You’re absolutely right on the basics. I believe many of these issues are down to a lack of state investment rather than corporate. I would say that for infrastructure to improve it needs removing from corporate hands and put back into the hands of citizens (but that is a separate political conversation for another day)

It may be that IOT technology helps in many of those situations, for example real time monitoring of water leaks or track temperatures. This data would be open meaning that citizens can take responsibility for local infrastructure. AR would help with this.

In terms of hardware I don’t think a stylish set of glasses (with prescription lenses if need be) with outward-facing LiDAR for gesture detection, a translucent HUD in one eye and an Iris scanner for security in the other together with an 18-hour battery is too far fetched for 2050.

I think the enemy of such a scenario would actually be a company like Apple who want to build another closed app paradigm platform rather than the open platform it needs to be.