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The man who coined Metaverse now says Meta’s glasses are creepy
- Sean Hollister
- March 24, 2026 at 8:08 PM
- 6 views
Neal Stephenson speaks onstage during the 2022 SXSW Conference and Festivals at Austin Convention Center on March 16, 2022 in Austin, Texas. | Getty Images for SXSW
Neal Stephenson didn't invent the virtual reality headset. But Meta certainly knows his name - in 1992, his seminal cyberpunk novel Snow Crash coined the phrase "Metaverse" to describe a virtual reality world experienced through VR goggles. It inspired many key VR developers - and in 2021, Facebook decided to rename its entire company to Meta to chase that metaverse dream.
Now, Stephenson says he no longer believes face-worn computing is the future. He thinks Meta's glasses are creepy: "People don't like wearing things on their faces and don't trust those who do." He thinks goggles are no longer the future in a world in a world filled with …
Originally published at The Verge