Have you ever been curious, neigh - wondered, why the word ‘wonder’ is used so frequently in the web3 space?

WonderFi

Wonderland Protocol

Wonderverse

The Alice in Wonderland theme seems to be a strong metaphor for web3.

But what does that mean? That we’re all just Alice on an uncontrollable rollercoaster ride of bunnies, mushrooms and morally ambiguous characters?

I hope not. I mean, if we truly want to share the magic of web3 with the rest of the world - replying to the emotions that come with Alice’s story is not the way to do it.

I contend that the original idea of wonder has been pigeonholed into a popularist understanding of the term. However, with the growth of web3 we have the opportunity to take it back and mold it into what it truly is: a term that produces meaningful human-centered transformation and gratitude.

To get a sense of this, try recalling the last time you experienced the sensation of wonder. I’m not talking about the “I wonder if Vitalik is an alien” verb form. Rather I’m referring to the “childlike sense of wonder” noun form.

So really go back and reminisce on the last time you experienced wonder. The kind you could feel in your gut, that might have even changed the way you see the world. These are moments that make life worthy of true happiness.

Wouldn't you agree that web3 could use as much of this experience as possible?

Now I’m willing to bet that the moment you recalled had these core elements attached to it:

• The Unknown

• Authentic Good

• Gratitude

How do I know this?

Because the above three ideas are the first principles of every experience of wonder I have examined and experienced myself.

The reason I have settled on these three is because we can use them as design mechanisms. In other words, we can use them as tools to deliberately design experiences of wonder.

In the following paragraphs I will uncover the first principles of wonder, and how we can capture all the benefits of wonder as we build web3. '

The anatomy of wonder.

The two most essential parts of a wonder experience are the intersection of what I call the unknown and authentic good. I’ll briefly go over each.

The unknown is literally anything you don’t know. This term is applicable in any way you see fit. Unknown of what will happen, what has happened, actions, relationships, experiences, a career, responses, products, taste, smell…and the list goes on. It’s important to acknowledge that the unknown isn’t a static idea, rather it lives on a spectrum. There are certain things that are less known, and others that are more fully known.

The authentic good is a net-positive experience for a person. I use the term ‘authentic’ in an attempt to capture what is truly good for that person…not what they merely think or feel is good. For instance, engaging in experiences that might temporarily feel good, like the abuse of substances, I would not classify as ‘authentically’ good - rather I’d call them experiences of deviant wonder (more about that in a future post). So anything that is inspiring, enriching, empowering, life giving would be classified as authentically good. The term can also be understood on a spectrum: subjectively one thing might be more authentically good than another thing while every instance of it points towards the same outcome: a net-positive experience.

These two parts of wonder have many philosophical implications that we do not have time to get into here. In future posts I will be digging deeper into what they are and how we can use them.

To get a visual understanding of what I mean, see the figure below:

Now for the magical part, wonder happens when these two concepts overlap.

Since authentic good and the unknown operate on a spectrum, wonder too shares this dynamic trait. This explains why there are degrees of wonder experiences for each person. For instance, eating a new delicious cake, a first Disneyland trip and holding one’s child for the first time would all classify as experiences of wonder - however, they vary in intensity.

Here is how the dynamic relationship between the unknown, authentic good and the intensity of wonder can be understood.

The more unknown and authentically good something is, the more intense wonder is experienced.

The less unknow and authentically good something is, the less intense wonder is experienced.

Ok, let’s pause and let this opportunity sink in for a moment.

Web3 is incredibly fertile ground for designing experiences of wonder. The space is mostly unknown and we have humans working on it who are actively seeking to build something authentically good.

All the ingredients are there, we just need some direction.

Now that we are grounded in what it takes to experience wonder, let’s focus on the third and most crucial element: gratitude.

Gratitude is the acknowledgment of something good outside of oneself. Robert Emmons, a well known gratitude researcher, explains it this way: “Gratitude is fertilizer for the mind, spreading connections and improving its function in nearly every realm of experience.”

I am willing to bet that every intense experience of wonder you’ve encountered was followed by spontaneous feelings of gratitude. Even if spontaneous feelings of gratitude don’t come from less intense experiences of wonder - they are still the most appropriate response, when we choose to become aware of them. Like being grateful for a piece of delicious cake.

Gratitude as the ‘litmus test’ of wonder. When analyzing whether an experience is wonderfilled; seek the feeling of gratitude.

