No, it is not the same. There is no 'there' there when it comes to the so-called metaverse. VR is constantly in a state of iterative failure: it solves problems

No, it is not the same. There is no 'there' there when it comes to the so-called metaverse. VR is constantly in a state of iterative failure: it solves problems no one has and does so rather poorly. The only thing that is different now is that there will be a big company throwing its money into the metaverse bonfire of value, but if there is one company I want to see pissing away time and money chasing a delusion it is Facebook. Back in the pre-dot-com era I worked at a company that provided Neal with a lot of his background info on how a metaverse might work and many of the plans and guides this company developed remain relevant and interesting. We are still a decade or more away from hitting any of them on the technical side and the open social questions that we were able to wave our hands over at the time are now much more important to the conversation. Unfortunately these discussions would raise uncomfortable questions for both Facebook and most of the proponents of this new metaverse.