# Are You Punk Yet? Punk Cultures in the Crypto World 🔒🌞🌕🌏✨+Σ

By [0xLuo](https://paragraph.com/@luochang) · 2024-01-18

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> From the birth of Bitcoin derived from the cypherpunk 🔒 movement, to the regenerative ideals of solarpunk 🌞, the privacy resurgence of lunarpunk 🌕, the exploring spirit of terrapunk 🌏, the the plurality of cultures of stellarpunk ✨, and the positive-sum thinking of hyperpunk +Σ, these various punk cultures represent a continuation and evolution of the open, liberated, and innovative ethos of the cypherpunks. They not only encourage the clash of ideas but also broaden the horizons of technological implementation, transforming the realm of crypto world into an expansive and boundless "infinite garden" filled with vibrant and diverse possibilities.

What’s Punk?
============

The punk movement and [punk subculture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punk_subculture) originated from the late 1970s punk rock movement. **_Anarchy in the UK_** was released in 1976 as the debut single of the [Sex Pistols](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_Pistols), opening the door for the British punk movement. This force represented the dissatisfaction and protest of working class youth against the socio-economic realities of recession and high unemployment at the time. The punk movement became known for its anti-authoritarian, anti-establishment, anti-consumerism and anti-capitalism stances, advocating for personal freedom, a do-it-yourself (DIY) ethic, and direct action, as they held a skeptical view of traditional social norms and conventions. However, before the internet emerged, many punks lived in poverty, and due to the lack of economic resources and technical means, they could only express their pursuit of freedom and individual rights through passion and devotion to music, art and creative works.

![The posters designed by Jamie Reid for the Sex Pistols' single Anarchy in the UK.](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/ce849a8f9791590ee77b2c710abfc2c6889fe75bb2f9453541fb59bb5e141b92.png)

The posters designed by Jamie Reid for the Sex Pistols' single Anarchy in the UK.

Over time, the suffix of "punk" evolved beyond just referring to a specific music and cultural style, becoming more of a symbol representing resistance to the current cultural situation and pursuit of a new future. Various [derivative punk subcultures](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberpunk_derivatives) emerged in different fields and eras, such as the [steampunk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk) and [cyberpunk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberpunk) genres seen in science fiction. Steampunk showcased fantasies of returning to the industrial revolution era, emphasizing balance between technology and nature; while cyberpunk showcased highly technological post-information revolution societies, emphasizing the merging of humans with computers, networks, and biological and mechanical augmentation technologies. By exploring relationships between past and future, reality and fantasy, they provoked thoughts on the impacts of technological progress on human life, social structures, and moral ethics.

![Futuristic cities in the style of steampunk and cyberpunk (generated by Stable Diffusion).](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/60208210c7b7e2b9523dab29ddb68b6a34107d1df80be0d9a33423f00f96b6cd.png)

Futuristic cities in the style of steampunk and cyberpunk (generated by Stable Diffusion).

Different punk genres have their own characteristics and means of expression, but all continue punk culture's rebellious spirit and desire for social change. It became a philosophy of life and cultural symbol that expanded to fashion, architecture, film, literature, games, and cryptography.

From Cypherpunk🔒 to Bitcoin₿
-----------------------------

After the 1980s, with the rise of personal computers and the internet, ordinary users began to face the challenge of protecting their data in an open environment. Due to concerns about government surveillance, censorship, and restrictions on freedom of speech, some people advocated for encryption technology. They believed that maintaining a sense of independence and political freedom required secret and anonymous communication to prevent online conversations and activities from being intercepted and monitored.

[David Chaum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Chaum), a cryptographer, is widely regarded as "the godfather of cryptocurrency”, as well as one of "the forefather of the cypherpunk movement". Chaum published numerous papers on topics such as anonymous digital cash and anonymous reputation systems. In 1985, he published a paper [**_Security without Identification Card Computers to make Big Brother Obsolete_**](https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/4372.4373), which described a system that used encryption to conceal the identity of buyers. Inspired by this paper, [Timothy C. May](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_C._May), another cryptographer and former chief scientist at Intel, began researching encryption with public keys. He believed that combining cryptography with network computing had the potential to "**erode the structures of social power**."

In 1988, May drafted [**_The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto_**](https://www.activism.net/cypherpunk/crypto-anarchy.html). This manifesto introduced the fundamental principles of crypto-anarchism, which include ensuring complete anonymity in transactions, total freedom of speech, and unrestricted transactions through encryption.

