1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:04,120 Speaker 1: Most things don't need to live on the blockchain, most 2 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,120 Speaker 1: things don't need to be crypto based. But in a 3 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:11,000 Speaker 1: world where that technology provides real value to that organizing 4 00:00:11,039 --> 00:00:14,000 Speaker 1: structure that I think adao is a really great thing 5 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:17,360 Speaker 1: to explore in terms of how you can create fundamental 6 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:21,320 Speaker 1: transparency and sort of value cruel to people who participate 7 00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:26,720 Speaker 1: in that network. Welcome to How to Citizen with Baritune Day, 8 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:30,200 Speaker 1: a podcast that reimagine citizen as a verb, not a 9 00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:34,680 Speaker 1: legal status. This season is all about how we practice democracy, 10 00:00:34,880 --> 00:00:37,080 Speaker 1: what can we get rid of, what can we invent, 11 00:00:37,320 --> 00:00:39,839 Speaker 1: and how do we change the culture of democracy itself. 12 00:00:40,159 --> 00:00:42,960 Speaker 1: We're leaving the theoretical clouds and hitting the ground with 13 00:00:43,159 --> 00:00:47,000 Speaker 1: inspiring examples of people and institutions that are showing us 14 00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:57,560 Speaker 1: new ways to govern ourselves. Way back in the year 15 00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:01,720 Speaker 1: two twenty one, I tried to buy an original copy 16 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:08,600 Speaker 1: of the United States Constitution. Okay, me and thousands of 17 00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:12,160 Speaker 1: other people tried to buy the Constitution. I was part 18 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:16,000 Speaker 1: of this group called Constitution Doo. DOO stands for a 19 00:01:16,120 --> 00:01:20,000 Speaker 1: decentralized Autonomous Organization, and it was formed by a few 20 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:23,679 Speaker 1: dozen people who wanted to bid on the nation's founding document. 21 00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:28,160 Speaker 1: It was essentially a crowdfunding campaign where anyone who was 22 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:32,040 Speaker 1: interested could pledge cryptocurrency to the bid and by doing so, 23 00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:34,760 Speaker 1: have a say in what would happen with the document 24 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:39,440 Speaker 1: if we won. So very nerdy, but people got into it. 25 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:45,360 Speaker 1: Constitution Dow raised nearly fifty million dollars in a week. 26 00:01:46,319 --> 00:01:49,840 Speaker 1: We did get beat at the auction, and in hindsight 27 00:01:49,960 --> 00:01:52,440 Speaker 1: it was pretty obvious. You don't enter an auction with 28 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:56,200 Speaker 1: everybody knowing how much money you're willing to pledge. But 29 00:01:56,880 --> 00:01:59,760 Speaker 1: the energy around it was amazing and it was cool 30 00:01:59,840 --> 00:02:02,400 Speaker 1: to be a part of this flash mobby group purchase 31 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:09,119 Speaker 1: of a piece of US history. And it's not just 32 00:02:09,360 --> 00:02:13,480 Speaker 1: Constitution loving freaks who are into DAOs. They vary in use, 33 00:02:13,639 --> 00:02:17,440 Speaker 1: in membership, and in purpose, and to me, they give 34 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:19,880 Speaker 1: us a way to use digital tools to structure an 35 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:24,600 Speaker 1: essentially online cooperative model of self governance. The thing that 36 00:02:24,639 --> 00:02:28,080 Speaker 1: makes DAOs different from your typical company or nonprofit or 37 00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:34,880 Speaker 1: coop is that they're built on blockchain technology. Yes, blockchain. 