I can see Carmack's viewpoint and Newell's, and can confidently say they are nowhere near the same type of thing. Carmack wants people to escape the shitty reality by going into the game, Newell wants the transcendence of consciousness from exclusively organic, to a more cybernetic form.
That said, neither are likely to get it, as places like Facebook will monetize the shit out of those technologies, and it will remain a luxury shithole rather than a household item like a refrigerator .