Hardware

Maybe, but I'd lean towards disagreeing.

Current HMDs have poor angular resolution, and are not drop-in replacement for existing monitors.

I'd get an HMD once it hits something roughly comparable to today's monitors in terms of angular resolution, and comfortable to use for as long. I probably won't buy one just to play VR games. I don't think that we will never get to the point that they're a monitor replacement, though. It's more-portable and can fill more of your visual field.

And I think that at that point, it becomes a lot more appealing. You can have a private screen that people can't see. You can potentially consume less power than a laptop screen, since you can have a dark environment where the light only needs to go to one place. Laptop form factor is kind of defined by the display; if you don't have to do that, you can use other portable computer form factors. You can use the thing while walking.

Once you have an HMD as a monitor replacement, then it's a smaller bump to use it for VR purposes.

Stephenson's argument is mostly that either (a) it fails on the fashion front or (b) it's creepy to have people just staring at random things. I think that fashion has been pretty flexible over the years, and that people already just talk at the air for cell phones.

I think that if we never get mainstream VR HMDs, it'll be because by the time we get there, we have some sort of direct-to-brain connection that just supersedes them. Not because we can't make something that people will accept because of fashion concerns or because they're worried about looking strange by looking in random directions using it.