At a talk not to long ago with Sean Thielen and Sirsu, Sirsu dropped the take that Normie was a derogatory term. And I tend to agree, but I think its more than that. I believe there needs to be a fundamental shift in how not only we create products, but how we decide to invite people into using those products. The way that we have integrated technology into our lives has radically shifted the image of "who" is a technologist. What used to feel like a niche, a divide, a place that people went to a mountain or secluded place to use the newest things and then bring them back to the people are over. We no longer have to wait for others to give us fire, anyone can make it.

BURNT

@0xBurnt

remember ai agents lmaoooooooo

1,149

11:56 AM • Mar 4, 2025

In this current cycle, a majority of themes have around AI, meme coins, and the lack of taste in and around the tech space. But there has been fatigue with the general public. People were excited for a period and a portion were skeptical. The anointed tech superiors came shouting from the mountain tops, but have not produced a significant change. More has come from the open source movements and small teams than the VC funded behemoths. On top of that predatory behavior has run rampant, giving skewed perspectives on what you can do with these tools. Yet even with that, more people are engaging with the tech on more varied levels than ever before.

VCs Congratulating Themselves 👏👏👏

@VCBrags

Person in tech that has “taste” starter pack

VCs Congratulating Themselves 👏👏👏

@VCBrags

People in tech throwing around "taste" like they’re a Creative Director at Hermès

8,153

12:45 PM • Dec 22, 2024

But why does this issue of two sides still exist? That of the technologists and "normies". We see constant debates on VC's and engineers needing humanities, and needing to dumb things down for the basic consumer, but I think there is something fundamentally overlooked from this bifurcation. What's overlooked is acknowledging that technology, in its current form, is part of everyday life. And that is to say, we need to stop making products with this idea that not only do we need to obscure the products, but that we should be meeting consumers at a level of understanding that parts of our culture is technology engrained. There is no normie, they know how to post, use capcut to edit a video, make a generation on midjourney, and play pokemon go. Most who consider themselves technologist, might be trendsetters. Emergent technology is still important, but when anyone with a cell phone can trade meme coins, swap a token, play with a AR skin, we are belittling our audience and it in turn causes the products, the designs, to fall flat. To be distant. To not be grounded in reality.

mary.hl

@howdymerry

it is 9am, the weather is slightly above freezing, and there is a line down the block for the @chippedsocial pop up in nyc

384

10:22 AM • Feb 4, 2025

The shift needed is cultivating a more human approach with technology. It's no longer only about building a magical box that will blow minds. Chipped is a brand that is merging a fashionable product like nails, and infusing tech into it. I watched as many people lined up to go to Winny's pop up during fashion week, a tech company, maybe better to call it a culture company. She is leading ahead with intertwining design, tech, culture, but not at any point made treated its community as incapable users who are not capable of figuring things out. The culture is different. Chipped gets it.

Another is Receipts. Receipts is focused on giving users new and fun ways to utilize their fitness data, to the benefit that it helps them not only connect with friends, but possibly use that to get products that further aid in their fitness pursuits. They understand whats missing not just in fitness apps, but in fitness as whole. Its only because they are embedded in the culture. Understanding motivations, how to inspire. Approaching from a human stand point on how the tool could be useful, not to be shameful, but to motivate. And the best part of that is doing it with your community and friends. But they aren't coming down from olympia declaring that we have solved how to make your running more productive. Lets overly optimize your fitness to your advantage.

The generational divide has flattened. Technology used to separate generations. Radio, TV, computers, Smart Phones. Now, as the internet has evolved, it's collapsed into one space where everything exists, both digital and physical. There are only internet eras or epochs imo. Things trickle down much faster than they did before.

As a creative technologist, this influences my approach to design and with projects I want to make. I still have an affinity for cyberpunk future yet fully realized, but the world is now filled with spectacular technology. What was impossible 10-15 years ago is much more achievable with AI assists and more software tools at your disposal. In theory, you could use replit to build a whole website or app, deploy it and get into products all from an Ipad. I believe we are only on the precipice of new products, new ways of living, and ways that culture will grow from its roots.

