I doubt that the physical manifestation of the metaverse (you "plug in" and navigate in a virtual 3D-world, especially one that requires you to transport yourse

I doubt that the physical manifestation of the metaverse (you "plug in" and navigate in a virtual 3D-world, especially one that requires you to transport yourself around) will happen, it's simply not very compelling. What we do have, which is very similar to the substance, if not the aesthetic manifestation, of the metaverse, are online communities. Everybody and their mothers on Facebook, specialized trade communities like HN, "dark web" for drugs, weapons, hitmen and 0-day exploits (this, especially, sounds like that metaverse-bar in Snowcrash) and encrypted chat apps for insurgents/terrorists. But you don't need to put on VR helmet and you don't need a fibre and you don't need to ride a VR motorcycle to get to HN, but on the other hand, you can hang out in multiple bars simultaneously from a tiny, wireless multiverse terminal that you carry in your pocket everywhere. In many ways, we're far beyond the metaverse imagined in Snowcrash.