Our Next Reality

How the AI-Powered Metaverse Will Reshape the World

By: Alvin Wang Graylin, Louis Rosenberg, Neal Stephenson - foreword

Narrated by: Ciaran Saward

"Our Next Reality does a fantastic job of giving a balanced and insightful analysis to some of the most pressing questions our society will face in the near future. The material is data driven, digestible, and very actionable." RAY KURZWEIL, Author/Entrepreneur/Futurist

"A wide-reaching exploration of the intersections between AI, VR and AR: it's a mind-opener, and a source of reflection on how transformative and still unknown the future of communication, personal technology and even personal privacy might become." SCOTT STEIN, Editor at Large, CNET

Over the last 100 years, technology has changed our world. Over the next decade it will transform our reality.

We are entering a new technological age in which artificial intelligence and immersive media will transform society at all levels, mediating our lives by altering what we see, hear, and experience. Powered by immersive eyewear and driven by interactive AI agents, this new age of computing has the potential to make our world a magical place where the boundaries between the real and the virtual, the human and the artificial, rapidly fade away. If managed well, this could unleash a new age of abundance. If managed poorly, this technological revolution could easily go astray, deeply compromising our privacy, autonomy, agency, and even our humanity.

In Our Next Reality, two industry veterans provide a data-driven debate on whether the new world we're creating will be a technological utopia or an AI-powered dystopia and give guidance on how to aim for the best future we can. With a Foreword by renowned author Neal Stephenson and section contributions from industry thought-leaders such as Peter H. Diamandis, Tom Furness, Phillip Rosedale, Tony Parisi, Avi Bar Zeev and Walter Parkes, this book answers over a dozen of the most pressing questions we face as artificial intelligence and spatial computing accelerates the digitization of our world. Find out why our actions in the next decade could determine the trajectory of our species for countless millennia.

"For anyone who wants to use AI and XR to help build the future, read this book to help you skillfully navigate a future of unprecedented danger and promise." JASON HINER, Editor in Chief, ZDNet

"Our Next Reality really is a must-read for anyone who wants to prepare for the massive AI and XR driven disruption coming our way." CHARLIE FINK, Author | Adjunct | Forbes Tech Columnist

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2024 Alvin Wang Graylin, Louis Rosenberg, Neal Stephenson (P)2024 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

The vision is strong with this one!

Quite an in depth vision and tour of the future. And the writers have real world experiences as well - it is not just vision, it’s anchored in the possible.

Informative… and frightening

This is an important book. I would recommend it to educators, policy makers, and anyone who wants to be as prepared as possible for the future, because it’s coming fast. The book really helped me think through how AI and XR technologies are coming together, and the opportunities and pitfalls that new technological revolution will bring.

Paints a Vivid Picture, Hopeful & Balanced

The authors have struck a delicate balance between hope and caution, with relevance beyond the realm of speculative futurism.
The book does a good job of reifying the transformative power of these converging technologies. As another reviewer had said, I found the protopia and anti-utopia short stories at the end of the book to be extremely effective.

As a natural pessimist, I found solace in the balanced approach in "Our Next Reality", allowing me to also take part in the optimistic outlook.

Incredible overview of the biggest technology impacts

If you are looking to pivot into deep technology this should be standard reading. It covers all the biggest trends that are unraveling now. Great shout out to Neurable ;)

Outstanding holistic view of an inevitability

"Our Next Reality" does a great job taking a holistic view of the metaverse as the next evolutionary stage of the internet, interfaced spatially, whose content/context crisis will be solved by AI agents.

If you work in this space it’s a no-brainer to pick it up. Great primer for anyone curious or onnboarding.

Im also happy to see the term metaverse been decoupled again from the company Meta specifically, and no longer being a bad word 😆

I personally recommend reading the final protopia and anti-utopia stories first, read the book, then read them again. Brilliant play on metanarrative.