> I just don't understand how they aren't being laughed out of the room. This is fantasy level stuff and it's going to be an absolutely massive failure I agree

> I just don't understand how they aren't being laughed out of the room. This is fantasy level stuff and it's going to be an absolutely massive failure I agree with your sentiment but there are many utterly ridiculous ideas that people take seriously, think NFTs for instance. From that perspective, the metaverse isn't that crazy. And something could get out of it even though it's not the original vision that you describe. And there are seemingly unreasonable ideas that become huge success. I didn't foresee the smartphone revolution (i thought we couldn't get a proper UI from a small device). I also thought youtube would be a failure. That being said, I wouldn't bet one penny on the metaverse.