The metaverse has been trending for a couple of years as humanity’s response to the pandemic and remote work. Neal Stephenson, the author of the science fiction novel snow crash and co-founder of blockchain technology firm Lamina1, is the high priest of this metaverse religion, having coined the term “metaverse.”

And after 30 years of waiting for science fiction to come true, he doesn’t want the metaverse to turn into a dystopia. Worried that big tech companies like Meta could turn the metaverse into a bunch of walled gardens, Stephenson co-founder Lamina1 with Peter Vessenes to…