History books tells us Author Neal Stephenson is credited with coining the term "metaverse" in his 1992 science fiction novel "Snow Crash," in which he envisioned lifelike avatars who met in realistic 3D buildings and other virtual reality environments.

Since then, various developments have made mileposts on the way toward a real metaverse, an online virtual world which incorporates augmented reality, virtual reality, 3D holographic avatars, video and other means of communication.

As the metaverse expands, it will offer a hyper-real alternative world for you to coexist in. When this actually happens is such a tough call to make , or is this just a case of if wishes were horses, beggars would take a ride?