> A specter is haunting the modern world, the specter of crypto anarchy. Computer technology is on the verge of providing the ability for individuals and groups to communicate and interact with each other in a totally anonymous manner. …… These developments will alter completely the nature of government regulation, the ability to tax and control economic interactions, the ability to keep information secret, and will even alter the nature of trust and reputation. …… Arise, you have nothing to lose but your barbed wire fences! —The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto by Timothy C. May

In late 1992, Timothy C. May, along with mathematician [Eric Hughes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Hughes_\(cypherpunk\)) from UC Berkeley and [John Gilmore](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gilmore_\(activist\)), co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, formed a team in the SFC Bay Area to discuss the most pressing issues in cryptography and programming at the time. During the founding meeting, May read aloud The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto, and the group started meeting monthly thereafter. Civil rights advocate and cyber-feminist [Jude Milhon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jude_Milhon) referred to them as "[**cypherpunks**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypherpunk)" in the early meetings. The **Cypherpunk mailing list** was formed around the same time and quickly grew to hundreds of subscribers who discussed mathematics, cryptography, computer science, politics, and philosophy. In 1993, Eric Hughes published the famous [**_A Cypherpunk's Manifesto_**](https://www.activism.net/cypherpunk/manifesto.html), advocating the use of strong cryptography to defend individual privacy, enabling communication and business on the internet without government or corporate surveillance, while maintaining personal autonomy and political freedom.

![The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto and A Cypherpunk's Manifesto.](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/dbc3e6db0391c325884e24592e73e66f4768c24858c5fc654a8dcfabe2eaaa58.png)

The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto and A Cypherpunk's Manifesto.

> Privacy is necessary for an open society in the electronic age. Privacy is not secrecy. A private matter is something one doesn't want the whole world to know, but a secret matter is something one doesn't want anybody to know. Privacy is the power to selectively reveal oneself to the world. …… We cannot expect governments, corporations, or other large, faceless organizations to grant us privacy out of their beneficence. …… We are defending our privacy with cryptography, with anonymous mail forwarding systems, with digital signatures, and with electronic money. …… We know that software can't be destroyed and that a widely dispersed system can't be shut down. …… Cryptography will ineluctably spread over the whole globe, and with it the anonymous transactions systems that it makes possible. —A Cypherpunk's Manifesto by Eric Hughes

[Julian Assange](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Assange) joined the cypherpunk mailing list in late 1993 or early 1994, then becoming a prominent figure in the cypherpunk movement. In 2006, he founded the whistleblowing website [WikiLeaks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiLeaks), aiming to expose government and corporate misconduct and promote information transparency. His disclosure of classified documents, such as the US military's Baghdad airstrike video and military logs from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, caused a sensation. Assange is now in forced exile due to multiple charges brought against him by the US government. In 2016, he published the book [**_Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet_**](https://www.amazon.com/-/zh/dp/1944869085/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Ag91LXjm6L7BixIKhHOXdgi9vhTCkmY0z2ROSLhHlk8.MhcL36kzex4Xpv8nwI3bnfWtXe1ILHfV5JqYqlmaxlA&dib_tag=se&keywords=Cypherpunks-Freedom-Internet-Julian-Assange&qid=1705579944&sr=8-1), discussing strong cryptography, internet surveillance, and the intricate relationship between personal freedom and privacy.

Many works by cypherpunks have become fundamental protocols for the transmission of value in the internet age. The importance of confidentiality, anonymous transactions, and cryptographic protection has been implemented and reflected in cryptocurrencies in some form.

In 1997, cypherpunk member [Adam Back](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Back) introduced [Hashcash](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Hashcash), the first proof-of-work function, which aimed to increase the cost of sending spam emails. In 1998, another cypherpunk member, [Wei Dai](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wei_Dai), proposed the concept of [B-money](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/B-money), with the goal of creating a peer-to-peer digital currency that enables anonymous and secure transactions, also incorporating proof-of-work. Nowadays, the smallest unit of the [Ethereum](https://ethereum.org/) token, $ether, is called "wei" to honor Wei Dai's work. These two concepts laid the foundation for the birth of Bitcoin, and as for the rest of the story, we all know how it unfolded.

On Oct. 31, 2008, during the global financial crisis, Satoshi Nakamoto, a member of the cypherpunk community, published a paper on the cypherpunk mailing list [**_Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System_**](https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf), which is now widely known as the Bitcoin whitepaper. Building upon concepts from public-key cryptography, hash algorithms, smart contracts, peer-to-peer technology, and the decentralized electronic currency B-money, Nakamoto created a peer-to-peer electronic cash system that eliminates the need for intermediaries. The paper also specifically addressed how Bitcoin protects transaction privacy.