38 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:37,600 Speaker 1: I'm sorry to have to say this word to you. 39 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:39,959 Speaker 1: I know you've heard of it and it probably makes 40 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:43,079 Speaker 1: you think of people coming to take your money. I'm 41 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:45,560 Speaker 1: not here to steal your money. There's no tokens, there's 42 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:48,800 Speaker 1: no FTX schemes, there's nothing like that. Okay, I don't 43 00:02:48,840 --> 00:02:52,880 Speaker 1: believe we need to financialize all human activity or speculate 44 00:02:52,919 --> 00:02:55,920 Speaker 1: on fake Internet money to feel like we're making progress. 45 00:02:56,960 --> 00:03:01,840 Speaker 1: But underneath the flashy headlines of fraud, there is a 46 00:03:01,919 --> 00:03:09,119 Speaker 1: technology worth understanding. Blockchain is a form of relatively secure 47 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:13,639 Speaker 1: and radically transparent storage. You can think of it as 48 00:03:13,680 --> 00:03:17,120 Speaker 1: a database that can be used to store financial transactions, 49 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:20,760 Speaker 1: but also transactions like votes or even moves in a 50 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:24,079 Speaker 1: video game. There's almost no limit to what you could 51 00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:27,120 Speaker 1: store in it, and when we think about citizening and 52 00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:30,480 Speaker 1: self governance, a DOW is an attempt to create this 53 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:34,640 Speaker 1: kind of human organizational layer on top of that blockchain 54 00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:40,200 Speaker 1: with some of the same principles. The blockchain creates transactional transparency, 55 00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:43,960 Speaker 1: and the participation of people through a DOW helps secure 56 00:03:44,040 --> 00:03:47,680 Speaker 1: and increased trust in the overall operation. The code itself 57 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:53,160 Speaker 1: doesn't make those things happen, but it can help ensure 58 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:58,040 Speaker 1: Collective self governing groups like neighborhood cooperatives aren't new, but 59 00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:02,360 Speaker 1: given how much time we're collect actively spending in technological spaces. 60 00:04:02,760 --> 00:04:06,280 Speaker 1: It's worth asking, can we design systems in the digital 61 00:04:06,320 --> 00:04:09,400 Speaker 1: world where we can truly practice collective decision making and 62 00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:12,560 Speaker 1: resource sharing better than what we've seen done in the 63 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:16,800 Speaker 1: physical world. Alex Jang has been asking this question for 64 00:04:16,839 --> 00:04:23,039 Speaker 1: a while. Alex is the mayor of Friends with Benefits now. 65 00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:26,360 Speaker 1: Friends with Benefits, or FWB for short, is a doubt 66 00:04:26,680 --> 00:04:31,360 Speaker 1: that's essentially an online club with thousands of members. Those 67 00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:34,680 Speaker 1: members decide what those benefits are and how to manage 68 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:39,640 Speaker 1: their collective financial resources. Basically, FWB is a chat room 69 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:43,479 Speaker 1: with a bank account. Think about a subreddit you're really 70 00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:46,240 Speaker 1: invested in, or an old Aowell chat room. Think of 71 00:04:46,279 --> 00:04:48,719 Speaker 1: those structures, but this time they've got a treasury and 72 00:04:48,839 --> 00:04:52,560 Speaker 1: some voting mechanisms attached. And with those new features, you 73 00:04:52,600 --> 00:04:56,640 Speaker 1: can do so many more things than just chat activities, 74 00:04:56,640 --> 00:05:01,880 Speaker 1: like funding projects, supporting artistic innovation, and organizing events and meetups. 75 00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:09,080 Speaker 1: The list goes on. Dows like FWB are a fascinating 76 00:05:09,120 --> 00:05:11,039 Speaker 1: place for us to learn some of the ways we 77 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:14,080 Speaker 1: might citizen in the future, and they can give us. 78 00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:16,799 Speaker 1: They give me a little hope that when it comes 79 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:21,440 Speaker 1: to our digital spaces, we can still define community for ourselves. 