At the first FarCon in Boston, I gave a lightning talk about how Farcaster exhibited all the characteristics of a scenius. The concept seemed to strike a chord with early Farcaster users, and scenius became a recurring theme that popped up on my feed throughout the past year.

For FarCon 2024 in Venice, I would like to do a follow up talk exploring 3 questions

1. What is a Scenius?

2. What should you do when you find yourself in a scene?

3. Is the Farcaster scenius still alive?

Brian Eno, a famous musician, composer and producer, coined the term scenius to explain the phenomena that the best art tends to be generated from groups of creatives rather than any one lone individual. In Brian’s words, “Scenius stands for the intelligence and the intuition of a whole cultural scene. It is the communal form of the concept of the genius.”

If you've never been part of a scene before, it can be difficult to know what permissionless means and how you can get involved. I will offer some advice and guidance for individuals who want to participate and build on top of and around Farcaster.

In a blog post last year, I wrote "Farcaster is full of creative geniuses, loosely organized around a common vision for a decentralized social network, bound by common values such as candor, intellect, curiosity, and truth. It is the ultimate scenius. And if it stays this way, it will unleash more innovation and inventions than can be imagined today."

With Farcaster's recent growth, users are no longer all builders and creators. Does the success of Farcaster mean the death of the scenius?

To learn more about scenius:

• Intro to Scenius and collective genius by Kevin Kelley - https://kk.org/thetechnium/scenius-or-comm/

• Brian Eno - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Eno

• My blog about Farcaster as a Scenius and my slides from the lightning talk - https://adrienneshulman.medium.com/the-power-of-scenius-farcaster-and-the-collective-genius-of-communities-244f018a8767, https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1NlaW0gTPEGn1LCgcbvANUC8p5YBvNSWs2kMFdNKkDyk/edit#slide=id.p2

At the first FarCon in Boston, I gave a lightning talk about how Farcaster exhibited all the characteristics of a scenius. The concept seemed to strike a chord with early Farcaster users, and scenius became a recurring theme that popped up on my feed throughout the past year.

For FarCon 2024 in Venice, I would like to do a follow up talk exploring 3 questions

1. What is a Scenius?

2. What should you do when you find yourself in a scene?

3. Is the Farcaster scenius still alive?

Brian Eno, a famous musician, composer and producer, coined the term scenius to explain the phenomena that the best art tends to be generated from groups of creatives rather than any one lone individual. In Brian’s words, “Scenius stands for the intelligence and the intuition of a whole cultural scene. It is the communal form of the concept of the genius.”

If you've never been part of a scene before, it can be difficult to know what permissionless means and how you can get involved. I will offer some advice and guidance for individuals who want to participate and build on top of and around Farcaster.

In a blog post last year, I wrote "Farcaster is full of creative geniuses, loosely organized around a common vision for a decentralized social network, bound by common values such as candor, intellect, curiosity, and truth. It is the ultimate scenius. And if it stays this way, it will unleash more innovation and inventions than can be imagined today."

With Farcaster's recent growth, users are no longer all builders and creators. Does the success of Farcaster mean the death of the scenius?

To learn more about scenius:

• Intro to Scenius and collective genius by Kevin Kelley - https://kk.org/thetechnium/scenius-or-comm/

• Brian Eno - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Eno

• My blog about Farcaster as a Scenius and my slides from the lightning talk - https://adrienneshulman.medium.com/the-power-of-scenius-farcaster-and-the-collective-genius-of-communities-244f018a8767, https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1NlaW0gTPEGn1LCgcbvANUC8p5YBvNSWs2kMFdNKkDyk/edit#slide=id.p2