 as the wider crypto market struggled under bearish pressure.

MANA/USDT 1-day chart. Source: TradingView

Three reasons indicating a positive future for the Decentraland ecosystem include the integration of real-world companies into its virtual landscape, a growing ecosystem of celebrities and influencers that are building on the protocol and improvements to the user interface that help improve the overall users experience.

Merging physical and virtual worlds

“If you build it, they will come,” is a well-known phrase from the movie Field of Dreams and it appears as though the old adage has begun to work for Decentraland as its not just everyday users, but established, globally recognized brands that are laying claim to virtual real estate.

As nonfungible tokens (NFTs) exploded in popularity in 2021, some of the digital collectibles found their way into auctions at established auction houses like Sotheby’s where they fetched multi-million dollar bids.

Sotheby’s has now become a fixture in the digital crypto ecosystem by establishing a virtual auction house in Decentraland where they continue to break down the barrier between the physical and the digital world.

And it’s not just auction houses that are buying up virtual land, businesses from various sectors are following the trend to remain relevant with the younger generations as the Metaverse becomes a reality.

Celebrities and influencers embrace the Metaverse

Another reason to be bullish on the future of virtual land projects like Decentraland is the adoption of celebrities and influencers who are looking to establish their brands in VR.

As well-known artists and creators build out their presence in the virtual world, their fan base will be increasingly exposed to the possibilities of blockchain technology and VR which has the potential to usher in a new wave of adoption.

Proof of this comes from events like the Metaverse fashion week in Decentraland which attracted the attention of companies like Vogue Magazine for its ability to showcase the latest trends in fashion to audiences around the world.

Related: Rise of Web3: Metaverse tokens surge as Meta’s share price plunges

The “user experience” continues to improve

A third factor helping to attract users to Decentraland is improvements to the user experience  and and increasing number of cross platform integrations.

The protocol has also added a ‘My Store’ section that allows all users to manage and track their collection and build their personal brand.

According to the most recent update from the developers behind the project, some of the future updates for 2022 include the release of a desktop client, social and voice chat improvements, linked NFTs as wearables, tokenized emotes, smart wearables and a mobile app prototype VR client.”

VORTECS™ data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro began to detect a bullish outlook for MANA on Jan. 22, prior to the recent price rise.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro is also painting a bullish picture for MANA.

The VORTECS™ Score, exclusive to Cointelegraph, is an algorithmic comparison of historical and current market conditions derived from a combination of data points including market sentiment, trading volume, recent price movements and Twitter activity.

VORTECS™ Score (green) vs. MANA price. Source: Cointelegraph Markets Pro

As seen in the chart above, the VORTECS™ Score for MANA hit a high of 81 on Jan. 22, around one hour before the price increased 70% over the next two weeks.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.