Behind the Handle #4: MetaDreamer
I pulled out my phone and started browsing hotels in the airport terminal shuttle. The drive to the ChiliPad (Airbnb) was an hour away and I was tired. The discomfort in my gut was just my nervous system looking for an excuse to prolong meeting 12 “strangers”. It was my first IRL conference and meeting internet friends still felt weird. The airport hotel was booked. No backing out now.
As I wait for the Uber, the cool breeze brushed against my face instantly putting ice on my racing thoughts. The uber arrived, I got in and I decided to crack the window for the hour-long drive. The drive was a blur as I zoned in and out of a sleep state. We took a final turn and parked in front of the ChiliPad.
Walking up the steps to the front door was a chore. It was dark. I could vaguely hear people nearby, but couldn’t tell if the chatter was coming from the house or outside. I opened the door and was greeted by two people sitting on a couch nearby. I asked where the rest of the group was and they pointed toward the backyard.
I briefly walked upstairs to look for a bed and placed my bags down in a room. I head back down to make my way to the backdoor. Before placing my hand on the handle, Lou slung the door open and proceeded to give me a handshake that rivaled the one Arnold Schwarzenneger and Carl Weathers gave one another in Predator. Was I heading into battle?
Laughing. The sounds were getting louder. Walking down the narrow path magnified the voices, but as the path started to open up the sounds became more muffled. I could see a handful of people huddled around a fire and recognized a few friendly faces. Yalor stood up and started making introductions.
As soon as Yalor rattled off my handle, another frend turned around. Illuminated by an orange flicker from the fire, MetaDreamer exclaimed, “I know you?!?”
I inched closer as he fumbled around the five electronic devices. Somehow, his arm was able to break away from the stranglehold without coming close to dropping the precious hardware. I remembered thinking that the kind gesture was impressive.
When I think of MetaDreamer now, I see his smile. His smile is subtle, yet infectious. If someone were to hold up a picture of a fake smile and a real smile, MetaDreamer’s would always be the real one. To me, this is one of his more nuanced skills. His ability to convey authenticity with no words.
MetaDreamer took out his camera and started taking pictures. As you can see from the picture above, he’s talented. After getting bored of taking photos, he jumped over to his tablet and started browsing. ADHD was in full effect tonight. Or was it already morning…
Sitting on a barstool, gave me the vantage point I needed to have an eye on the room. I could see MetaDreamer looking at some design when I realized the same design on his tablet was the print on the back of his jean jacket (that he was wearing). Although I knew the answer, I said, “did you make that jacket?” He walked me through the programs he used to make the design, before getting distracted by other stories being told around the fire. For the remainder of the night/morning, I sat next to MetaDreamer and observed. I was taking everything in. Vibing.
I was able to interview MetaDreamer a few weeks after we met at MCON. The interview was fun as we flowed from one subject to the next with no real structure. Controlled chaos? I remain blown away by the breadth and depth of his knowledge. It feels like he knew a ton about everything we spoke about. He even joked that he is a “MetaHobby” collector. Basically, his hobby is collecting hobbies. We discussed many things, including, DAOs (of course), life, aspirations/motivations, inspirations, and more.
Before we dive in I want to give a nod to the people and resources that helped me guide this narrative.
- Cooper Turley’s — Meet Hammad: The MetaDreamer
- ChiliPad@MCON Telegram channel, for the photo’s
Life before…
MetaDreamer is a dreamer. He is not afraid to think big and execute his vision. Manifesting these dreams into reality is what makes MetaDreamer special. The ability to create these dreams is driven by a willingness to experiment.
As a child, MetaDreamer wanted to be an inventor. He would spend hours devising systems or mechanisms, such as…
- The knife with five blades to chop onions more efficiently
- The shower with buttons to dispense soap
While these inventions started and ended on a piece of paper, his other inventions became reality.
From a young age, MetaDreamer displayed an endless abundance of natural curiosity. And ultimately directed this curiosity to computers. MetaDreamer’s dad worked in IT and gifted him his first computer at age 3 (aka the family computer). This is where he spent a lot of his time growing up. He loved to play games. The first games he played were MS-DOS games like Doom and Prince of Persia. Later on, he was exposed to Runescape. MetaDreamer mentioned that this game helped him intuitively understand economics, digital currency, NFTs, and entrepreneurship.
An aside… Only in writing this paragraph did I start to realize how innate technology is for younger generations….I am 100% a crypto boomer. I can see MetaDreamer appreciating and agreeing with this quote from Bane (in regards to boomers & technology).