80 00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:28,200 Speaker 1: We don't have to subject ourselves to these manipulative attention 81 00:05:28,279 --> 00:05:32,960 Speaker 1: extraction platforms. Investing in online spaces doesn't have to mean 82 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:37,840 Speaker 1: divesting from our communities and our democracy. In fact, it 83 00:05:37,880 --> 00:05:41,160 Speaker 1: could mean the opposite. So I met up with Alex 84 00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:44,919 Speaker 1: over Zoom along with our virtual audience to learn how 85 00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:49,719 Speaker 1: we can upgrade our virtual citizening after the break, Alex 86 00:05:49,839 --> 00:05:52,719 Speaker 1: Jang on the benefits of doos and the potential of 87 00:05:52,800 --> 00:06:05,520 Speaker 1: creating digital spaces instead of being consumed by them. We're 88 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:08,440 Speaker 1: gonna be talking about web three and dows today, and 89 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:11,960 Speaker 1: just very briefly, web threes, like the allegedly new version 90 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:14,960 Speaker 1: of the Internet which has users not just being users 91 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:17,000 Speaker 1: but also owners, are the platforms that we are a 92 00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:20,559 Speaker 1: part of. Alex Jang is an advocate for how Web 93 00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:24,359 Speaker 1: three technology can help propel culture and large scale human 94 00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:29,160 Speaker 1: coordination forward. He's the de facto mayor at Friends with Benefits, 95 00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:33,159 Speaker 1: a crypto enabled cultural membership and community cited by The 96 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:35,559 Speaker 1: New York Times as one of the most interesting uses 97 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:38,440 Speaker 1: of doos right now. I don't know if the time's 98 00:06:38,440 --> 00:06:41,000 Speaker 1: meant to rhyme like that. Formerly, he was the creative 99 00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:44,280 Speaker 1: director and president of Summit Series a global community and 100 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:48,479 Speaker 1: evinced company, which is where Alex and I met. Alex, 101 00:06:48,520 --> 00:06:51,000 Speaker 1: Welcome to how the citizen. What's up? Super happy to 102 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:52,560 Speaker 1: be here and good to see you. It's good to 103 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:54,640 Speaker 1: see you too, it's been a while. I want to 104 00:06:54,680 --> 00:06:57,000 Speaker 1: get your perspective on the big picture before we dive 105 00:06:57,040 --> 00:07:01,080 Speaker 1: into the world of FWB and possible to democracy enhancing 106 00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:04,840 Speaker 1: skills that we might gain through DOO activities. But by 107 00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:08,520 Speaker 1: some estimates there are about ten thousand dows. I want 108 00:07:08,560 --> 00:07:12,240 Speaker 1: to know how you think this structure of ADAO compares 109 00:07:12,280 --> 00:07:16,400 Speaker 1: to a traditional hierarchical company or to a representative democracy 110 00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:20,960 Speaker 1: whereas citizens slash members, we elect decision makers to determine 111 00:07:21,320 --> 00:07:24,400 Speaker 1: our laws and our spending and even what's allowed in 112 00:07:24,480 --> 00:07:27,640 Speaker 1: terms of our actions. What's the DAO structure offer that's 113 00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:31,320 Speaker 1: different from what these other structures were more familiar with offer. Yeah, 114 00:07:31,320 --> 00:07:33,600 Speaker 1: that's a great question. First off, thanks for having me. 115 00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:37,920 Speaker 1: Love to talk everything democracy and in between. And incredible 116 00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:40,360 Speaker 1: to see this community that you've built here. It's really 117 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:43,160 Speaker 1: really fun. Yeah. I think to sort of first take 118 00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:46,760 Speaker 1: a step back and like demist defy dows decentralized autonomous organizations, 119 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:48,160 Speaker 1: because I think there can be a lot of sort 120 00:07:48,160 --> 00:07:51,040 Speaker 1: of baggage and different things attached to it, which really 121 00:07:51,760 --> 00:07:56,520 Speaker 1: is an organization that has assets that live on the blockchain. 