Mysterious Startup Hires Sci-Fi Author as "Chief Futurist"

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Neal Stephenson is a highly-regarded author of science fiction whose books include Cryptonomicon and Snow Crash. He’s also now a key cog in the workings of Magic Leap, a mysterious startup that has the tech world abuzz. Davey Alba of Wired has the scoop:

“Stephenson will hold the title of ‘Chief Futurist’ at the mysterious Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based company, which recently announced a $542 million round of funding led by Google. The sci-fi writer revealed his new title with a blog post, saying he’d been swayed to join Magic Leap after receiving a demonstration of the company’s technology.”

We’ve discussed at length on this site how the bountiful works of sci-fi writers have inspired real-life innovations. This reflects Stephenson’s supposed role at Magic Leap — he’ll be there for ideas rather than for his technical prowess. Even though it’s still unknown what exactly the company will be offering for consumers to buy, it’s clear that their vision is one that seeks to kindle the embers of imagination.

“Thus far, the startup has been extremely tight-lipped on what its final product will be. Publicly, it released little more than a GIF of a tiny elephant appearing in an open pair of hands as a puzzling hint of what it would eventually debut. But some have speculated that the company could be making a Google Glass-like wearable that realistically blends computer-generated graphics with real world.”