neal stephenson will join us next to talk about that and more. bloomberg. ♪ emily: we've been talking about the metaverse a lot, the term coined in 1992 by neal stephenson in his book "snow crash." since then, there have been many guesses about what a world spliced with virtual reality will look like. neal stephenson is out with a new thriller in which climate change is out of control and a visionary billionaire has a big idea for reversing global warming, a topic which could not be more timely as well. neal stephenson joins us in studio, and it is great to have you in person. >> it is great to be here. emily: you have a massive following, and you could have written about anything. you chose climate change, which is something the masses have had a hard time understanding and grappling. >> even scientists and people technically on the ball can have a hard time getting their heads around the whole topic. i have kind of got a niche as someone who writes around technical topics. emily: the story centers around a billionaire who decides to take matter