Liberal Arts – translated as liberal arts. Many overseas comprehensive universities will have a College of Liberal Arts, which is naturally translated as a liberal arts college. I have always thought this translation is a bit strange, obviously there are all kinds of teaching in this college.
Harvard's "Liberal Arts" education has 18 required core courses, involving natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, arts and other aspects. Simply using the liberal arts to outline is obviously inaccurate. The scope of Liberal Arts is very broad. Unlike professional education that focuses on specific disciplines, Liberal Arts education hopes to help everyone establish a broad world view and thinking value system, aiming at cultivating the mind and heart.
The reason for the sudden interest in this word is because there is a DAO to establish Liberal arts for Crypto. It is a DAO for education and a DAO for exploring the humanities and society. It's called encryption, culture, and society.
The first time I saw this DAO was last October. It was a very niche DAO, but it got a lot of support from the top players in the Web3 field and created a very attractive course. Whether it was the dazzling names, the unique value proposition, or the hardcore curriculum itself, I didn't understand what it meant to be in the crypto world with Liberal Arts. As I spent another half a year in the Web3 world, I began to understand it to a certain extent.
(I am not going to introduce this DAO today. I will have time to write about its details in the future. I have been wandering in this DAO server for a few months, and I have recently signed up and been selected as a student for the second semester. I will do so when I have time. Time to share what you have seen in the course.)
When talking about education in the Web3 circle, everyone naturally thinks about how to use wallets, what DeFi is, what is L1 and what is L2. And the most popular ones in this field are tech giants, entrepreneurs, and scientists, because this is a world built on code and technology. Culture is an under-noticed part of the Crypto world, even despised to a certain extent.
But does the Crypto industry want to be a technology product? Obviously not. From David Chaum in the 80s, cypherpunk in the 90s. Everything they do is hoping to use encryption to make the world a better place.
When Syndicate tries to break down the high wall between the community and VC investment. When Krause House tried to give fans a voice in the sports industry. When PubDAO tried to reshape the publishing industry. When the Boring Ape Red Bean Mfers tries to rewrite the public's perception of brand and communication.
All of them are reshaping the society. Crypto and code are just their tools, more importantly their thinking, values, and the narrative and culture they build.
In the world of Web3, the ability to narrative, the ability to build culture, and the ability to bring people together have become the bottom-level ability.
A16z, Paradigm, Multicoin, including the red shirts who have just entered the circle, these top Web3 investors all have strong narrative ability and continue to output.
Among the tens of thousands of PFP (avatar type) NFT projects, 99.9% have already returned to zero or are on the way to zero, and the very few who can survive have successfully established their own culture, and through cultural cohesion community.
A good DAO is even more so. Members are assimilated by shared values and a strong culture and have an inherent desire to participate and contribute, which is the only reason a DAO can persevere. It seems that there is a lot of time in the DAO to engage in vibe, GM in the morning and GN at noon and then LFG at noon. In fact, behind all this lightheartedness is a lot of complicated and hard work. Without enough drive, no one can act competently. Values, Vibe, and a group of like-minded friends are the fundamental reasons that support everyone to persevere together.
I've seen too many core contributors in DAOs talk about the future in their hearts. No matter what the future holds in his heart, I am moved by the light in his eyes. This is the power of belief and culture.
These narratives, these cultures, these communities, will ultimately shape the next version of the world.
To technology, but also temperature.
Welcome to a future society of web3 and liberal arts.