When I began writing this essay, few people outside of tech and VC circles were talking about the metaverse. I figured I would explain what it was, who was creating it, and for which purposes, and then I could talk about my own ideas. But then Facebook… er, Meta announced its rebranding and new goals, and now everyone seems to have at least heard of it. (By everyone I mean people who potentially read this newsletter.) This freed me up to go straight up to my ideas, but first I wanted to clarify a few things for the readers who are still confused.