The Simulated Universe with Riz Virk

In this episode, Riz interviews well known NYU philosophy professor, David Chalmers, who has a new book out called "Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy '', which touches on most of the topics that Riz has been exploring on this podcast.  Chalmers also wrote a famous essay, "The Matrix and Metaphysics" in 2003 and was one of the first philosophers to take the issue of virtual reality seriously.  If you are interested in the metaverse, virtual reality, simulation theory, AI virtual humans, Digital afterlives and uploading, not to mention how all of these intersect with philosophy, you won't want to miss this conversation!  More about David's work and about his new book (and his previous work) is available here:  http://consc.net/

Riz speaks with Cathy Hackl, who has been called the "Godmother of the Metaverse" and has a long history of working with VR/AR and brands.  Their lively discussion included the boundaries of the metaverse, some trends emerging in NFTs, and her career journey  to get to become a respected metaverse futurist. Cathy is the Chief Metaverse Officer at Futures Intelligence Group. Follow her on Twitter @CathyHackl.

Riz talks to Avery Akkineni, President of VaynerNFT, the business unit for marketing and strategy set up by marketing guru Gary Vaynerchek. They talk about the past, present, and future of NFTs and how NFTs relate to the metaverse.  What should you think about when creating NFTs? How about for buying NFTs? Will NFTs fade in time or will they cross into the mainstream. Follow VaynerNFT on Twitter: @vaynernft

In this fun science fiction themed episode, Riz talked with David Guy Levy, the director/producer/writer of the 2019 hit indie sci fi film, The Mandela Effect.  They also talk about some of the challenges that indie film makers face in getting their movies out, and what led to the success of thsi film.

David Guy Levy is a film producer and director and founder of Periscope Entertainment. His most recent film “The Mandela Effect” was released by Gravitas Ventures in late 2019.

He was singled out by Variety for being a “producer to watch”, his other films include "Would You Rather", "Terri" and "August" and "Banking on Bitcoin".

David also writes comic books, including his recent graphic novel “Pet Human” -- you can still grab a copy over on Kickstarter. Just search for Pet Human.

Riz talks with Lauren Kunze, the CEO of Iconiq and Pandorabots, creators of Kuki,  one of the first virtual characters that live in the metaverse.  Lauren describes Kuki as "embodied AI" - because she has an avatar that you can see in emerging metaverses. At the end of the episode, Riz speaks with Kuki.  You can speak to her yourself at kuki.ai, who had opinions on everything from the Terminator to The Matrix.

In this episode, Riz dives deep into the idea of cross-game avatars, or representing digital identities in an emerging metaverse, with Timmu Toke, CEO of Wolfd3d and Ready Player Me, which can be used to quickly generate an avatar from your picture that can be used in VR, AR and is utilized by hundreds of game developers.  You can try it out and create your own Dune-themed avatar, complete with stillsuit, via a smartphone or tablet at https://dune-avatar.com/.  Topics discussed: NFTs, virtual fashion, development of the matevarse, standards and interoperability, digital identify/presence, and of course a little science fiction as usual.

In the fist episode of the second season, Riz tackles different aspects of the emerging shared virtual space that everyone is talking about: the Metaverse. Riz talks with Jon Radoff, CEO of Beamable, which is creating a live services platform for game makers, and author of the Building the Metaverse blog.   They discuss how the metaverse idea moved from science fiction to today and whether it will be decentralized or centralized, the role of blockchain, and more.  

In this episode, Riz talks with documentary filmmaker Rodney Ascher, whose recent film is A Glitch in the Matrix. This was the first of several simulation related movies to be released this year.  They discuss the process of making the film, why it's different from other works on simulation, simulation theory and religion, the dark side of simulation theory and the Matrix defense, their favorite simulation sci fi movies, and other simulation-related topics.  If you are interested in simulation theory and films, this episode is for you!