> The traditional banking model achieves a level of privacy by limiting access to information to the parties involved and the trusted third party. The necessity to announce all transactions publicly precludes this method, but privacy can still be maintained by breaking the flow of information in another place: by keeping public keys anonymous. The public can see that someone is sending an amount to someone else, but without information linking the transaction to anyone. This is similar to the level of information released by stock exchanges, where the time and size of individual trades, the "tape", is made public, but without telling who the parties were. —Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System by Satoshi Nakamoto

The development of Bitcoin has brought the cypherpunk movement closer to its goal of providing privacy, security, and autonomy in the digital age. Satoshi Nakamoto's work has also influenced innovations in other crypto technologies, including Ethereum, which features a Turing-complete "world computer". These technologies have the potential to continue driving the goals of the cypherpunk movement. Simultaneously, Bitcoin has enabled organizations like WikiLeaks to sustain their operations through Bitcoin donations, further strengthening the entire cypherpunk movement. Recently, Vitalik Buterin released an article [**_Make Ethereum Cypherpunk Again_**](https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2023/12/28/cypherpunk.html), advocating for Ethereum to reignite the cypherpunk spirit and truly become a permissionless, decentralized, censorship-resistant, and open-source ecosystem. This has sounded the clarion call for a cypherpunk revival in the crypto world.

Solarpunk 🌞
------------

The concept of [**solarpunk**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solarpunk) can be traced back to an article [**_From Steampunk to Solarpunk_**](https://republicofthebees.wordpress.com/2008/05/27/from-steampunk-to-solarpunk/) published in 2008. After 2014, there was a gradual increase in content related to solarpunk. In Sep. 2014, researcher Adam Flynn published [**_Solarpunk: Notes toward a manifesto_**](https://hieroglyph.asu.edu/2014/09/solarpunk-notes-toward-a-manifesto/). Faced with climate change, militarization, and the failure of the current political order, Flynn saw solarpunk as the only solution to combat despair. In his vision of solarpunk, he emphasized innovation, creativity, independence and community spirit. The suffix "punk" indicates that it is a choice to resist the status quo.

[![]({{DOMAIN}}/editor/youtube/play.png)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHI61GHNGJM)

> Solarpunk is about finding ways to make life more wonderful for us right now, and more importantly for the generations that follow us – i.e., extending human life at the species level, rather than individually. —Solarpunk: Notes toward a manifesto by Adam Flynn

In 2017, writer [Jay Springett](https://www.thejaymo.net/about/) published [**_Solarpunk: A Reference Guide_**](https://medium.com/solarpunks/solarpunk-a-reference-guide-8bcf18871965), mentioning that solarpunk is a movement in speculative fiction, art, fashion and activism that seeks to answer and embody the question “**what does a sustainable civilization look like, and how can we get there?**”. In 2019, an article [**_A Solarpunk Manifesto_**](https://www.re-des.org/es/un-manifiesto-solarpunk/) provided an excellent summary of the solarpunk described in previous works. The central theme running through solarpunk is the integration of advanced technology with society, aiming to improve social, economic, and environmental sustainability while approaching contemporary issues with optimism and practicality.

![Solarpunk City (Vitalik referenced this image in the article "Crypto Cities").](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/452d879836032f340bbf90b87945f1508ce9cf025fc5e6023f52d113d443781a.png)

Solarpunk City (Vitalik referenced this image in the article "Crypto Cities").

[Within the Web3 context, solarpunk refers to a political aesthetic that promotes positive externalities, positive-sum worlds and public goods in Web3 and beyond](https://www.coindesk.com/layer2/2022/09/20/what-are-solarpunk-and-lunarpunk-anyway/), contrasting with the individualistic tendencies in the crypto world. Creating positive externalities involves using technological development to generate positive social impacts. Focusing on public goods involves building unrestricted and non-depreciating shared resources. Guided by the concept of positive-sum worlds (non-zero-sum games and cooperation), solarpunk advocates taking practical actions to establish a better and sustainable future world.

[Gitcoin](https://www.gitcoin.co/), founded by [Kevin Owocki](https://twitter.com/owocki) and [Scott Moore](https://twitter.com/notscottmoore), is often cited as [a solarpunk example in the crypto world](https://www.coindesk.com/layer2/2022/06/27/the-one-word-that-defines-ethereums-goals/) (though DoinGud, mentioned in the article, [bid farewell in June, 2023](https://x.com/DoinGudHQ/status/1691850584465547295?s=20)). Gitcoin aims to "**_create community\* and infrastructure for Web 3 — a diverse range of tools, technologies, and networks that enable people to work for the \*open internet_**". Its support for public goods and the creation of cooperative and decentralized funding mechanisms aligns with solarpunk ideals. Gitcoin, in collaboration with [Crypto, Culture, and Society](http://ccsdao.xyz/), released the [**_Public Goods Starter Pack_**](https://www.notion.so/283f732ce6e344e59f870f82975c33d9?pvs=21), which provides a comprehensive understanding of the concept of public goods.