This clear relationship between wonder and gratitude creates a magical correlation: the more wonder we experience, the more connection and gratitude we experience and visa versa.

This beautiful correlation also gives us a clear path to how we might create more gratitude and connection: deliberately design more experiences of wonder.

Now that we know what the anatomy of wonder is, we can use its elements to reverse engineer the process, and intentionally design experiences of wonder in web3.

Designing for wonder in web3.

So there we have it. Very easy right?

Unknown + authentic good + gratitude = wonder!

Not so fast. Although cognitively understandable, these ideas are very subjective and have near infinite facets. How on earth do we sort through something as abstract as ‘authentic good’ and the ‘unknown’?

The answer is strategic empathy.

Strategic empathy is the ability to focus one’s empathetic attention on someone’s, or a group of people’s specific needs within a defined context.

First we must gain meaningful insights about what somebody experiences as unknown and authentically good and to what degree. Clearly these kinds of insights are not done by creating a survey monkey and asking “what is unknown to you?”

Rather it takes real curiosity about the subjective reality of the other. What are they seeking to achieve with a certain action? Why do they fear something in one context and not another? What have they expressed gratitude towards in other contexts similar to the one we are building in?

Insights derived from this line of questioning will unlock the clues that will reveal the hidden treasures of what their unknown is, what authentic good they seek and how to effectively guide them there.

The way forward.

Imagine a world where the unknown manifests excitement over fear, where authentic good is never far and where gratitude and meaningful connection is the norm.

We can create this world together by leveraging the first principles of wonder and deploying strategic empathy to build web3 experiences that change lives.

This will not be easy. It will take energy, time, dedication and most importantly care. But if web3 has taught us anything, it’s that even the most unlikely of possibilities can manifest.

Let’s remove the trite understanding of wonder as something mysteriously interesting, and mold it into what it truly is: a term that produces meaningful human-centered transformation and gratitude.

In this Wondering into web3 publication I will be digging into what it takes to design experiences of wonder by interviewing those already doing it and revealing actionable steps you can take to do the same.

Join me for a truly wonderfilled ride.

***

For collabs or experience design consulting DM me @brownrygg

Have you ever been curious, neigh - wondered, why the word ‘wonder’ is used so frequently in the web3 space?

WonderFi

Wonderland Protocol

Wonderverse

The Alice in Wonderland theme seems to be a strong metaphor for web3.

But what does that mean? That we’re all just Alice on an uncontrollable rollercoaster ride of bunnies, mushrooms and morally ambiguous characters?

I hope not. I mean, if we truly want to share the magic of web3 with the rest of the world - replying to the emotions that come with Alice’s story is not the way to do it.

I contend that the original idea of wonder has been pigeonholed into a popularist understanding of the term. However, with the growth of web3 we have the opportunity to take it back and mold it into what it truly is: a term that produces meaningful human-centered transformation and gratitude.

To get a sense of this, try recalling the last time you experienced the sensation of wonder. I’m not talking about the “I wonder if Vitalik is an alien” verb form. Rather I’m referring to the “childlike sense of wonder” noun form.

So really go back and reminisce on the last time you experienced wonder. The kind you could feel in your gut, that might have even changed the way you see the world. These are moments that make life worthy of true happiness.

Wouldn't you agree that web3 could use as much of this experience as possible?

Now I’m willing to bet that the moment you recalled had these core elements attached to it:

• The Unknown

• Authentic Good

• Gratitude

How do I know this?

Because the above three ideas are the first principles of every experience of wonder I have examined and experienced myself.

The reason I have settled on these three is because we can use them as design mechanisms. In other words, we can use them as tools to deliberately design experiences of wonder.

In the following paragraphs I will uncover the first principles of wonder, and how we can capture all the benefits of wonder as we build web3. '

The anatomy of wonder.

The two most essential parts of a wonder experience are the intersection of what I call the unknown and authentic good. I’ll briefly go over each.

The unknown is literally anything you don’t know. This term is applicable in any way you see fit. Unknown of what will happen, what has happened, actions, relationships, experiences, a career, responses, products, taste, smell…and the list goes on. It’s important to acknowledge that the unknown isn’t a static idea, rather it lives on a spectrum. There are certain things that are less known, and others that are more fully known.

