You'd need a consistent methodology for all of this. The systematization of all of this would be a sort of 3D "operating system," on which a wide variety of applications could be built. That OS could, realistically, be known as a Metaverse. Just as a web browser systematizes the WWW (rendering stuff in consistent fashion, providing a recognizable set of controls and input mechanisms, etc.), a Metaverse could systematize all of this other stuff that we aren't really doing (yet).
Until such time as it is systematized, different apps will have very different abilities, different ways of manipulating stuff, etc. The WWW wasn't the first hyperlinked system (see Englebart's Online System - NLS - and Nelson's Project Xanadu). But it systematized things and opened it up for the world to play with. In that regard, HTTPD, HTML, etc. provide the OS upon which so much of our modern life is built, known colloquially as the WWW.
Workers have been leaving unions in droves for decades. I expect it's because companies hate them (naturally enough) and the workers find they don't add enough value. The only places unions are keeping a foothold are in government jobs (like the teacher's union).
To one of your points: the workers find they don't add enough value.
That's the crux of the whole argument, yes? If a union adds value (gets you better conditions, more money, etc.) workers will want it. If it doesn't (caving to the employers' demands, taking too much in union dues) they won't.
This is an opportunity for unions to make a comeback. Too many people have been screwed over by employers for too long. But unions need to actually provide some value. Too many of them quickly became mini-corporations in their own right, enriching their own C-suite at everyone's expense. They will need to do better than that, if they are to actually make progress.
What happened to all those cheap VR devices like cardboard and such that used your smartphone? They weren't great, but were "decent enough".
A limited number of apps supported Cardboard. Google decided to put all their effort behind Daydream, which would make the device more-or-less VR for all apps. Then they stopped supporting that.
I was looking at that, once upon a time. Like you, once Zuck bought Oculus I lost all interest in them.
Cardboard was just a stereoscopic viewer. There is to more to VR than "just" a stereoscopic viewer.
That said, using a decent stereoscopic viewer as a more-immersive display, while using my phone as the rendering engine and controller, could be useful. I had high hopes for the HTC Vive Flow but HTC seems to be so schizophrenic that they can't seem to get anything working and supplied. They list few use cases for that gizmo (to go with the relatively steep price, for what it is) and it doesn't work with any phone I own, or am likely to own anytime soon.
I don't care about VR gaming. If I could put my desktop up there and use my keeb and touchpad with it, in lieu of the limited display on my laptop, that could be genuinely useful. Cardboard couldn't do that, either.
How many people are working from home, using some laptop, wishing they had the space and $$$ for some big display where they could work? A better keyboard and mouse can be had for a reasonable price but you're still stuck with a limited-area and -resolution display. A wearable headset which filled that niche, and worked well, even if tied to the DP on the laptop, wouldn't be so niche and would likely pry some $$ loose.
New York... when civilization falls apart, remember, we were way ahead of you. - David Letterman