Last year, Gitcoin also published two books, [**_Greenpilled: How Crypto Can Regenerate The World_**](https://greenpill.network/pdf/green-pill.pdf) and [**_ImpactDAOs_**](https://greenpill.network/pdf/ImpactDAO.pdf), both carrying the solarpunk label. GreenPill aims to create **regenerative cryptoeconomic** systems that produce positive externalities by applying blockchain technology and principles of ecological economics to address the negative externalities of capitalism. It seeks robust new methods to fund, design, develop, and promote renewable applications and digital assets in the Web3 era. Impact DAO, guided by a sustainable and regenerative philosophy, builds [DAOs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decentralized_autonomous_organization) using cryptographic tools and methods to create positive externalities for the ecosystems they operate in. It serves as a scalable component of the regenerative crypto-economic infrastructure.

![The Greenpilled and ImpactDAOs booklet (available for free download at greenpill.network).](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/ed48a3c1923ec75691b93f3eb98c6d0f7ec74bc39b718325f1631ccb186dbefa.png)

The Greenpilled and ImpactDAOs booklet (available for free download at greenpill.network).

In addition to that, [there are numerous projects that can help realize a more solarpunk future,](https://society.mirror.xyz/OuxuYixNEYVX6D0kW6aHMy9g66lEwf5KsnlIha7F0bQ) some of which are sustained by the positive externalities generated by other projects, and all these projects, in turn, create their own positive externalities.

*   [Digital](http://ens.domains/) [signatures](https://login.xyz/) and online identities by [ENS (Ethereum Name Service)](https://ens.domains/) that help us create sustainable, independent (and interdependent) entities online.
    
*   [Retroactive public goods funding](https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/11/16/retro1.html) (RetroPGF) by [Optimism](https://www.optimism.io/) that allows for rewarding open source projects commensurate with the value they’ve produced in the past.
    
*   [Quadratic funding](https://www.radicalxchange.org/concepts/quadratic-funding/) built by projects like Gitcoin that enable communities to pluralistically signal their support for and fund public goods together, for both altruistic (to support public goods in and of itself) and instrumental (to support goods in their own ecosystem and in turn provide funding for a broader set of open source software via round fees) reasons.
    
*   [Modular governance tooling](https://gnosisguild.mirror.xyz/OuhG5s2X5uSVBx1EK4tKPhnUc91Wh9YM0fwSnC8UNcg) like [Gnosis Guild](https://www.gnosisguild.org/) that helps funded projects fractally govern and sustain themselves.
    

Lunarpunk 🌕
------------

The rise of solarpunk as an aesthetic in Web3 has also faced criticism. This includes privacy advocates, [DarkFi](https://dark.fi/) developers, and former CoinDesk editor [Rachel-Rose O'Leary](https://www.coindesk.com/author/rachel-rose-oleary/), who presented her radical lunarpunk ideology in the article [**_Lunarpunk and the Dark Side of the Cycle_**](https://www.egirlcapital.com/writings/107533289).

> For solarpunk to succeed it must integrate the lunarpunk unconscious. The only hope for solarpunk is to go dark. —Lunarpunk and the Dark Side of the Cycle by Rachel-Rose O'Leary

[![]({{DOMAIN}}/editor/youtube/play.png)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BerscJiALiE)

O'Leary mentioned that solarpunk is a utopian future vision emphasizing decentralization and transparency, aiming to create a more just and equal world. She claimed that acknowledged solarpunk hackers are creating transparent infrastructures for funding public goods ([although "transparency" is not a word commonly used in solarpunk public goods communities](https://www.coindesk.com/layer2/2022/09/20/what-are-solarpunk-and-lunarpunk-anyway/)). However, she believes that in the pursuit of transparent and open systems, solarpunk may overlook the protection of individuals and privacy rights. O'Leary criticizes the transparency of many blockchain projects and DAOs, stating that "[if DAOs really want to do something radical to bring this to the next stage and not just be subsumed by the global order, they must be anonymous](https://diffractionscollective.org/zero-knowledge-during-the-dark-lunar-cycle-w-rachel-rose-oleary/)". Additionally, transparent voting is closer to representative democracy, as knowing the voting outcome in advance can influence voting behavior, leading to unconscious imitation and a rapid concentration of votes on a single proposal, known as the "Shelling point". She believes that solarpunk is overly optimistic and may lack preparedness in times of adversity. In a transparent system, users become exposed, and if the external environment becomes hostile, vulnerabilities increase. The antifragility of the system and network is positively correlated with the empowerment of users.

