Courtesy Warner Bros.

Yesterday at my kids’ soccer tryouts, I overheard two young mothers discussing husband careers. Apparently one of them is starting a company that’s “building a rock climbing app in the metaverse.”

I smiled at the naivete. The metaverse isn’t real. It’s entertaining science fiction that recently became a buzzword to sell exaggerated internet developments.

It’s the emperor’s new clothes all over again—a modern Second Life. Remember that old hype?

To be clear, I’m all for building new things—even “pipe dreams” like shipping east coast water to west coast droughts. But substantial things are honestly described and easily understood every time.

Otherwise you’re discussing something that isn’t real.