Rizwan (“Riz”) Virk is a pioneering futurist at the intersection of technology, consciousness, and imagination. A successful entrepreneur, prolific investor, bestselling author, and video game industry innovator, Riz holds a B.S. in Computer Science from MIT and an M.S. in Management from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, and is currently pursuing a PhD at Arizona State University’s College of Global Futures, researching AI, the metaverse, and virtual worlds at the Center for Science and the Imagination. He teaches engineering and innovation at ASU, has served as a visiting researcher at the University of Cambridge’s Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, and founded Play Labs at MIT, a leading startup accelerator housed in the MIT Game Lab. A venture partner at Griffin Gaming Partners and founder of Bayview Labs, Riz has invested in and advised dozens of influential companies including Discord, Tapjoy, Telltale Games, Pocket Gems, Theta Labs, Moon Express, and more, while creating hit games such as Tap Fish and Grimm: Cards of Fate. He is also an accomplished indie film producer, with credits including Thrive, Sirius, Knights of Badassdom, and adaptations of works by Philip K. Dick and Ursula K. Le Guin. Riz is the author of influential books including The Simulation Hypothesis, The Simulated Multiverse, Zen Entrepreneurship, and Startup Myths & Models, and hosts the podcast The Simulated Universe, exploring ideas at the edge of science, philosophy, and science fiction. A sought-after speaker and media voice, he has appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience, Coast to Coast AM, The History Channel, Gaia TV, and CNN, and has been featured by NBC News, Scientific American, BBC Science Focus, The Wall Street Journal, and many others, bringing rare clarity to humanity’s biggest questions about reality, intelligence, and the future.