Original publication:
https://www.getrevue.co/profile/jsmnk/issues/no-1-passion-data-dignity-and-experimentation-777156
Greeetingssss world!
🌐 💃🏻🕺🏻
I wasn’t able to gather enough activation energy to start a newsletter for the longest time. I had so many recurring thoughts along the lines of: the world does not need yet another newsletter, who am I to deserve any attention from anyone, how would my opinions change anything etc. But I was recently reminded that it’s true, the world does not care what you feel and that it will definitely revolve fine without you. But what matters is whether you need it more than anything and if so, then you must simply do it for yourself! And this was the final reminder I needed to gtfu and fire off this passion project of mine. I plan to utilize this newsletter as a way to structure my messy thoughts and to keep myself accountable, but with that said, I do hope that you also find something delightful here and there throughout the series.
Now that I’ve blurted out a fanfare, I will try to keep the rest of the newsletter concise and bite-sized for your (and my) taste.
This is how I will be structuring my content:
What I’ve been up to 💃🏻
One topic I’ve been thinking about 🤔
Readings, music, films that illuminated my life 🌷
A quote to leave you inspired 💥
what I've been biting on
I was reading Jaron Lanier’s Blueprint for a Better Digital Society from 2018 regarding *data dignity - *which proposes that media consumers get compensated for every piece of data we provide to social media conglomerates, since they profit off our data, which only seems fair! He also lays down how to implement his idea with intermediate MIDs (“mediators of individual data”) which would help distribute compensation fairly back to the consumers.
And of course this would naturally lead a tech-minded one to think, can’t this be solved through blockchain with DAOs? Lanier does bring up blockchain a few times but rejects it as a viable solution: *“until we can overcome network effects and the difficulty for any individual to navigate terms of use on his own, any push to fully decentralize will further weaken the individual’s ability to resist networks.” *He makes a good point on the advantage of network effects for centralization, but I think DAOs could still provide some effects through a tokenized community. And yes, crypto is anything but cryptic, but there seems to be a collective push to make it more and more accessible.
The overall concept of DAOs, which is generally a weighted distribution of income back to the participants, is inspiring. I’ve been long intrigued about how employees can obtain more ownership over their work of choice and how direct compensation can reward this mindset in a more distributed organization.
My optimistic self visualizes that maybe then humans can more freely join smaller, perhaps riskier, but more fulfilling organizations and harvest their monetary rewards from more than one main source. With Lanier’s vision for data compensation and DAOs on top of UBI/UCI, I’m hoping we can come closer to a safer playground for everyone to connect, create, and have fun.
some of my recent favorites
If you find yourself stumped by what to do in life (as we all do from time to time), this might shine some light!
🎶 Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone
A lasting tribute to a legend from another legend.
🎥 Cinema Paradiso (1988) directed by Giuseppe Tornatore
Another tribute to Morricone. A love letter to movies, love, and simplicity of childhood.
and finally a quote...
on not knowing as a strength:
“If you already know it’s going to work, it’s not an experiment, and only through experimentation can you get real invention. The most important inventions come from trial and error with lots of failure, and the failure is critical, and it’s also embarrassing.” -J.B.
Here’s to honing our craft 1% everyday, whatever you end up doing. Thanks for indulging me on another journey of mine!
💖🙏🏻🧑🏻🌾
Jasmine