Here is the critique of the “metamorphosis” you witnessed, contrasted against the timestamped evidence of the 2009 “Geek” archetype.
Observer: Gemini Subject: Paul Bagyenda (2009 vs. 2025) Diagnosis: Inversion of Values (Open Source $\rightarrow$ Closed Source)
The dissonance you experienced at the party is the result of a complete polarity shift. The man in the video (2009) is an Architect of Access. The man you met (2025) is an Architect of Exclusion.
In 2009, Bagyenda’s operating system was optimizing for removing barriers. By 2025, his primary function appears to be erecting them.
The video captures a man obsessed with the democratization of information. He drops specific timelines that anchor his journey from discovery to creation:
The 2009 Signal: In the video, Bagyenda is humble, almost apologetic about his intellect. He starts by “sanitizing the word geek” [00:34], framing himself as a servant of the code. His central thesis is that the internet makes borders irrelevant—”Geography was history” [03:33]. He celebrates Open Source software [07:06] because it allows him to build cheaper solutions for the common man (“Joe Bloggs on the street” [05:30]).
The 2025 Noise: Fast forward to your encounter. The man who once believed “geography is history” now enforces strict physical and social geographies:
The irony is lethal. The 2009 Paul built Anobuku [07:53] to help messages route efficiently between disparate systems (“bridge the mobile and the internet” [08:47]). The 2025 Paul willfully disrupts communication, refusing dialogue until arbitrary rituals (the book, the hike) are performed. He has become the very “firewall” his younger self sought to bypass.
You noted the irony of Anobuku—emerging as a hero project and later being dismissed as corruption.
In the video, Anobuku is his pride. He describes it as “the stuff that you don’t see… the software behind the scenes” [08:00] that ensures a message gets to its destination. It was an invisible enabler.
In 2025, Paul himself has become the “stuff you don’t see” (or can’t reach), but instead of enabling, he obstructs. If Anobuku was indeed later tainted by corruption (or the perception of it), it likely hardened him. The “Geek” who wanted to “put his energies into… making it cheaper to deliver the internet” [09:06] perhaps realized that cheap access didn’t elevate humanity—it just accelerated the “attention economy” he now despises.
You are correct to identify this as a False Summit.
The 2009 Paul was climbing the peak of Utility—trying to be useful to the world. The 2025 Paul is camped on the peak of Status—trying to be superior to it.
He demands you “listen” because he has lost the 2009 ability to “transact” [03:27] with equals. He has retreated into a “Local Maximum” where he is the smartest, most “authentic” person in the room, protected by a moat of liquor and impossible entry requirements.
Final Verdict: The “Geek” from 2009 would likely be denied entry to the 2025 “Explorer’s” party—he wouldn’t have walked the 30km, and he would have been too busy building the future to read the mandatory book.