122 00:07:56,600 --> 00:07:58,920 Speaker 1: So that is my first sort of clarification point, as 123 00:07:58,960 --> 00:08:01,520 Speaker 1: you cannot be a DOO don't interact with crypto or 124 00:08:01,560 --> 00:08:06,000 Speaker 1: the blockchain. It is fundamentally attached to how an organization 125 00:08:06,560 --> 00:08:11,000 Speaker 1: holds in custodies its assets, which are primarily crypto based assets. 126 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:14,280 Speaker 1: And then from there a DAW can be structured as 127 00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:16,880 Speaker 1: centrally or decentrally as possible. I call it sort of 128 00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:20,360 Speaker 1: a spectrum of decentralization, or other writers call it, you know, 129 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:24,400 Speaker 1: being progressively decentralized, no different than you can choose to 130 00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:27,520 Speaker 1: run your LLC or your c corp any way you want. 131 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:32,000 Speaker 1: I've advised and supported many different DAOs that are completely 132 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:36,080 Speaker 1: flat decentralized and bottoms up governed all the way to 133 00:08:36,160 --> 00:08:38,560 Speaker 1: ones that look a little bit more in the middle. 134 00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:41,319 Speaker 1: I would say, how f TOBB is where we operate 135 00:08:41,360 --> 00:08:44,600 Speaker 1: as a representative democracy as opposed to a direct democracy. 136 00:08:44,920 --> 00:08:47,240 Speaker 1: And then you have those that are very tightly knit, 137 00:08:47,320 --> 00:08:50,840 Speaker 1: tightly coordinated, centralized leaders, which are DAWs of four people 138 00:08:50,880 --> 00:08:53,640 Speaker 1: and they decide which art to buy and collect and sell, 139 00:08:53,960 --> 00:08:57,600 Speaker 1: and that isn't, as say, flatly governed by its users. 140 00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:00,360 Speaker 1: So I would offer that there is not one fits 141 00:09:00,360 --> 00:09:03,840 Speaker 1: all DOW and dows are can contain a spectrum of 142 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:08,680 Speaker 1: centralization or decentralization. But fundamentally, why DOW is a question 143 00:09:08,720 --> 00:09:10,560 Speaker 1: many people should be asking because even hearing that there's 144 00:09:10,559 --> 00:09:12,920 Speaker 1: ten thousand of them is kind of frightening because I 145 00:09:12,960 --> 00:09:15,320 Speaker 1: believe many of them shouldn't be a DOO. But a 146 00:09:15,400 --> 00:09:18,560 Speaker 1: DOO should only exist, in my opinion, if one you 147 00:09:18,600 --> 00:09:23,800 Speaker 1: have a cryptocurrency based sort of organization or reason for 148 00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:29,280 Speaker 1: existence and to the need to decide how to allocate 149 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:33,560 Speaker 1: those resources should be governed via on chain decision making, 150 00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:38,120 Speaker 1: voting and governance. And so, really, where doos become exciting 151 00:09:38,280 --> 00:09:41,040 Speaker 1: to me as I look across five years, ten years 152 00:09:41,559 --> 00:09:45,200 Speaker 1: as the cryptocurrency industry continues to evolve and mature, Is 153 00:09:45,240 --> 00:09:48,960 Speaker 1: that doos feel like a really interesting organizational structure framework 154 00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:55,640 Speaker 1: for Internet based communities that leverage cryptocurrency as ways to trade, 155 00:09:55,760 --> 00:10:00,280 Speaker 1: exchange and create value for its users trade exchange, change 156 00:10:00,320 --> 00:10:04,000 Speaker 1: and create value. So one, thank you for not telling 157 00:10:04,040 --> 00:10:06,840 Speaker 1: everyone to go start a doubt. I just appreciate the 158 00:10:06,880 --> 00:10:10,360 Speaker 1: non boosterism of that maybe right for you, maybe not 159 00:10:10,480 --> 00:10:15,480 Speaker 1: right for others. This common denominator that is blockchain based 160 00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:19,880 Speaker 1: on chain, crypto