The emergence of lunarpunk represents an opposition and complement to solarpunk, carrying forward the cypherpunk spirit into the blockchain era, closely tied to anarchism and individualism. Lunarpunk strives to break free from state control and surveillance, emphasizing the importance of personal privacy, data protection, user empowerment, and the ability to resist potential oppression. It seeks to enhance community security and freedom by building privacy-enhancing tools, thereby strengthening the antifragility of cryptocurrencies. Lunarpunk fights against surveillance capitalism, with privacy and anonymity as its weapons in guerrilla warfare against surveillance and monopolies. They are both means to achieve this goal and catalysts for the decentralization process.

Compared to solarpunk, lunarpunk adopts a more zero-sum mindset, employing more conservative and defensive strategies, always maintaining political awareness and skepticism, and being prepared to address conflicts. Lunarpunk anticipates an inevitable conflict between the crypto world and existing power structures and prepares for it. When regulatory bodies begin to restrict cryptocurrencies, they may be forced underground, forming an anonymous and decentralized democratic society. Solarpunk, on the other hand, may attempt to suppress this conflict, seeing it as a nightmare of the bear market.

> The crypto space has lost its original cypherpunk values, succumbing to state pressure by enforcing sanctions and/or implementing backdoors, so projects can survive. Privacy has become a taboo, which in current conditions often results in violent termination of development in the name of transparency and prevention of illicit activities. Crypto will split into two — RegFi, unusable and bolted down, and DarkFi, a truly free, decentralized and uncensored paradigm. That’s what we are trying to address, fight back, if you will, to retain the power to the minuteman, not serve individuals on a gold plate at states and mega corporations for fiat profit. —[Anonymous developers in DarkFi](https://cointelegraph.com/news/privacy-has-become-a-taboo-says-crypto-anarchist-project-darkfi)

The representative project of lunarpunk is [DarkFi](https://dark.fi/), founded by early Bitcoin developer [Amir Taaki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amir_Taaki). [DarkFi is a community and a movement that seeks to create systems for people to preserve fundamental human rights](https://liberlion.medium.com/darkfi-the-anonymous-blockchain-part-1-introduction-852dfd8e03ad), including the rights to privacy, freedom of speech, and the ability to communicate without intermediaries. It follows the principles of "[free software](https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html)" and envisions establishing a new economic and technological system in the "dark space" beyond the reach of nation-states, free from the constraints of existing national orders, which aligns with [Abdullah Öcalan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_%C3%96calan)'s political concept of democratic confederalism.

One of the key pillars of technology adopted by DarkFi is zk-SNARKs (Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge), which has played a significant role in cryptocurrencies like [Zcash](https://z.cash/) and [Monero](https://www.getmonero.org/). Zero-knowledge proofs allow for the confirmation of details without revealing private information. However, unlike the aforementioned examples, DarkFi not only creates an anonymous and secure encryption method but also provides language toolkits and development packages for anonymous engineering through smart contract development. This enables the establishment of a federated democratic space by constructing DAOs and DeFi applications.

> With DAOs and DeFi we can bring to life the democratic nation where multiple cultures, ethnicities and political formations coexist with a confederalist structure. DAOs + DeFi = Autonomous Political Formations —[**_The manifesto of DarkFi: The Coming Storm_**](https://dark.fi/manifesto.html)

Terrapunk 🌏
------------

Angel investor Jack Nasjaq released [**_The Terrapunk Manifesto: a Solarpunk alternative_**](https://progressforum.org/posts/FXkvzfTprgvpjJaTE/the-terrapunk-manifesto-a-solarpunk-alternative) in May 2022, introducing a new futuristic concept called **Terrapunk**, which embodies a sense of [technological optimism](https://x.com/nasjaq__/status/1298434129743273985?s=46&t=gXy_Abx9ejoZtPjPmCXrrw).

