Rich Washburn

Star Trek didn't just predict technology — it set the cultural coordinates for what humanity was supposed to be reaching toward. Then Kurtzman broke the mythology. Now Paramount is doing a hard reset. And it matters far more than a TV franchise story.

Meta lost $83.6 billion on the metaverse. Apple halted its Vision Pro follow-on. The entire industry just pivoted to glasses. The form factor bet was wrong — but the paradigm is still right. Here's what the convergence of AI and spatial computing actually looks like now.

Global startup investment hit $300 billion in Q1 2026 — 80% driven by AI. Four companies took 65% of it. The number is historic. But that capital assumes the chips exist to build what it's funding. They might not.