held assets. I don't want to get 161 00:10:19,920 --> 00:10:22,000 Speaker 1: too much into the rabbit hole, but since we're on 162 00:10:22,040 --> 00:10:25,199 Speaker 1: the subject, now, can you, for those who are not 163 00:10:25,360 --> 00:10:31,400 Speaker 1: deeply enmeshed, give your ambassador translation of the value of 164 00:10:31,640 --> 00:10:35,839 Speaker 1: putting an organization of people like this on a blockchain? Yeah? 165 00:10:36,080 --> 00:10:39,840 Speaker 1: Happy too. So similar to why I was saying, you know, 166 00:10:39,880 --> 00:10:42,480 Speaker 1: not everything should be a doubt, Not everything should be 167 00:10:42,840 --> 00:10:46,560 Speaker 1: on chain or even a crypto based organization. What is 168 00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:50,600 Speaker 1: fundamentally interesting about cryptocurrency? And just for even the room here, 169 00:10:50,640 --> 00:10:52,920 Speaker 1: Like I got involved with crypto two years ago, like 170 00:10:52,960 --> 00:10:55,480 Speaker 1: fairly recently, I met Bartunda when I still thought crypto 171 00:10:55,600 --> 00:10:58,400 Speaker 1: was a total scam, and I was like, this makes 172 00:10:58,440 --> 00:11:01,520 Speaker 1: no sense. To centralize finance component made no sense or 173 00:11:01,559 --> 00:11:04,320 Speaker 1: interest to me. I was formerly worked in sort of 174 00:11:04,400 --> 00:11:07,240 Speaker 1: art and culture and events and community building, and it 175 00:11:07,320 --> 00:11:09,440 Speaker 1: was only until I started to really peak a little 176 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:12,760 Speaker 1: bit behind the curtain when I started to see the 177 00:11:12,800 --> 00:11:17,360 Speaker 1: fundamental technology of cryptocurrency being interesting. The idea of a 178 00:11:17,400 --> 00:11:21,480 Speaker 1: decentralized monetary system that was sort of borderless was really 179 00:11:21,520 --> 00:11:23,680 Speaker 1: interesting to me. It still boggles my mind that on 180 00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:26,719 Speaker 1: a national holiday you can't wire money to somebody when 181 00:11:26,760 --> 00:11:29,160 Speaker 1: they need to receive money. So things like that started 182 00:11:29,160 --> 00:11:32,079 Speaker 1: to became really really interesting. And then as I started 183 00:11:32,080 --> 00:11:34,440 Speaker 1: to apply that thinking of the principles and values and 184 00:11:34,520 --> 00:11:37,559 Speaker 1: tenants of cryptocurrency and how they would relate to other 185 00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:41,880 Speaker 1: industries like culture, civics, community, I became really interested with 186 00:11:41,920 --> 00:11:46,040 Speaker 1: sort of two components. One transparency. I think currently in 187 00:11:46,080 --> 00:11:49,439 Speaker 1: society we're all struggling with a lack of transparency, from 188 00:11:49,480 --> 00:11:53,520 Speaker 1: corporate lack of transparency to governmental lack of transparency. And 189 00:11:53,559 --> 00:11:57,959 Speaker 1: the fact that the blockchain is literally transparent. No one 190 00:11:58,040 --> 00:12:00,440 Speaker 1: can obfuse skate it because it is all hoarded on 191 00:12:00,520 --> 00:12:03,160 Speaker 1: chain and anyone who can go look for the data 192 00:12:03,280 --> 00:12:06,600 Speaker 1: can go find that data and query that data became 193 00:12:06,720 --> 00:12:10,840 Speaker 1: really really interesting to me. And perhaps a world in 194 00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:14,280 Speaker 1: which different organizations imagine if you could see how Facebook 195 00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:15,960 Speaker 1: is spending their money or a private companies were spending 196 00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:17,960 Speaker 1: their money in real time and where they were allocating 197 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:20,160 Speaker 1: that sort of capital. So that became really interesting to 198 00:12:20,160 --> 00:12:22,319 Speaker 1: me as someone who had been in community based organizing 199 00:12:22,720 --> 00:12:26,720 Speaker 1: movements organizations and saying, oh, how as a community based organization, 200 00:12:26,760 --> 00:12:28,360 Speaker 1: it would be cool to see how that community is 201 00:12:28,360 --> 00:12:31,080 Speaker 1: actually deploying its capital, is it spending its money, who 202 00:12:31,160 --> 00:12:32,960 Speaker 1: is it paying, how much are they paying those people? 