Looking Outside The Metaverse: Theo Priestley, CEO Metanomic

Nov 8, 2022

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Be prepared to teeter on the edge of excitement and cynicism, as we explore The Metaverse in this episode of Looking Outside, with technology futurist and Metaverse expert, Theo Priestley. Theo is CEO and Co-Founder of Metanomic, a complete web3 economic platform for developers, but he is also one of the public voices ready to poke holes in Metaverse concepts commonly spouted.

To peel back the polished veneer, Theo discusses the need to look at the gaps in the arguments made today on the Metaverse; like how technologies that make up web3 are at varied levels of understanding and development across industries, while the technologies adopted in every day use are still quite dated.

Theo discusses the positive potential of web3 to connect us in new ways, allow new (safe) platforms of self-expression and to create a free market of ideas, but that platforms that currently enable that – mainly, gaming – are still not taken seriously and are seen as the poor cousins of other industries.

A sci-fi fan, Theo also points out our obsessive fascination with technologies that are novel and fun but not necessarily very useful, while deprioritizing those technologies that appear boring but have traditionally been the gateway to progress for our civilization.

Jo and Theo also explore our fascination with dystopian, frightful futures where we are controlled by technologies that have gotten away from us, and how perhaps that is an inevitable flaw in us - to want to be controlled and to seek out only negative futures as they feel more realistic than positive ones.

To look outside Theo doesn’t believe you should have one go-to, otherwise you can quickly form a bias. He likes to read anything and everything, and particularly those things he disagrees with to be able to learn more and gain more breadth. He also devours science fiction and comic books to help him see the potential of things.

Theo Priestley is a leading tech futurist and globally recognized author and public speaker on the convergence of many emerging trends towards the metaverse and Web3.

He is the CEO and co-founder of Metanomic, a complete web3 economic and AI analytics platform for game developers, metaverse builders and the creator economy.

Theo has worked with some of the biggest names in tech and business including SAP, Siemens, Bosch, Software AG, AON, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise - consulting, and advising on implementing innovation strategies, strategic foresight, and emerging technologies.

He has mentored for a number of startup accelerators and has published more than 250 articles on topics including Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, Fintech and Blockchain, Smart Cities, Web3, Metaverse, Marketing, Digital Transformation, and Virtual Reality, for Forbes, the European, WIRED, Huffington Post and Business2Community. He has also contributed to VentureBeat, GigaOM, The Times Raconteur, and has been interviewed for BBC Radio and UK national television news on technology trends.

Learn more about Theo on his website: www.theopriestley.com
Check out Theo's recently authored book, The Future Starts Now.
Find out more about Metanomic: www.metanomic.net
Follow Theo on LinkedIn and Twitter.
Check out Theo's favorite sci-fi reads Gateway by Frederik Pohl and I Am Legend by Richard Matheson.

Looking Outside is a podcast dedicated to exploring fresh perspectives of familiar business topics. The show is hosted by its creator, Joanna Lepore, consumer goods innovator and futurist at McDonald's. Find out more at looking-outside.com.

Connect with Jo and join the Looking Outside community on LinkedIn.

OBOY and Strength to Last music features in Episode 24.