In a recent interview with The Babylon Bee, Elon Musk said that the metaverse is more hype than substance. Musk thinks current VR headsets are uncomfortable and that it’s not practical to attach a big screen to one’s face for entertainment, saying, “Sure, you can put a TV on your nose. I'm not sure that makes you 'in the metaverse.” Major tech companies, on the other hand, are betting on the metaverse and Web3, believing that they will be the major two trends that revolutionize the digital world. Musk’s thoughts on Web3 are supported by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey who thinks Web3 will not democratize anything and simply shift power from existing incumbents to startups and venture capital funds.
Zoom Out: Whether or not he is right is yet to be determined, but most people do find VR headsets uncomfortable, bulky, and too expensive. Those are some of the reasons VR hasn’t reached mass adoption yet, but industry experts think companies like Meta and Apple will launch game-changer AR/VR glasses in the near future. Musk also questioned whether he was “too old” to understand these technologies and whether he was akin to those who dismissed the internet in the ‘90s as some fad.
