I like the reference to the book Snow Crash in which a metaverse environment gave people relief from a shitty world. This may be prescient: I think that the human race will servive the next 100 years (and if we don’t, I take comfort in believing that the Universe is teaming with life), but no-travel low-energy use ways to work and play with even more entertainment alternatives may be a necessity.

I worked on VR projects for SAIC and Disney about 25 years ago, and as much as I criticize Facebook over privacy issues, I like Mark Z’s vision here, in addition to Microsoft’s vision of shared virtual workspaces and AR augmentation. Being an Apple fanboy, I also anticipate their future products and systems in this space.

I have been joking/teasing family and friends for many years that governments would fade to black and corporations would rule all. I am 70 and retired so it feels like being naked no longer being associated with a large corporation (I may un-retire). I am channeling William Gibson here, but affiliations to corporations may become the new citizenship. Entrepreneurs will exist to service corporations with new tech and ideas but with little chance of forming mega-corporations themselves.