Hi Puzzles. Here's a quick timeline of my work.

- I had the idea for ONOSENDAI in January 2023.
- I started working on it in February 2023
- I launched the first version in March 2023. In this iteration it was a 3D visualizer for nostr events, but I knew there was more potential, and I kept developing it.
- between March and May I developed the blueprint for the cyberspace protocol. On June 1 I submitted my grant application.
- In June 2023 ONOSENDAI won 1st place in the Yakihonne hackathon I competed in
https://m.primal.net/LJAL.jpg 
- I was awarded the grant in September and it began October.
- I spent October 2023 to October 2024 building what I proposed would originally take 2 years

So there is some history here. People already knew about it and thought it had potential. It wasn't only an idea and I had been working on it outside of my full time job for the majority of 2023.

I'm glad to hear that you are against the metaverse because the metaverse, as imagined by multinational corporations and fiat billionaires, is a just a tool to capture humanity in the Matrix to monetize every action, every thought, every interaction, and our very existence. As you mentioned, Meta has spent billions trying to build a metaverse and nobody really uses it — thankfully the matrix is still opt-in. However, this is not what the metaverse is meant to be as prescribed by those who invented and built the concept.

Just like the matrix or any video game, every metaverse you've ever heard of (except cyberspace) is centrally controlled and privileged.

The cyberspace protocol is the implementation of the bottom-up vision for a metaverse laid out in science fiction from the 80s. The literature describes a metaverse where:
- nobody's access can be limited (permissionless)
- it is accessible everywhere (omnipresent)
- actions taken in the metaverse are consequential
- competing actions can be settled trustlessly

The key insight of the cyberspace protocol I developed is that in order to be permissionless, consequential, and trustless, POW must be the central mechanism that powers all interactions with cyberspace. POW allows cyberspace to function without any central authority or privileged access. This should sound familiar as you seem knowledgeable about bitcoin.

So, what I am building is diametrically opposed to every other metaverse in existence. I have often said that cyberspace is meant to be a tool, not a replacement for reality. I am a reality maximalist. But as I explain in my talk from BitBlockBoom, there is a logical argument for recognizing certain digital systems and objects as being "real" -- most notably, bitcoin: https://youtu.be/4bAQjg9nOic

Now, what will people do in cyberspace? How is it beneficial to humanity, nostr, or bitcoin?

First, I can't pretend to know a complete answer to that question. Like the people who developed the protocols for the internet in the 1970s, they had no idea what was going to be possible or be built. Why did they keep building? I think it's because they knew that the fundamentals of what they were building were sound. They knew it had the potential to enable new possibilities. I feel the same way about cyberspace. I believe that the fundamentals of cyberspace are rightly ordered, and in time, people will find incredible ways to use it.

One concrete benefit of cyberspace in my opinion is that half of cyberspace maps directly to reality. Everything you see around you has a coordinate in cyberspace. As you can see in this screenshot, all of Earth -- out to geosynchronous orbit -- is part of the coordinate system.
https://m.primal.net/LIzY.png 
This enables a unified digital overlay for the whole planet that isn't controlled by anyone. Digital objects can have a physical location. Proof of work is the only way to interact with this coordinate system. Phones and AR devices could read and write from this overlay to bring all kinds of helpful data into physical space. It can be used by machines and humans alike. Adding contextual data to our physical world is a superpower in my opinion.

I know there is negative sentiment about AR out there. We all hate the Apple Vision because it's Orwellian; Apple wants to gatekeep what people can do and see, and that's extra disgusting in an augmented reality context. It's not the augmented reality itself that repulses us; it's the fact that by putting on that particular augmented reality device, you are subjugating yourself to only see what Apple allows. It's absolutely chilling.

With cyberspace, just as with nostr, the user is in control, and it's completely open. Any hardware maker can make any device (phones, tablets, IOT, glasses, etc.) and plug into an open protocol to provide AR experiences and contextual data anywhere on the planet or in outer space. Just as nostr breaks Facebook into a million nostr clients, if nostr serves as the substrate for augmented reality, then it will likewise break hardware developers into a million small enterprises who must actually compete to win.

Nostr is the heart and soul of cyberspace. Your nostr identity is manifested as an avatar that can travel through cyberspace. Every interaction with cyberspace in a nostr event. Your nostr identity can publish information and objects and structures (represented by nostr events) that belong to real places on the planet using proof of work. No company could build a metaverse like this, because building something so radically open is not possible in fiat world. So companies like Apple try (and fail) to build walled gardens hoping that the whole of humankind will pay money to be trapped inside.

I think that augmented reality not controlled by megacorporations, running on a permissionless network, and governed by proof of work is a net positive for humanity. No metaverse built by any corporation will be good for humans. But I think that this cyberspace has huge potential to be different.

If we don't build the metaverse we want to see in the world, nobody is going to do it for us, and the Matrix will be the only option. I'm building the future I want to see in the world, where a greater and more free integration between physical reality and digital reality helps people communicate and build in new ways.

nostr:note1cdxe2eykrj64vaywqm97fvyfyfez9ve7t2hyyt3law7lsulmqv0qehtvmh