Neal Stephenson, who coined the term ‘metaverse’, says head-mounted VR hardware will never happen

Summary

Science fiction author Neal Stephenson, who coined the term “metaverse” in his 1992 novel Snow Crash, has argued he and others who believed immersive environments would require head-mounted hardware got it wrong. In a post penned to mark Meta’s recent decision to end its work on the Metaverse after blowing through $80 billion, Stephenson said that twenty years ago, when he worked at virtual reality hardware company Magic Leap, he would ask “Do you really think that twenty years from now everyone is still going to be going around all day staring at little rectangles in their hands?” “At the time it seemed obvious to me that the answer was no,” he wrote. Now he thinks that another 20 years into the future, devices like smartphones will still dominate. “Or at least that is the case if the only alternative is wearing things on their faces.” When someone holds up their phone, it’s obvious that you are on camera. That’s not true in the case of glasses or goggles “Maybe this should have been obvious to me given the amount of time, effort, and money people put into making their faces look as good as possible,” he ruminated. Stephenson thinks even slimming metaverse-ready hardware down from bulky goggles to resemble conventional eyeglasses won’t work, because such devices “have the unintended side effect of making these things seem sinister.” “When someone around you is staring at a rectangle in their hand, it might be incredibly annoying, but at least you can tell they’re doing it. When someone’s wearing a head-mounted display, on the other hand, you don’t know whether they are looking at you or not,” he wrote. “Likewise, when someone holds up their phone and aims it at you, it’s obvious that you are on camera. That’s not true in the case of glasses or goggles. So it’s creepy.” He thinks VR headwear has become a dead end, because sales have been so low they’re a risky proposition for developers. “No developer is going to enter the infinitesimal headset market without strong...