FWIW Neal Stephenson also supported "Clang!" [0], a notorious early (2013) Kickstarter project (also dealing with "virtual in the real") that failed pretty miserably.
0: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/260688528/clang/descrip...
0: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/260688528/clang/descrip...
https://magic-leap.reality.news/news/magic-leaps-neal-stephe...