> to expand outward and create more Earths - more Terras - this is terrapunk. We do not cower, we build new worlds. We do not dismantle capitalism, we utilize it to create more resources than ever imagined. We are sovereign masters of our surroundings, and we create relentlessly. —[Jack Nasjaq](https://x.com/nasjaq__/status/1434693608473382915?s=20)

Nasjaq believes that solarpunk focuses too much on the harmonious coexistence of humans and nature, opposes growth and capitalism, and limits humanity to Earth, which leads to stagnation. Therefore, he proposes the terrapunk concept, which advocates exploring new worlds, harnessing human creative potential, and advancing continuously. Terrapunk emphasizes technological progress and human development, placing emphasis on "**terraforming**"—actively transforming the current Earth environment to reduce pollution, combat climate change, and envision planetary engineering, as depicted in science fiction works, that alter the surface conditions of celestial bodies to resemble Earth's climate, temperature, and ecology. Both ideologies share a focus on green and sustainable development.

The terrapunk spirit celebrates the pioneer, builder, and adventurer mentality, rather than collectivism. It leans towards utilizing and creating carbon markets and other free markets, rather than relying on centralized government decisions. Terrapunk supports the use of biohacking technologies like gene editing and longevity therapies to enhance and transform humans. It aspires to colonize space, master advanced energy technologies like nuclear fusion, and explore potentially habitable planets, with the ultimate goal of expanding human consciousness to experience and explore the entire universe.

![The similarities and differences between terrapunk and solarpunk.](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/015c150ce5a08fd176f5a14dc71b91b858bb604c64830ab86727d5b1dd2294b6.png)

The similarities and differences between terrapunk and solarpunk.

In the second episode of the Green Pill podcast series of Punk Concepts, [**_Terrapunk with Jack Nasjaq_**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VW48dClSYw), Nasjaq also discusses the relationship between terrapunk and other punk cultures. Cyberpunk, for instance, often portrays future societies as dark, corrupt, and dystopian, reflecting a pessimistic view of technological progress. In contrast, terrapunk takes a more idealistic and positive perspective on the development of human society. Steampunk explores a historical alternate world where steam power has advanced significantly, and terrapunk can be seen as the successor to steampunk, envisioning technological advancements in a more distant future. Both cypherpunk and lunarpunk prioritize privacy and individual sovereignty, which aligns to some extent with the individual heroism of terrapunk. However, Nasjaq believes that terrapunk presents a more comprehensive and grandiose set of ideas, emphasizing human expansion and exploration of the external world. Furthermore, podcast host Kevin Owocki mentions the alignment between Ethereum and terrapunk in terms of market economy and sustainable development concepts. The Ethereum community tends to support the principles of the book [**_Radical Markets_**](https://www.amazon.com/Radical-Markets-Uprooting-Capitalism-Democracy/dp/0691177503) and implements decentralized resource allocation.

From Marc Andreessen's [**_The Techno-Optimist Manifesto_**](https://a16z.com/the-techno-optimist-manifesto/) to Elon Musk's Mars colonization plan, Peter Thiel's daily hormone injections and pursuit of immortality, and Balaji Srinivasan's mantra of "[Immutable money, infinite frontier, eternal life](https://x.com/balajis/status/1273600573862895616?s=20)", we can see the influence of terrapunk. They all share the desire to "maximize human potential," although it may not be a goal shared by all of humanity.

Stellarpunk ✨
=============

Stellarpunk was proposed by lawyer and technology expert Puja Ohlhaver. She is a member of the [Getting Plurality Research Network](https://gettingplurality.org/) at Harvard University and has collaborated with Vitalik Buterin and Glen Weyl on the article [**_Decentralized Society: Finding Web3's Soul_**](https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4105763). In the Green Pill podcast episode 135 [**_Engineering a Stellarpunk Future with Puja Ohlhaver_**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opnkQVZrhAw), Puja Ohlhaver discusses what stellarpunk is.

In the podcast, Puja mentions that solarpunk represents sunlight, transparency, and public goods, symbolizing an optimistic belief in decentralized transparent financial and non-financial systems. However, its weakness lies in the lack of privacy. On the other hand, lunarpunk emphasizes individual privacy and anonymity as a resistance to surveillance, seeking to counter state monitoring by establishing private and anonymous systems. However, its weakness is the potential for covert collaboration. Therefore, Puja proposes stellarpunk as a combination of solarpunk and lunarpunk, leveraging their strengths and complementing each other. It focuses on establishing a decentralized and diverse society. Puja expresses that each of us comes from different groups, backgrounds, and values, and the stellarpunk society should be like the night sky, allowing the "light" (referring to individual preferences, viewpoints, etc.) of different individuals to remain distinct, accommodating a wide range of diverse and unique existences, rather than being dominated by the singular power of the sun or the moon.

