Greetings Davos delegates and WEF observers.

Neal Stephenson, the science fiction writer who coined the term “metaverse” in 1992, he appeared on a panel on the metaverse on Wednesday. (WEF programmers: congratulate yourselves on this.) His left leg jerked and jumped like a metaverse frame on a bad data connection.

How would you describe the metaverse now, Neal?

“Fledgling,” he drawled. “We have a long way to go.” Still, she marveled at how people today, using their 2D screens and “WASD keys on a Victorian typewriter keyboard,” manage to immerse themselves in the 3D environments of video games.

Games seem, to Stephenson, more analogous to the metaverse experience. Even the blockchain firm he co-founded last June, LAMINA1, is expanding the way gamers log into their…