Re: an eye-watering $177 billion has been invested in the metaverse since 2021
The number has been plucked out of somebody's arse to hopefully encourage other companies to keep investing in "consulting services". The metaverse is marketing term designed to avoid copyright issues around cyberspace.
If the issue was purely technical, such as better headsets, then there might be a future for this dystopia. I suspect we will also see more and more uses of VR for industrial applications where they can complement other technologies: VR/AR based remote surgery, work in dangerous environments (nuclear reactors, sea bottom), etc. But this almost by definition entirely excludes the kind of environment that Facebook is trying to promote.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