![Stellar punk is plurality.](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/0d0cc935e40f797435222ebb29add300d490baf5df763d21ed8d9f84a4091689.png)

Stellar punk is plurality.

She uses the wave-particle duality of light as a metaphor to illustrate that we are both individuals and parts of a collective. Acknowledging the duality of both individual and collective aspects contributes to the establishment of a societal system that safeguards privacy while allowing information sharing. Puja also employs the analogy of a prism, where the collision of different viewpoints should not be seen as conflicts but rather be resolved through the prism, which refracts the singular light into a colorful spectrum, showcasing the plurality of society.

If the brightness didn't decrease inversely, the blinding light would fill the entire sky. If gravity didn't decrease inversely, stars would collapse onto each other. Drawing a parallel to the inverse square relationship between light intensity and distance, Puja emphasizes the concept of "correlation discounting" in quadratic voting. In quadratic voting, the cost of voting is equal to the square of the number of votes, requiring a higher marginal cost to express preferences and have a greater impact. This helps resist biases and interest-driven motives of particular groups, allowing us to see the true diversity beneath individual viewpoints. In the open and inclusive stellarpunk world, every star is deserving of its own shine.

![The brightness diminishes as the square of the distance.](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/cc5ae25c120e911d784fbcd71868a2724800e9e4200fb1ed8e93e9fde7f57868.png)

The brightness diminishes as the square of the distance.

[![]({{DOMAIN}}/editor/youtube/play.png)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTQNdUGIG58)

Hyperpunk +Σ
------------

Hyperpunk is an emerging concept proposed by [gami](https://gami.wtf/), a member of [Nouns DAO](https://nouns.wtf/), encompassing creators, artists, and writers. It primarily focuses on the realm of social collaboration, aiming to explore a more open, cooperative, and infinitely possible social paradigm. In essence, it seeks to [create hypercultures upon the hyperstructures of the hypercommons](https://twitter.com/0xigami/status/1681894328493555719?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1681894328493555719%7Ctwgr%5E12ae4c185a24b740e6f7d39138fef4c4719f85a6%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fembed.notion.co%2Fapi%2Fiframe%3Fapp%3D1url%3Dhttps3A2F2Fx.com2F0xigami2Fstatus2F16818943284935557193Fs3D20key%3D656ac74fac4fff346b811dca7919d483). Hyperpunk draws inspiration from the principles of the cypherpunk movement (decentralization, privacy, transparency) and extends these principles to advocate for a more comprehensive and inclusive vision for society, culture, and public infrastructure. Personally, I feel that while there is some overlap in vocabulary with solarpunk, hyperpunk emphasizes "positivity" while solarpunk places greater emphasis on "sustainability" and "regeneration.”

In Sep. 2023, gami released [**_The Hyperpunk Manifesto_**](https://hyperlabel.co/hyperpunk), which emphasizes "**Rejecting the zero-sum: our collective destiny**". It advocates for transcending limitations and zero-sum thinking, striving for a paradigm of "**positive-sum**" (represented by the [**+Σ**](https://x.com/0xigami/status/1705029076518678854?s=20) symbol) that promotes cooperative gameplay, maximizes public interest and value, and achieves a "win-win" effect. This, in turn, propels human society towards a more open, cooperative, and progressive direction.

![The Hyperpunk Manifesto](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/ed6aa5d8f3a82e569007c0fd2cbc0db368c97f02bfcdcda13ebd20fb4c97920d.png)

The Hyperpunk Manifesto

**Hypercommons Advocacy**: Hyperpunks advocate for the communal ownership, access, and stewardship of all public goods and luxuries, pushing beyond traditional concepts of public and private property to a new paradigm of shared abundance. In June 2023, gami first introduced the concept of hypercommons in the article [**_Hypercommons: A Manifesto for a Positive-Sum World_**](https://hyperlabel.co/hypercommons). It describes hypercommons as an open, collaborative, and shared digital space co-created and maintained by decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) based on blockchain token economies, where every member can participate in collaboration, democratic decision-making, and the collective creation of public digital assets in pursuit of the common good and shared values.

