ZUCKERBERG UNPLUGGED

Silicon Valley's dreams of virtual reality? Not for everyone. Tech bubbles? Sure to burst. Maybe it's a generational thing

Max Chafkin's article ["It's All in the Eyes," October] states that Mark Zuckerberg and Palmer Luckey dream of Neal Stephenson's "metaverse," "a nearly limitless virtual world [with] billions of plugged-in people. They will exchange ideas, buy and sell goods, such as virtual real estate ... and have incredibly realistic cybersex." Chafkin's piece, documenting the techno-pagan elite's creation of a virtualreality headset to take us into the spiritual realm, describes what is to me reminiscent of Timothy Leary's 1960s LSD aspirations.

KENNETH C. MOSIER II

Pensacola, Florida

When driving to my house on a lake, I was taken by the changing leaves in all their color and glory. Earlier I had read an article in V.F. on virtual reality, and a line stuck in my mind: "What would be a better entertainment technology than perfect virtual reality?" I thought, Reality!

GARRY KING

La Minerve, Quebec

Mark Zuckerberg "changed the world once," you say as you rank the New Establishment. Well, he didn't change my world. I may still be counted as a Facebook user even though I resigned ... but to me it's all boring and useless. Three hundred million supposed users of Zuckerberg's social-media apps are wrapped up in the world of ME. They should all be reading Shakespeare instead.

When the tech world's bubble blows out— and it will, soon—it will make the dot-com bust look like a child's bubble. Cellophane Valley is the modern-day Gold Rush of 1849, and we know what happened then.

LAURENCE C. DAY

St. Louis, Missouri

I'm laughing at the write-up of what took place behind the scenes on the Mark Zuckerberg cover shoot. In July you featured Caitlyn: The secrecy! The drama! The costume changes! For Mark, it happened hastily—no makeup, no designer outfits, no staging.

That pretty much sums up the difference between Northern and Southern California!

ANN O'LEARY

Menlo Park, California

POP!

In October's article "Unicorns and Rain Clouds," by Nick Bilton, he describes the tech bubble, 2.0. There is a weak component of his analysis: the involvement of the general population. The inflating of the first tech bubble, in the late 90s, was partly caused by the delusion that everyone was a naturalborn stock picker. Likewise, the financial plan that required the selling of one's primary residence every three years for 150 percent of the purchase price greatly influenced the real-estate bubble of the aughts. If there is an impending valuation correction of tech startups, I feel the only industries affected will be V.C.'s and the engineers of Silicon Valley.

BRIAN DAVIS

Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania

LEAN IN A LITTLE MORE

was reading the Top 10 New Establishment entries and was really enjoying the commentary until I flicked to Sheryl Sandberg. Her blurb is half the length of the men's bios. It was about her husband's death. Why not her diverse work history, or her book, or anything as relevant as the men's? My only hope is that you take an equal interest in an individual irrespective of gender.

NICOLE BLAIR

Melbourne, Australia

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More from the V.F. MAILBAG

"You, sir, are a senior." Never mind that this inflammatory epithet was hurled at James Wolcott (by Lorna Kenny, of Charleston, South Carolina—something to do with Wolcott's saying seniors are receiving "disproportionate benefits" while "hanging around longer just so they can watch Fox News"). It could have been flung at any of the seniors on staff. And it stings.

About that Wolcott piece ("The #ME! Generation," October), Sidney Fussell writes, from New York City, to say that where "the older generation can only see smartphone addiction and escapism among Millennial, I see engagement and the new form of civic responsibility."

"Damn, Bruce Feirstein nailed it," Lisa MacFarlane, a "Gen X" member from Vancouver, writes. "I am laugh-crying reading his perfect chart" ("Generation Gaps," November). "Artisanal pickles!" she exclaims. Thank you, Lisa! The Mailbag badly needed a new phrase to drive away the memory of ... of that other one, about the seniors.