Owning a social media account right now is a little like selling your soul. Except it’s not quite a Faustian Bargain. There’s no kicker, magic or superpowers in return. Instead, you just give up your data, your content, and by extension a part of your identity.Why You Don’t Own Your IdentityIf X or Facebook wants to close you down, they can. And there’s nothing you can do about it. Those years spent racking up followers or sharing precious memories can disappear in a flash.There are big brain...

Owning a social media account right now is a little like selling your soul. Except it’s not quite a Faustian Bargain. There’s no kicker, magic or superpowers in return. Instead, you just give up your data, your content, and by extension a part of your identity.Why You Don’t Own Your IdentityIf X or Facebook wants to close you down, they can. And there’s nothing you can do about it. Those years spent racking up followers or sharing precious memories can disappear in a flash.There are big brain...

I’ll start with the bad news: if you were hoping for FUD, this isn’t it. Let’s discuss the role of society’s curators and how these Quiet Elves of Order actually play a fundamental role in our understanding of the world. Especially as we seem so talented at continually refining our rate of information production.The Truth is Out ThereI think of Reddit as an aggregator for ideas. Concepts are continuously pitched to groups of people and are given the opportunity to sink or swim. One particular...

I’ll start with the bad news: if you were hoping for FUD, this isn’t it. Let’s discuss the role of society’s curators and how these Quiet Elves of Order actually play a fundamental role in our understanding of the world. Especially as we seem so talented at continually refining our rate of information production.The Truth is Out ThereI think of Reddit as an aggregator for ideas. Concepts are continuously pitched to groups of people and are given the opportunity to sink or swim. One particular...

What’s Left When Everything Is Commoditized?As a simple mind experiment, let’s plug in our brains and visualize an extreme case of AI disruption. In this not-so-impossible future, everything we know today is getting commoditized, reduced to fixed computation costs. This is already happening with:Repetitive tasks (data entry, administrative)Well-documented tasks (monthly reports, taxes)Routine software development (websites, single-page applications, data analysis)Early design work (product, v...

What’s Left When Everything Is Commoditized?As a simple mind experiment, let’s plug in our brains and visualize an extreme case of AI disruption. In this not-so-impossible future, everything we know today is getting commoditized, reduced to fixed computation costs. This is already happening with:Repetitive tasks (data entry, administrative)Well-documented tasks (monthly reports, taxes)Routine software development (websites, single-page applications, data analysis)Early design work (product, v...

The 2016 Brexit referendum was a sobering experience in governance for anyone to the right of the Atlantic. To many younger voters, ticking ‘Remain’ felt like a no-brainer, driven by media sentiment of Euro unity - don’t upset the status quo, etc. So much so that the official decision to leave the EU was felt with shockwaves by many. But amidst the analysis and voting trends, a clear correlation emerged between those who chose ‘Leave’ and higher age. This was a segment of the population with ...

The 2016 Brexit referendum was a sobering experience in governance for anyone to the right of the Atlantic. To many younger voters, ticking ‘Remain’ felt like a no-brainer, driven by media sentiment of Euro unity - don’t upset the status quo, etc. So much so that the official decision to leave the EU was felt with shockwaves by many. But amidst the analysis and voting trends, a clear correlation emerged between those who chose ‘Leave’ and higher age. This was a segment of the population with ...

“The USD is backed by the full strength and might of the US military.”This line is repeated frequently in debates about Bitcoin or ‘sound’ money, so I want to take a moment to break down this carefully one-sided choice of words.What is “Backing”?In its simplest and most literal form, backing is something for which you can redeem a note. With gold-backed notes, if you add more backing, the unit of account becomes more valuable as you can exchange it for its backing, and if you remove some of t...

“The USD is backed by the full strength and might of the US military.”This line is repeated frequently in debates about Bitcoin or ‘sound’ money, so I want to take a moment to break down this carefully one-sided choice of words.What is “Backing”?In its simplest and most literal form, backing is something for which you can redeem a note. With gold-backed notes, if you add more backing, the unit of account becomes more valuable as you can exchange it for its backing, and if you remove some of t...

Are fair launches really that equal? And, if not, how can we improve them?(Fair) Launch CodesTo add context, here’s a quick primer on the concept. These are token distribution models which are designed to favor no individual or group. There are no founders’ allocations, seed round, or ICO that provides preferential coin or token access. Yearn.Finance is a prime example. Zero $YFI was allocated to presales or ICOs, or even the founder. Early distribution was primarily shared out between the fi...

Are fair launches really that equal? And, if not, how can we improve them?(Fair) Launch CodesTo add context, here’s a quick primer on the concept. These are token distribution models which are designed to favor no individual or group. There are no founders’ allocations, seed round, or ICO that provides preferential coin or token access. Yearn.Finance is a prime example. Zero $YFI was allocated to presales or ICOs, or even the founder. Early distribution was primarily shared out between the fi...

