In early October, Hack Seasons Conference was held in Singapore, an international gathering of technologists, investors, and innovators to discuss the future of blockchain and Web3. A highlight of the event was a fireside chat titled “Media 3.0 Presentation: Storytelling on Chain with Joe Rubin and Neal Stephenson.”
Moderated by Rebecca Barkin, co-founder and CEO of Lamina1, the session featured Joseph Lubin, co-founder of Ethereum and founder and CEO of ConsenSys, and Neal Stephenson, author and co-founder of Lamina1. The discussion focused on how blockchain technology is transforming media, creative expression, and the narratives that shape modern culture.
The discussion began with an overview of recent developments at Lamina1, an interactive media platform owned by both storytellers and fans. Lamina1 recently announced a partnership with ConsenSys’ Linea blockchain and will launch a new intellectual property (IP) project “Artefact” on the Linea network.
As IP increasingly spans multiple formats and is accelerated by AI, questions around ownership, control, and validation are taking center stage. Neil Stephenson has researched the social and cultural impact of emerging technologies over the years and highlighted current trends in AI as it relates to content creation. He pointed out that the AI industry is highly centralized and dominated by a small number of companies with the resources to train models at scale. This centralization creates dependence on opaque systems and limits transparency and accessibility. In the context of content creation, some AI advocates have suggested reducing the influence and compensation of creators, but the authors emphasized the potential for AI to be used to benefit creators rather than to their detriment.
Joe Lubin echoed his concerns about the centralization of big technology and framed the development of the Web3 ecosystem as a response to these structures. He explained that for thousands of years, societies have operated under top-down command and control, with authorities and intermediaries managing property rights and privileges. Although such structures are effective in building civilizations, they can be detrimental to the majority of participants. In the realm of user-generated content, existing models can be described as authority-generated. Joe Rubin emphasized that the advent of decentralized trust, first operationalized through blockchain by Satoshi Nakamoto, laid the foundation for a new model of decentralized, user-driven civilization. This approach is not intended to break up existing companies, but rather to enable a more decentralized and community-oriented system. Lamina1’s integration with networks like Linea aims to empower users and foster a golden age of community-value user-generated content.
Joe Rubin also expressed a deep commitment to supporting the arts, music, and the broader creator economy through decentralization. He emphasized the importance of intellectual property in enabling artists to become independent and self-reliant. Traditional systems often favor organizations with legal resources over creators themselves. Leveraging technology can make IP configuration more granular, configurable, and immediate, especially from a copyright and licensing perspective. This shift moves beyond a scarcity-driven model to an era of abundance facilitated by automation, AI, and robotics. In such a system, creators can focus more on creativity and content generation, and community mechanisms can reward participation and contributions.
The discussion then moves on to the origins of the term “metaverse”, often dating back to Neal Stevenson’s novel “Metaverse”.snow crash“,” he said, offering his thoughts on how digital developments have unfolded since publication. The author explained that the book was written in the late 1980s and early 1990s. At the time, the Internet existed, but it was largely unknown to the general public. When the novel was published, two major technological events occurred in the same year. World Wide Web creation and game release.doom” Both events played a transformative role in making computer graphics widely accessible. Although the web provided a platform for exchanging images,Doom” Demand for more powerful computers has increased and access to immersive digital experiences has expanded.
Neal Stephenson has pointed out that in the early days of the Internet there was a “hippie grad” phase characterized by an idealistic vision of universal access to information. This period was eventually followed by centralization and consolidation, typified by the Web2 platform. In his novel, parts of the Metaverse are controlled by centralized corporations, while other parts remain open and freely accessible. One of the most important but unanticipated effects has been the rise of social media algorithms that monitor user behavior and manipulate content to maximize engagement, with far-reaching social consequences that even Neal Stephenson did not foresee in the 1990s.
Joe Rubin said that the dystopian elements depicted in the novel were never the main focus for people developing new technology or looking for venture capital. What stood out instead was the author’s vivid depiction of cyberspace, which provided a compelling vision of the capabilities of computing technology that was beginning to mature.
Speakers shared their views on the potential of emerging technologies. They emphasized the importance of leveraging the best aspects of these tools to benefit humanity and create a positive impact on society as digital innovation continues to advance.
Lamina1 unveils “Artefact” on Linea, combining storytelling and fan participation
The conversation turned to Lamina1’s future plans as it prepares to publish its first original IP “Artefact” directly on the Linea blockchain. The project combines a story world with a system designed to encourage fan participation and engagement.
Neil Stephenson shared that the new IP evolved based on ideas he previously explored during a talk in New Zealand. He pointed to the unusual situation in which many people are developing AI, while others are warning of its potential dangers. In nature, evolution occurs through competition, and no entity enjoys special privileges without facing challenges. Neil Stephenson suggested that a similar competitive framework could be applied to AI, allowing systems to evolve by testing their capabilities against each other. He further considered a scenario in which there is a centralized, impersonal AI, as opposed to an AI that is deployed in a decentralized manner by human communities. AI uses technology to benefit itself and its community. This concept served as the basis for Lamina1, a collaborative world-building project that allowed artists and game designers to start building their game universes.
The panel discussion ended by giving attendees a preview of the new IP, giving them an early glimpse into the story world and its interactive features.