**Hyperstructure Engagement**: Hyperpunk actively engages in and contributes to the development of decentralized, transparent, and participatory infrastructures, whether in the digital, material, or social realms. The most representative example is the concept of "[**hyperstructures**](https://jacob.energy/hyperstructures.html)" proposed by [jacob](https://jacob.energy/), co-founder of [Zora](https://zora.co/). Hyperstructures refer to on-chain protocols that operate without fees, maintenance requirements, or intermediaries and can serve as public infrastructures for the common good. For instance, [Uniswap is often regarded as a typical hyperstructure](https://x.com/js_horne/status/1487285073732845571?s=20)—a free, unstoppable protocol (as long as Ethereum is running) that requires no permission to use (although [the Uniswap Labs-operated front-end website charges a 0.15% transaction fee for specific assets](https://www.coindesk.com/business/2023/10/16/uniswap-labs-to-charge-015-fee-on-crypto-swaps-involving-eth-usdc-other-tokens/) and [blocks addresses associated with Tornado Cash or stolen funds](https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2022/08/22/popular-uniswap-frontend-blocks-over-250-crypto-addresses-related-to-defi-crimes/), the direct use of the Uniswap smart contract remains free and permissionless). Hyperstructures support ecosystem expansion through built-in incentive mechanisms. They are open, censorship-resistant, and anyone can build on top of them. Hyperstructures create an environment of positive-sum games, allowing different participants to share infrastructure and mutually benefit.

**Hyperculture Participation**: Hyperpunk emphasizes the creation and promotion of vibrant, globally connected subcultures, advocating for open-source principles, collective creativity, and cultural exchange. Another member of Nouns DAO and founder of Gnars DAO, [LGHT](https://twitter.com/0xlght), has written a series of articles on on-chain hyperculture, introducing hyperculture from four dimensions: [**The Context-Fermentation Window**](https://lght.mirror.xyz/pTG74wlS43LGBzP7ZYCBTGEcWJ9uZdC3lUa2JJUXtQA), [**Organizing Decentralized Data**](https://lght.mirror.xyz/Av_4Vx1U9jDYgDzdrfWQD3FKuXUbMpQ9h5n-KlFz3KQ), [**Plausible Adoption Funnels for Global Integration**](https://lght.mirror.xyz/k7DG6-EmElQky0qx-O3C_5Iln3iXf6yfqdq77tOz8oA), and [**Catch and Release**](https://lght.mirror.xyz/hBzMrVRsS9bPfhOvIwMXbAwvgJ257tDRUWI8gtzB1Ao). Blockchain provides the foundation for sourcing and verifying content, making it possible to construct cultures that exist permanently and without intermediaries. The key characteristics of on-chain hyperculture are openness, autonomy, and programmability, along with designable incentive structures.

Hyperculture often features representative "memetic icons," such as the red glasses ⌐◨-◨ of Nouns DAO, the blue orb ❍ of Zora, and the viral avatars of Opepen, which serve as symbols and sources of identification for hyperculture. The core spirit of hyperculture is openness, collaboration, and innovation. For example, Nouns DAO allows everyone to participate in proposals and voting to collectively decide how to use the funds in the treasury to support cultural activities. Zora encourages diverse forms of creation by establishing a decentralized and diverse creative platform that empowers artists to express themselves freely. [Opepen](https://opepen.art/) initiates large-scale artistic collaborations with artists and community participants to create influential digital art and expand the reach of hyperculture. These projects demonstrate how blockchain technology can facilitate more free and widespread cultural exchanges within hyperculture.

From an incentive mechanism perspective, hyperculture exists between hyperstructures and hypercommons, drawing motivation and support from both. Together, they form the **Hyperstack**—the foundation of hyperpunk. Hyperstructures provide the technological infrastructure and organizational models for hyperculture to build upon the blockchain, while hypercommons provide value orientation and social responsibility, serving the greater public interest. Hyperculture itself provides the cultural core, forming consensus and identification. To truly realize the vision of hyperpunk and strive for a more abundant, shared, and interconnected world, hyperculture needs to mobilize both the technological resources and efficiency advantages provided by hyperstructures and the public resources and social influence gathered by hypercommons.

![The Hyperstack of decentralization.](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/39b5336899c33aee6c11182d9f2d98b780146fed029ccc545ee458b1187ed3e2.png)

The Hyperstack of decentralization.

Conclusion
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From the cypherpunk movement which emphasis on "privacy" giving birth to Bitcoin, to the various punk cultures in the crypto world today: solarpunk emphasizing "regeneration", lunarpunk returning to "privacy", terrapunk emphasizing "exploration", stellarpunk emphasizing "plurality", and hyperpunk emphasizing "positive-sum"... What remains constant is that these punk cultures uphold the open, free, and innovative spirit of cypherpunk. They bring about intellectual collisions and enrich the paths of technological realization in the crypto world, making it a boundless digital universe, much like Ethereum being an "infinite garden," embracing all things and thriving perpetually.

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*Originally published on [0xLuo](https://paragraph.com/@luochang/are-you-punk-yet-punk-cultures-in-the-crypto-world)*
