For Further Information, Click Here! Part 2
More information and resources for readers to review the three areas of creator economy, metaverse and cryptocurrency.
Photo Source: Crypto Newsletter/The Information
Last week we outlined some books, reading materials and short summaries to provide you with more information on three of the six areas we cover. Those areas included artificial intelligence, sustainable planet and genetic engineering. This week we will do the same for the remaining three areas: metaverse, creator economy and cryptocurrency.
The Metaverse
Six month overview from our perspective:
Some doubts are creeping into Meta’s strategy of trying to own the metaverse with its one stop shop place, where one has to buy and use the headsets to get in and games still seem to be the main way to enter into the virtual metaverse world.
In short, not much is changing and there is no killer app on the horizon yet. We are looking for the must-have piece, such as business spreadsheets (starting with Lotus 1-2-3 and now Excel) for personal computers that made most business professionals need their own personal computers.
More and more articles appear on how the metaverse will be a must-have part of your life, but we haven’t seen the essential part. Here is what we see now.
Want to read more?
The metaverse is a really interesting area right now because it incorporates elements of other areas, such as artificial intelligence, crypto and creator economy. However, if you really want to get into the nuts and bolts of how it is being built and perhaps what the killer application might be, take a look at the Substack newsletter Weekly Metaverse. Sometimes it provides too much information for us, but at least half the time it’s interesting articles.
One book on the subject:
In addition to one book on the subject, we will also give you one movie you will enjoy. First, the movie “Ready Player One” directed by Steven Spielberg in 2018 is remarkable in how a science fiction movie is coming to real life. You will instantly see the challenges that the metaverse may encounter, such as income inequality and monopolistic company issues, as you watch. Take a look at the trailer, we highly recommend watching as it is very entertaining and informative.
The book we are conditionally recommending because it just got published and although we have known this author and his white papers on the metaverse for some time now, we have not read the whole book yet. However, everyone who has finished the book says it is a must read. Check out “The Metaverse: And How it Will Revolutionize Everything” by Mathew Ball, and if you want to read more, he has a great newsletter.
Cryptocurrency
Six month overview from our perspective:
For anyone who has been involved in a start up industry or company, either through investing or participating, you may have realized that after the initial bout of enthusiasm and belief in concept, the real work starts to happen. The more speculative the hype on the concept in the first stage, the deeper the “Valley of Despair,” as one of our business professionals call it, becomes.
Well, everyone would probably believe that the crypto area is certainly in the Valley of Despair chapter. Is it just a fad that will disappear? Or will it bounce back just like the internet did after the valley of despair crash in the early 21st century?
We aren’t even close to being future pundits to take a guess here, but we would say the two big problems in this area are security issues on using crypto and figuring out the real utility to this industry besides just speculative investing. For example, El Salvador made Bitcoin a legal currency in September 2021. However, the value of Bitcoin has dropped my more than half since then. The best perspective from our standpoint is cryptocurrency is still in the Valley of Despair chapter.
Want to read more?
Although sometimes too detailed for us to handle and it does come with a price for premium coverage, The Information’s Crypto Newsletter is easy to understand and has all the information we need to keep non-tech professionals up to date. Worth a look.
One book on the subject:
“DeFi and the Future of Finance” done by Campbell Harvey of Duke University and others is our best bet for a non-tech professional who wants to grasp whether or not the finance industry will be disrupted and how. It is only 150 pages with its own glossary of terms, so really written for the non-finance professional. Some great thoughts here and might be worth an article on it in our newsletter soon. Get ready for a vision of future finance that will be much different.
The Creator Economy
Six month overview from our perspective:
If one word were to describe what we saw in the past three months in the Creator Economy, it would be overload.
It’s overloaded with all kinds of creative types in art, writing and music trying to get into a subscription-based approach versus advertising. There is not nearly enough quality versus quantity differentiation except for recommendations from others.
Substack by itself is the place where writers go to try and get subscription revenues. It claims thousands of newsletters (including this one) and we are in the phase of needing help to find the right ones for us in our limited time. If someone could solve that problem (artificial intelligence product anyone?), there could be a major jump in this industry. However, right now the area faces information overload and has too many creators, which is causing a problem on which ones can really create a fan or paid subscriber base.
Want to read more?
Do you look at yourself as a professional creator or want to know more about those are and how they do it? Take a look at Simon Owens’ Substack newsletter. He really has built a place for creators to learn or for people who want to understand how this industry will grow. We especially like his honesty concerning challenges that exist right now of having too many choices and not knowing which the best ones are.
One book on the subject:
We leave our readers with a book that we feel some will love and some will think is worthless as it is not really a descriptive of the creator economy area, but more of a self-help book for creators and artists. “The War of Art” helps you break through what you need to do to really become the creative person you like, an oldie but goodie written in 2012.
Well, that is our two week overview on the creation of the Don’t Count Us Out Yet newsletter and how we might help our readers become more educated on the six areas we feel are really going to change the world in the next few years. As always, your comments are appreciated.
Best,
Craig and Staff
thanks for the reply Peter, we always appreciate your thoughts and comments
This is extremely comprehensive, insightful and helpful. Thanks Craig!