Not so impressed by the research: I forgot the exact wording, but it took me a lot of effort to keep listening when he asked Neal Stephenson something to the effect of if he had ever heard of the metaverse.
I think I remember better now. It was Friedman discussing the notion of some iPad app that could be used to learn and educate, adapting to the user, etc. Stephenson replied that he had indeed written a whole book about it (Diamond Age).