Quick Guide to Understanding the Virtual World

As a former Disney employee, I try to follow what's going on in the company and with the people who run it. So, when I saw an article today about former chairman and CEO, Robert Iger, I read it to find out what he's up to these days since leaving the company last November. This is, in part, what I read.

"Former Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger is putting his name and money behind a new company that's aiming to dominate the future of the internet andÊthe metaverse. On Monday, 3D avatar start-up GeniesÊannouncedÊthat Iger is joining its board of directors and investing an undisclosed sum in the Los Angeles-based company.

"Founded in 2017, Genies' mobile app allows users to create their own custom digital avatars for their social media profiles and, eventually, to travel the metaverse. Genies allows customers to create digital avatars and virtual fashion lines by nonfungible tokens (NFT) for Web3 Ñ tech jargon for a new version of the internet based on blockchain technology.

"After spending the last few months getting to know Akash and learning more about Genies, I am very excited about his vision and how it will be fulfilled and I look forward to working with the entire team," Iger said. With talk of both the metaverse and web3 (a buzzword closely associated with crypto technology), Genies is trying to position itself as the future of online identity, whether that future is in virtual worlds or on the blockchain É or both. The hope is that after users create their avatar, it can be used everywhere and in every app (or virtual world)."

How's that? Iger will be heading up a company that allows users to create custom digital avatars and virtual fashion lines for Web3, which is blockchain technology. All of which is part of traveling within the metaverse in virtual worlds or on the blockchain. Get it? If you do, then I'd like to know what planet you're from, because it isn't planet Earth. At least not the Earth I live on.

Of course, I didn't have any idea what the article was taking about, let alone what Bob Iger has to do with any of it. Frankly, I didn't care about Iger anymore, I was too confused. Between the abstract concepts and the tech jargon my mind was exploding. Many times, in the past when reading some article that is beyond my level of comprehension I simply shrug it off and turn the page. I've always found that the easiest way of dealing with a complicated issue, is just staying stupid and moving along.

I've never been tech minded. Whenever I hear terms like "crypto" "bitcoin" or "metaverse" my mind automatically shuts down and I look to involve myself in something that's more understandable to me, like Tex Avery cartoons or Buster Keaton movies. That's about as far as my technology knowledge gets.

But this time I wouldn't let myself give up. This time, I told myself, I'm going to get to the bottom of it all, do some research and find out what this stuff means. So, I looked up the terms I didn't understand and got their definitions once and for all. Here they are.

Metaverse: "An open source decentralized, interoperable platform for programmable digital assets and digital identities built on Substrate."

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Avatars: Digital identity. Self-sovereign identity ledgers on the Metaverse blockchain via the KILT protocol. Ability to securely manage personal data and credentials, which can be anonymously shared to third parties. Decentralized and independent digital identities in Web3.0 initiative.

NFT: Refers to unique assets, like an irreplaceable doge meme or an autographed tweet. A non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a blockchain, a form of digital ledger that can be sold or traded. Non-fungible tokens differ from blockchain cryptocurrencies because each token is uniquely identifiable.

Blockchain: A blockchain is a growing list of records, called blocks, that are linked together using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp, and transaction data. The timestamp proves that the transaction data existed when the block was published to get into its hash.

Now that we've cleared all that up, who wants to join me for a non-virtual Buster Keaton film festival? You bring the non-virtual popcorn.

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