“You merely adopted the dark. I was born in it, molded by it.”
There exists a small place in MetaDreamer’s head where he is trolling me for being a boomer
After gaining these invaluable experiences, MetaDreamer spent time building and selling computers. He would buy the parts individually, compile/build and sell them for profit on Kijiji (Canada’s Craigslist). These services were, of course, free for friends. He only accepted cash because he was too young to open a bank account. I guess he was bankless :).
At one point MetaDreamer accumulated around $20k, which he stored in his closet. Around the same time (2011) he also started mining Bitcoin, which he happened to discover on Runescape gaming forums. Thanks, Runescape.
MetaDreamer’s entrepreneurial spirit continued through university, where he majored in Computer Engineering.
For a more extensive breakdown of his ventures give Cooper Turley’s article, Meet Hammad: The MetaDreamer a read.
Harnessing chaos
I could see the contentment in his face as he told his story. Similar to how one would look when finishing a puzzle. Nothing and everything mattered. He responded, “I don’t take myself too seriously.” MetaDreamer thrives in chaos.
He can…
harness chaos in real-time
As we fluidly moved between topics, MetaDreamer mentioned that following a structure was hard. He spoke about how his ADHD and how it’s a blessing and a curse. I empathize, bouncing between too many thoughts as I write this sentence. Masked by the chaos, I can still see an underlying structure (or process) by which MetaDreamer operates. I believe it just occurs in faster cycles than most. MetaDreamer’s “cycle” starts at 8:30 AM (when he wakes up) and ends around 2 AM. He takes large breaks throughout the day (around 4 hours total) where he chills out.
Creating space for…
decompression
While improving, I always struggle to know when to push and when to pull. It was noticeable that MetaDreamer was more experienced than me here. I believe he understands there’s a give/take in life. He’s not overly attached to how things are done, demonstrating a breadth of maturity beyond his years. This was shocking to witness because MetaDreamer is in a constant state of vulnerability. With conviction, he noted, “if it wasn’t meant to happen then it wasn’t.”
MetaDreamer started working in DAOs as a builder, however, most of his time today is spent coordinating (aka.. messaging on discord/telegram). He enjoys orchestrating a vision but misses spending time focused on developing new products. This conflict led us to talk about cloning ourselves… MetaDreamer provided a cool anecdote from the anime show, One-Punch Man. I guess a character clones itself and loses its edge with each incremental clone. Essentially dumbing itself down. MetaDreamer still aspires to automate the coordination part of him.
By allowing himself to be…
inspired
We talked a lot about inspiration. Inspiration comes from various sources, both intrinsic and extrinsic in nature. It was evident that his parents inspired him. MetaDreamer’s parents were first-generation immigrants to Canada and were focused on providing the best life for MetaDreamer. Selfless.
MetaDreamer mentioned other inspirations including (Peter and James Young), but the inspiration that stood out to me was Virgil Griffith. The cadence in his voice changed when he first mentioned Virgil’s name noting how much he has done for the Ethereum community. He went further, highlighting that one of his favorite articles (which also helps inform his Web 3 strategy) is written by Virgil (Ethereum is game-changing technology, literally). I started to become curious about how Virgil could be as influential as his parents. MetaDreamer then informed me about Virgil’s influence on Islamic Finance. He told me how Virgil had been instrumental in getting Ethereum certified as Halal (Read), which allowed the asset to be owned by billions of Muslims.
MetaDreamer can harness chaos in real-time, creating space for decompression by allowing himself to be inspired.
Stackin’ cred
MetaDreamer loves DAOs. They are chaotic. Dynamic. And function in a similar way to how his mind works. He is involved in and/or helped formulate the ideation of many other DAOs, including MetaFactory, RaidGuild, MetaCartel, and the MetaGame.
Today his focus is on the ideation of MetaCred.
MetaCred is a way to create web 3 native tools to coordinate and change the layer 0 behavior. Rather than using tools like Twitter, Discord, and Telegram for coordination, you could open MetaCred. MetaCred will allow users to rate, sign, and record valuable things, with verifiable information attached to the dashboard (identity or representation of the user).
I don’t want to spoil too much, but the idea is awesome. And there is… a greater plan.
If you want to get in touch with MetaDreamer, send him a message on Twitter.
About Behind The Handle
Behind The Handle is a series that explores the people contributing to DAOs. To be notified of our latest stories, follow us on Twitter. If you have a story to tell, shoot us a DM. Cheers!