I▲N CURTIS

@XRarchitect

Created this game demo over the weekend without writing a single line of code! Built via bolt (Claude Sonnet 3.7) and powered by R3f + three.js

Try it yourself - dodge enemies with real-time physics. Here's how I created the game + a cloneable character controller project

1/7

2,966

11:04 AM • Mar 4, 2025

My call for those in the tech space: go out and engage with the rest of the world. Join communities with interests that aren't just constantly focused on productive apps that can generate insane revenue. You aren't building anything relevant because you assume too much without actual context. They won't be as impressed if you're creating from an elevated position without consideration. Conversely, it's an ideal time for people to create products and design using previously inaccessible technology. Anything from smart wearables, applications, etc. Its pretty wide open.

We need to treat everyone as technologists. This mindset allows us to develop more human approaches and get inspired by possibilities as we acknowledge how we're all evolving. Technology is all around us. There is no normie. It no longer exists. There are just different types of people with different preferences interfacing with technology to connect with the things they care about. Considering this approach would make newer innovations that matter.

Don't forget to subscribe, collect, and share Seeder.

-> ~..logging off..

Web 2 ---> Web 3 jump

If you've read the most recent post, you may have noticed I have opted out and chosen to move to Paragraph for the newsletter. I had many reasons for this, but the most important one is that I wanted to lean deeper into the emergent tech side of why platforms like this should become the new norm.

Within all of my posts are explorations into how we leverage these creative tools to help express, connect, and fund ourselves in the endeavors of our choosing. I think Paragraph is a great primitive for this, leveraging collectability, new monetization primitives, flywheel-style incentive models, and just a more robust newsletter experience.

YK aka CS Dojo 📺🐦

@ykdojo

How to become an opportunity magnet:

build in public, build a solid online presence, and build a kickass personal network.

267

8:52 PM • Apr 23, 2024

So much of online sharing is simply a regurgitation of information, but few who share are actually using the tools they tout. If there is anything I have learned from being in Web3, it is that the rewards are great when you just try stuff out. And the "build in public" rhetoric resonates with me greatly. Not only do I want to showcase amazing creative tech, design, and culture, but also show them in applied fashion, through my own experiences. Within my own experiments. All while I build my own practice with Caten8ted.

I originally was sending out the first couple of posts every week on Thursday, but I found that the buildup of collecting things for a week give cause to delay and I would procrastinate. The speed of the internet is much faster, but our brains have been cooked by this as well. If we don't keep aware of our own pace, we also move on from our own decent ideas. And in that, consistency leads to better results. So the plan moving forward is to post as much as possible, daily even if I can.

But on to the point of this post.

1. AI Town project supports running llama3 locally

   

   AI games that use all AI, but running it locally is where things get interesting. a16z project that now lets you do all this locally with new models like llama3 that just released.

2. Creative Venture Studio Garden X launches Eternal Garden on Crowdmuse

   

   Garden X launches the capsule for their new project, Eternal Garden. Spanning multiple mediums and media types by their core creative team, the book is the physical artifact of the ongoing capsule. The drop is happening right now on Crowdmuse, a web3 ecommerce platform.

3. Cosign.club Adds New Feature To Upload Links for Tracks.

cosine.club helps you discover new tracks that are similar to whatever artist you are into leveraging ML(machine learning). Now they have added a link to upload your own tracks to build the library. Also secretly lets you listen to tracks on youtube without ads if you're smart.

4. 0xca0a writes A Hover Code Example In react-three-fiber

0xca0a took someones framer example and write it in react-three-fiber. Just for the vibes, really cool working example of react-three-fiber capabilities, worth jacking if you are looking for some cool interactivity on a webpage.

Don't forget to subscribe, collect, and share Seeder.

-> ~..logging off..

On Telegram, the general channel for the token $CRASH often echoes the phrases like the ones used above. Extremely active and alive, the chat comes together, feeding kthe vibes of this so- called "meme coin." $CRASH functions more like an art project than a speculative frenzy, characterized by its high-quality designs for ads, authentic partnerships, and a fervently engaged community. The coordination within this project is unparalleled, reflecting a broader shift in how we perceive meme tokens—not merely as trivial pursuits but as potentially groundbreaking cultural phenomena. This isn’t an isolated event by any means, and it seems like more is brewing within the narrative of these valueless “shitcoin" projects.