I was recently given the choice between two pills. One green and glowing. The other candy pink. I chose the side of science in the Barbenheimer saga. Some three hours later, I left the screening with a new appreciation for the depths of societal conditioning to which we’re exposed. And feeling more bullish than ever on Web3 and identity ownership.The PanopticonIn the 18th Century, social theorist Jeremy Bentham developed the idea of a panopticon to illustrate totalitarianism. Derived from the...

I was recently given the choice between two pills. One green and glowing. The other candy pink. I chose the side of science in the Barbenheimer saga. Some three hours later, I left the screening with a new appreciation for the depths of societal conditioning to which we’re exposed. And feeling more bullish than ever on Web3 and identity ownership.The PanopticonIn the 18th Century, social theorist Jeremy Bentham developed the idea of a panopticon to illustrate totalitarianism. Derived from the...

Whether it’s recognizing hubris, understanding responsibility, or not eating bugs, there’s a lesson in Disney’s The Lion King for all of us. Just as Simba opted for exile after being ousted from Pride Rock, Meta has seemingly turned its back on innovation.Hanging by a…Threads feels like a territorial move that’s been carefully framed as a casual experiment through its stealthy launch. But if it fails, which is very possible, it isn’t all no worries for Meta. It’s another crashing setback in a...

Whether it’s recognizing hubris, understanding responsibility, or not eating bugs, there’s a lesson in Disney’s The Lion King for all of us. Just as Simba opted for exile after being ousted from Pride Rock, Meta has seemingly turned its back on innovation.Hanging by a…Threads feels like a territorial move that’s been carefully framed as a casual experiment through its stealthy launch. But if it fails, which is very possible, it isn’t all no worries for Meta. It’s another crashing setback in a...

I remember at university researching the teachers before enrolling in classes and being surprised by how useless some of their published research was, especially in the Arts. Titles that almost seemed parody… “An Investigation of Recurring Avian Symbology in Magical Realism in the Mid 20th Century”, and so on. How could this possibly be worth someone’s time to research and write, when I can’t even think of a situation where it would be worth reading? Unfortunately, I think the answer is that ...

I remember at university researching the teachers before enrolling in classes and being surprised by how useless some of their published research was, especially in the Arts. Titles that almost seemed parody… “An Investigation of Recurring Avian Symbology in Magical Realism in the Mid 20th Century”, and so on. How could this possibly be worth someone’s time to research and write, when I can’t even think of a situation where it would be worth reading? Unfortunately, I think the answer is that ...

Freedom and privacy advocates have been long aware of the growing state influence over news organizations and social media. It wasn’t until Covid that the issue caught the attention of a significant portion of the world population. The once-moderate “extremes” were silenced, along with experts spreading “mal-information”, as determined by the intent, not content. But then there was pushback. Trust in public institutions plummeted, Elon purchased Twitter, promising increased transparency and a...

Freedom and privacy advocates have been long aware of the growing state influence over news organizations and social media. It wasn’t until Covid that the issue caught the attention of a significant portion of the world population. The once-moderate “extremes” were silenced, along with experts spreading “mal-information”, as determined by the intent, not content. But then there was pushback. Trust in public institutions plummeted, Elon purchased Twitter, promising increased transparency and a...

The NFT space, in its primary form as an art marketplace, is doomed. History has already shown why. The advent of the printing press skewed the value of creativity. Visual art could proliferate (to be commoditized) and an ever-widening price gulf was created between originality and consumables. The recent Azuki saga exposed this. Churn out replicas of a collection of replicas and a floor price vaporizes. It doesn’t matter if it was an honest misjudgement, cash grab, or whatever else - it simp...

The NFT space, in its primary form as an art marketplace, is doomed. History has already shown why. The advent of the printing press skewed the value of creativity. Visual art could proliferate (to be commoditized) and an ever-widening price gulf was created between originality and consumables. The recent Azuki saga exposed this. Churn out replicas of a collection of replicas and a floor price vaporizes. It doesn’t matter if it was an honest misjudgement, cash grab, or whatever else - it simp...

The recent news of ancient crypto wallets coming alive got me thinking about those early days in Bitcoin’s existence. After some time, an alternative reality formed in my imagination.Welcome to Satoshi-verseSatoshi lives and is having a whale of a time. He made a fair alternative currency that seems to resonate with people. It moons. Celebrity-dom ensues. Eventually, fame takes its tragic toll, and Satoshi’s knack for the high life finds him floating face down in a ₿-shaped pool.The Political...

The recent news of ancient crypto wallets coming alive got me thinking about those early days in Bitcoin’s existence. After some time, an alternative reality formed in my imagination.Welcome to Satoshi-verseSatoshi lives and is having a whale of a time. He made a fair alternative currency that seems to resonate with people. It moons. Celebrity-dom ensues. Eventually, fame takes its tragic toll, and Satoshi’s knack for the high life finds him floating face down in a ₿-shaped pool.The Political...