The authentic good is a net-positive experience for a person. I use the term ‘authentic’ in an attempt to capture what is truly good for that person…not what they merely think or feel is good. For instance, engaging in experiences that might temporarily feel good, like the abuse of substances, I would not classify as ‘authentically’ good - rather I’d call them experiences of deviant wonder (more about that in a future post). So anything that is inspiring, enriching, empowering, life giving would be classified as authentically good. The term can also be understood on a spectrum: subjectively one thing might be more authentically good than another thing while every instance of it points towards the same outcome: a net-positive experience.

These two parts of wonder have many philosophical implications that we do not have time to get into here. In future posts I will be digging deeper into what they are and how we can use them.

To get a visual understanding of what I mean, see the figure below:

Now for the magical part, wonder happens when these two concepts overlap.

Since authentic good and the unknown operate on a spectrum, wonder too shares this dynamic trait. This explains why there are degrees of wonder experiences for each person. For instance, eating a new delicious cake, a first Disneyland trip and holding one’s child for the first time would all classify as experiences of wonder - however, they vary in intensity.

Here is how the dynamic relationship between the unknown, authentic good and the intensity of wonder can be understood.

The more unknown and authentically good something is, the more intense wonder is experienced.

The less unknow and authentically good something is, the less intense wonder is experienced.

Ok, let’s pause and let this opportunity sink in for a moment.

Web3 is incredibly fertile ground for designing experiences of wonder. The space is mostly unknown and we have humans working on it who are actively seeking to build something authentically good.

All the ingredients are there, we just need some direction.

Now that we are grounded in what it takes to experience wonder, let’s focus on the third and most crucial element: gratitude.

Gratitude is the acknowledgment of something good outside of oneself. Robert Emmons, a well known gratitude researcher, explains it this way: “Gratitude is fertilizer for the mind, spreading connections and improving its function in nearly every realm of experience.”

I am willing to bet that every intense experience of wonder you’ve encountered was followed by spontaneous feelings of gratitude. Even if spontaneous feelings of gratitude don’t come from less intense experiences of wonder - they are still the most appropriate response, when we choose to become aware of them. Like being grateful for a piece of delicious cake.

Gratitude as the ‘litmus test’ of wonder. When analyzing whether an experience is wonderfilled; seek the feeling of gratitude.

This clear relationship between wonder and gratitude creates a magical correlation: the more wonder we experience, the more connection and gratitude we experience and visa versa.

This beautiful correlation also gives us a clear path to how we might create more gratitude and connection: deliberately design more experiences of wonder.

Now that we know what the anatomy of wonder is, we can use its elements to reverse engineer the process, and intentionally design experiences of wonder in web3.

Designing for wonder in web3.

So there we have it. Very easy right?

Unknown + authentic good + gratitude = wonder!

Not so fast. Although cognitively understandable, these ideas are very subjective and have near infinite facets. How on earth do we sort through something as abstract as ‘authentic good’ and the ‘unknown’?

The answer is strategic empathy.

Strategic empathy is the ability to focus one’s empathetic attention on someone’s, or a group of people’s specific needs within a defined context.

First we must gain meaningful insights about what somebody experiences as unknown and authentically good and to what degree. Clearly these kinds of insights are not done by creating a survey monkey and asking “what is unknown to you?”

Rather it takes real curiosity about the subjective reality of the other. What are they seeking to achieve with a certain action? Why do they fear something in one context and not another? What have they expressed gratitude towards in other contexts similar to the one we are building in?

Insights derived from this line of questioning will unlock the clues that will reveal the hidden treasures of what their unknown is, what authentic good they seek and how to effectively guide them there.

The way forward.

Imagine a world where the unknown manifests excitement over fear, where authentic good is never far and where gratitude and meaningful connection is the norm.

We can create this world together by leveraging the first principles of wonder and deploying strategic empathy to build web3 experiences that change lives.

This will not be easy. It will take energy, time, dedication and most importantly care. But if web3 has taught us anything, it’s that even the most unlikely of possibilities can manifest.

Let’s remove the trite understanding of wonder as something mysteriously interesting, and mold it into what it truly is: a term that produces meaningful human-centered transformation and gratitude.

In this Wondering into web3 publication I will be digging into what it takes to design experiences of wonder by interviewing those already doing it and revealing actionable steps you can take to do the same.

Join me for a truly wonderfilled ride.

***

For collabs or experience design consulting DM me @brownrygg