Memes have long been a potent, albeit untapped, energy source on the internet, capable of shifting perspectives, sparking conversation, and both forging and fracturing connections. Historically, media outlets have harnessed memes to sway public opinion, transforming them into powerful artifacts of cultural expression. With the advent of social media, the transformation of memes from mere amusement to valuable assets has accelerated, with prominent accounts turning a profit from meme engagement.

Social media was one of the first platforms to harness and exchange memes, transforming them from mere raw forms to sources of value accrual. Many prominent accounts have, in some shape or form, churned out a profit from the memes they share. Yet, our meme foundries have been running at full capacity, with every meme page attempting to capture some essence of our culture. We click, follow, and passively ingest these memes through our eyes and ears, sharing what resonates with us—or what doesn’t. But what if this essence found a new conduit?

What if it opened up new channels of communication, engagement, and ways to proliferate the information that surrounds us?

NFTs initially ushered in a wave of innovation, but this was only the beginning. We witnessed communities emerge and flourish, with value being imbued into IPFS links and some on chain. Trading centered around brand identity and cultural proliferation, introducing new means of coordination, status, and gating that differentiated insiders from outsiders. However, this was only the beginning. As the crypto market crashed (around 2022-2023) and necessitated a new wave of growth, ideas evolved from ERC-721s and began extending to ERC-20s. In all fairness, Dogecoin was one of the pioneers, having been used as a form of payment through the tipping system on Reddit. And communities like $FWB were also early adopters, proposing that the token, the community, the identity, and value, could all be linked.

There’s nothing wrong with this development; if anything, it has unlocked new opportunities for collaboration, novel methods of speculation, and ways for people to directly benefit from the culture they are part of.

Post-2023, with SOL as a catalyst, we are witnessing a new kind of engagement layer take shape, one that showcases the power of decentralized coordination—a stark contrast to conventional corporate strategies. $CRASH exemplifies this shift, operating with a token that lacks inherent value but is bolstered by a strong narrative and cohesive branding.

We start with a token with no inherent value (most don’t), and at its center, a strong narrative that permeates seamless branding materials. But surely you are wondering how the value is created?

Remember, memes largely go unharnessed and move too quickly to be captured in their raw essence. In the case of $CRASH, what if you take those brand materials, make them available to your public, and use the creation of memes as a method to distribute and increase their value? Propagate the meme (nouns anyone?)

Meme.market has truly taken this concept and catapulted it into the spotlight, making the purchasing process an integral part of your engagement. Crash has achieved this by allowing people to use the brand materials to create and distribute items. If their creations are selected, they receive a share of the value, which is even more beneficial when the token's value increases. Furthermore, we see initiatives like tipping with $DEGEN and $Enjoy, which distribute rewards based on participation. It might seem like a lot, but imagine using this approach for larger brand exercises, or integrating it into your marketing department.

Traditional marketing departments struggle to keep pace with collectives that make decisions asynchronously. This isn’t to say it’s the ultimate solution, but I often wonder when observing marketing initiatives that feel disconnected from the communities they aim to engage, whether this doesn't present a real alternative. It has significantly aided $CRASH and could similarly benefit "valueless" blockchains, small businesses, production studios, and more.

So, I think we'll see more Scene Coins (though I prefer the term Culture Coins) emerge, as more people begin to experiment beyond just this moment in the meta. Just like NFTs, which aren’t going away anytime soon, a new layer and stack for creative development are just being realized as the internet continues to evolve.

And to be clear, this isn’t some sort of declaration. For the most part, I've refrained from delving too deeply into the economics of things; I’m not an economist by any means. However, the intertwining of these concepts has me thinking about the role culture and economics will play in the developing future.

I personally want to contribute to building a more sustainable world where these opportunities lead to robust new support systems, opportunities for people to benefit from their involvement, and the creation of new worlds where mutual benefit could actually become a reality. Utopian in design, but perhaps achievable with the right technological support.

If you want to see references I used, things I am reading, looking at, etc, check out the are.na channel here.