Honestly I don't see where all the sci-fi analogies and Wave comparisons are coming from. I've been using Paper in beta for several months now, and it is nothing more then a slick, streamlined version of the Etherpad , which arguably was a slick and streamlined version of Wave.

It has all the features I used from GDocs, it is convenient and pleasant to look at. Long-form notes are very pleasant to write there. Note-taking aspect of this is definitely something they should explore more.