The 'metaverse' as envisioned by the likes of Facebook is already a non-starter. The current internet got catagorically worse when social media came along and brought the walls down around us all: now imagine that but in a 3D space where the trolls can physically interact with their victims.

AR however has merits and once the technology becomes more elegant we may well see that applying extra layers to the real world rather than escaping to an infinitely worse facsimile is in fact the future.