Virtual Natives

Preface

Welcome to the Dawn of the Virtual Natives

Today, we find ourselves in a period of technological acceleration the likes of which we have not seen since the dawn of the internet itself, and we're greeting it with the same cocktail of awe, inspiration, confusion, cynicism, astonishment, and disbelief. If you've felt this and wondered if you're the only one reacting this way – you're not.

Since the onset of the global pandemic, we have found ourselves caught in a moment that has demanded new solutions for an unprecedented era that has come to affect society permanently. Driven by the necessities of lockdown, multiple virtualized solutions – like using QR codes for tickets, and menus, or having food delivered to your door by people whom you never even see – became the new normal.

But it was more than just using technology to keep us a safe distance apart from each other. Suddenly, and out of nowhere, we found ourselves bombarded from all sides by terms like metaverse, VR, AR, NFTs, and digital assets and collectibles. Crypto, DeFI, Web3, ChatGPT, Midjourney, and DALL‐E came to dominate the common lexicon. Technology is suddenly at the core of conversations around the world, an issue of burning intensity.

Blink, blink. What just happened?

We're living through what is arguably one of the most exciting, confusing, and powerful social moments in the history of humanity. The 2020 pandemic drove a great acceleration in the development of multiple forms of technology. The urgent ...