Tech companies are working to solve problems we don't realize exists and are increasing rapidly. If we can ignore nationalism or politics, I want to point to the rise of China over the last 40 years. An amazing feat, whereas the US took 150+ years. Both efforts took vast amounts of concrete, steel, and other resources. It became clear the word can't sustain another rise like that, and the ecological harm is at the top of that list.

Meaning, there will be an increasing wealth gap in the world at a time the world needs to work together the most. We're too interconnected. What happens in one country affects the others. I'll get to why this matters.

Technology is a great equalizer though. I have a smartphone, and a billionaires have smartphones. They probably have better service and apps, but we both have smartphones. Same with tablets and computers. With AR & VR, we'll be able to see multiple screens, rather than multiple monitors.

Take the logical further, like how nice a person's home is. If a person sees and feels like their home is cozy or spacious, it doesn't matter if it's not as physically impressive. It just needs to provide shelter and allow for good hygiene and food. Just like Internet speeds and cell phones, it will change the definition of "living standards". The benefits cannot be overstated.

The possibilities are near limitless. Training for hostile environments. Heck, training athletes to be winners, as you can see the psychological harm a mental stigma can have on a career. Improving the way we feel about our environment, without simultaneously destroying it.

Meta's name change connected them to the Metaverse in the eyes of the public. Meta is facing some significant challenges; anti-trust, cookies dying, facebook losing users, spooked investors. Those are all incentives for Mark Zuckerberg to push for the next technology. He was even warned by an investor that the browser isn't replaceable yet, and he should do continue developing some for that too.

Mark is relying on Ray Kurzwweil's Law of Accelerating Returns. Meta doesn't have to come up with all the tech themselves. Most tech companies will be involved in some way. Take Epic's Unreal Engine 5 for example. Mark may be facing the sort of problem Bill Gates faced in the late 90's; seeing where the future leads but not knowing how long it will take to get there.

Changing the name to Meta was a shrewd move, but it very well may push companies to adopt a different name. Tim Cook has gushed about AR, and has never said the word Metaverse publicly. He pointed out that few would want to be in VR for more than a couple hours. They are direct competitors afterall, and Mark said both companies are vying to shape the Metaverse into their own visions of it.

To pay for the development requires widespread adoption of the stepping stone technologies. How do you achieve that with a public soured on new tech? By making technology more democratic. Think OpenAI, ChatGPT, Stable Diffusion, MidJourney. We'll be using those to create the world we want to see and experience. The Metaverse will be partly our own creations, those of our friends, family, and others around the world.

Think about Superman and Batman, both DC Comics characters, in a Marvel movie. Which company wins? They both stand to make huge profits. They just need to establish guidelines so that Superman and Batman act like themselves, but they work in a Marvel Universe. Allowing users fo take their characters from one game to another with equipment from a third means more companies stand to benefit, and so do users. I couldn't imagine Mario in a Mortal Kombat setting, but I can picture a Minecraft creeper sneaking up on Luigi.

Most social media in its current form, like Facebook and Twitter, profit from keeping us apart. That tech can be retooled to improve our interactions together in MR environments. Since we're going into space for good, we'll need XR tech to keep up with friends and family. Blockchain will be critical to adding a sort of permanence to trades and changes, like digital currency exchanges. Blockchain can also provide a digital markers to track trolls and fraud across platforms Oh, and HTTP/3 would like to weigh in on the discussion about web3 as a scam.

Yes, we'll adopt the technology, Metaverse, or whatever we call it. It's only overhyped momentarily.

• Edited for grammar