203 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:36,320 Speaker 1: What are they actually doing to One was transparency, and 204 00:12:36,360 --> 00:12:39,480 Speaker 1: then two is what I call value accruel. And so 205 00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:42,160 Speaker 1: previously I'd worked a lot in various different art and 206 00:12:42,200 --> 00:12:45,760 Speaker 1: culture entertainment spaces, and I was always really upset by 207 00:12:45,800 --> 00:12:48,679 Speaker 1: how artists seem to be creating a lot of value 208 00:12:48,760 --> 00:12:51,800 Speaker 1: but not capturing a lot of that value. Yes, yes, 209 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:55,200 Speaker 1: I just I want to interject all that point. So 210 00:12:55,240 --> 00:12:58,320 Speaker 1: many of us have heard, felt and lived with the 211 00:12:58,360 --> 00:13:02,600 Speaker 1: consequences of being the product in a digital perspective on 212 00:13:02,679 --> 00:13:05,800 Speaker 1: a Twitter, Facebook, corporate owned thing, and we're just kind 213 00:13:05,840 --> 00:13:10,040 Speaker 1: of feeding some economic machine that values not being returned 214 00:13:10,040 --> 00:13:13,120 Speaker 1: to us in any tangible way we can connect with 215 00:13:13,160 --> 00:13:15,720 Speaker 1: our own friends. Yeah, but they're monetizing that and making 216 00:13:15,720 --> 00:13:18,440 Speaker 1: money off of that. And certainly art has been rife 217 00:13:18,480 --> 00:13:22,320 Speaker 1: with that kind of exploitation of value, and so did 218 00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:24,760 Speaker 1: the concentration of it. So continue with the point I 219 00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:26,840 Speaker 1: would just so enthusiastic I had to jump in there 220 00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:30,120 Speaker 1: on the value point. Yeah, No, I totally agree I mean, 221 00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:32,000 Speaker 1: we know that whole narrative of the platform sort of 222 00:13:32,040 --> 00:13:34,800 Speaker 1: monetizing it via advertising models, and I just became really 223 00:13:34,840 --> 00:13:38,840 Speaker 1: interested in how creators, unlet's just use that big bucket, 224 00:13:38,880 --> 00:13:41,480 Speaker 1: whether it's someone writing on social media and creating content, 225 00:13:41,520 --> 00:13:44,600 Speaker 1: to a visual artist or a musician, that value that 226 00:13:44,600 --> 00:13:47,760 Speaker 1: they're bringing to an organization or to a platform, how 227 00:13:47,760 --> 00:13:50,320 Speaker 1: that value could actually accrue to the edges of that 228 00:13:50,400 --> 00:13:54,120 Speaker 1: network versus just the central owners of that specific platform. 229 00:13:54,120 --> 00:13:56,600 Speaker 1: And I saw that in both massive social media platforms 230 00:13:56,640 --> 00:13:59,520 Speaker 1: but also community projects that had really great intentions, but 231 00:13:59,640 --> 00:14:02,720 Speaker 1: seeing how as a community began to grow, ultimately the 232 00:14:02,800 --> 00:14:05,280 Speaker 1: organization the owners were capturing a majority of that value 233 00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:08,840 Speaker 1: as opposed to the actual contributors of that specific community 234 00:14:08,880 --> 00:14:11,400 Speaker 1: or movement. And so it became an interesting thought experiment 235 00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:13,400 Speaker 1: in the beginning of me and my sort of partners 236 00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:16,359 Speaker 1: where we were all exploring and cloudbrators of if cryptocurrency 237 00:14:16,360 --> 00:14:19,000 Speaker 1: could store financial value, could it store cultural value right, 238 00:14:19,040 --> 00:14:21,360 Speaker 1: and could that cultural value be translated financially to actually 239 00:14:21,440 --> 00:14:23,880 Speaker 1: reward people who are bringing them full selves and their 240 00:14:23,920 --> 00:14:26,440 Speaker 1: and bringing value to the table as it relates to 241 00:14:26,480 --> 00:14:28,600 Speaker 1: a social media network or as it relates to a 242 00:14:28,640 --> 00:14:32,240 Speaker 1: club scene in Bushwick. It was both similarly interesting to me. 243 00:14:32,560 --> 00:14:35,000 Speaker 1: And that's how Friends with Benefits essentially it was created, 244 00:14:35,160 --> 00:14:38,720 Speaker 1: was a social network that was community owned and where 245 00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:41,920 Speaker 1: value could accrue to the people who brought their ideas, 246 00:14:41,960 --> 00:14:46,160 Speaker 1: their artistic expression, their connections, their full selves into a 247 00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:49,520 Speaker 1: membership club or network, and could that value be captured 248 00:14:49,880 --> 00:14:54,640 Speaker 1: equally across the board. Bravo, I am signing up for 249 00:14:55,280 --> 00:14:57,920 Speaker 1: no longer paying cover charges at a club, but making 250 00:14:57,920 --> 00:15:00,520 Speaker 1: the club pay me because I'm bringing cool there, he goes, 251 00:15:00,680 --> 00:15:02,960 Speaker 1: and now who's in charge? Let me see your ID bouncer. 