Neal Stephenson

Neal Stephenson has been programming computers since 1974. He developed a particular fascination with using them to make pictures in the late 1970s when someone made the mistake of giving him access to a vector graphics terminal. He acquired a Macintosh as soon as that device hit the market and programmed it to generate imaginary fractal landforms as part of a solo project to make a role-playing game. In due course this led him into an ambitious computer graphics project in the late 1980s that culminated in the writing of Snow Crash and the fateful coining of the term Metaverse. In all, he has written or co-written some 20 books, mostly of science or historical fiction.

In parallel with that he has pursued a career in technology, working at Blue Origin, Intellectual Ventures Labs, and Magic Leap. In 2022 he co-founded Lamina 1 of which he is now chairman. Crater Productions is the vehicle through which he pursues transmedia adaptations of his intellectual property.