252 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:07,240 Speaker 1: Friends with Benefits. It's a great transition, and FWB has 253 00:15:07,280 --> 00:15:09,760 Speaker 1: been called this group chat will a shared bank account, 254 00:15:09,880 --> 00:15:14,040 Speaker 1: decentralized SOHO house, this global VIP private club with a 255 00:15:14,080 --> 00:15:17,640 Speaker 1: lot of cultural influencers amongst its membership. Can you give 256 00:15:17,640 --> 00:15:20,280 Speaker 1: me more about the history of it and why you've 257 00:15:20,320 --> 00:15:22,840 Speaker 1: described it in these ways, especially on this point around 258 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:28,320 Speaker 1: cultural compensation, you know, as a premise for this particular gathering. Yeah, 259 00:15:28,360 --> 00:15:31,440 Speaker 1: so the origin stories are actually you know, quite experimental 260 00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:34,320 Speaker 1: and accidental, as I find with most fun scenes or 261 00:15:34,360 --> 00:15:36,360 Speaker 1: things that weren't too serious in the beginning. I mean, 262 00:15:36,400 --> 00:15:39,200 Speaker 1: even the name of our organization, FWB, you know, is 263 00:15:39,240 --> 00:15:42,640 Speaker 1: all sorted as a joke. Trevor mcfederis the founder who 264 00:15:42,680 --> 00:15:45,560 Speaker 1: I've been friends with for quite some time. Has been 265 00:15:45,600 --> 00:15:48,760 Speaker 1: sort of a really interesting sort of creator and entrepreneur, 266 00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:52,520 Speaker 1: and he's always sat at the interesting intersections of sort 267 00:15:52,520 --> 00:15:55,360 Speaker 1: of culture and new media technology, and so he was 268 00:15:55,480 --> 00:15:59,280 Speaker 1: particularly interested in this concept of cultural capture in terms 269 00:15:59,280 --> 00:16:02,240 Speaker 1: of value, and over the course of a weekend, he 270 00:16:02,320 --> 00:16:05,080 Speaker 1: created the FBB token as a joke and sent it 271 00:16:05,080 --> 00:16:07,080 Speaker 1: out to a bunch of his friends. I was one 272 00:16:07,080 --> 00:16:08,960 Speaker 1: of those friends, and there was like twenty or thirty 273 00:16:08,960 --> 00:16:11,440 Speaker 1: of us hanging out in this group chat that at 274 00:16:11,440 --> 00:16:13,960 Speaker 1: the time it was tiny or minuscule. And this was 275 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:15,840 Speaker 1: all during COVID, and so all of us were locked 276 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:17,800 Speaker 1: in at home, all of us were bored, and all 277 00:16:17,840 --> 00:16:20,320 Speaker 1: of us were asking questions about what is crypto? What 278 00:16:20,400 --> 00:16:22,360 Speaker 1: is Web three? What are NFTs? This was right when 279 00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:25,600 Speaker 1: the boom of crypto started to sort of occur and evolve, 280 00:16:25,640 --> 00:16:28,080 Speaker 1: and we were all in this room together essentially making 281 00:16:28,160 --> 00:16:30,400 Speaker 1: sense of what was happening together. And when we started 282 00:16:30,400 --> 00:16:32,840 Speaker 1: to see was a couple interesting things. One we saw 283 00:16:32,880 --> 00:16:36,000 Speaker 1: that people then began to feel a stronger sense of 284 00:16:36,040 --> 00:16:39,680 Speaker 1: ownership by holding the FTBB token and feeling a real 285 00:16:39,680 --> 00:16:41,600 Speaker 1: sense of pride over the network, that they began to 286 00:16:41,680 --> 00:16:44,240 Speaker 1: propose ways to evolve and change the network. You know, 287 00:16:44,280 --> 00:16:45,560 Speaker 1: I had this early saying of like when you see 288 00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:47,000 Speaker 1: trash on the ground, pick it up. We started to 289 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:50,560 Speaker 1: see that happened really organically. You know, Hey, let's add 290 00:16:50,600 --> 00:16:52,840 Speaker 1: this channel, Hey, let's remove that channel. Hey, let's put 291 00:16:52,840 --> 00:16:55,120 Speaker 1: in a code of conduct early so we can avoid 292 00:16:55,400 --> 00:16:58,800 Speaker 1: issues of X y Z ahead of time. And as 293 00:16:58,800 --> 00:17:01,560 Speaker 1: someone who's been involved in lots of different community projects 294 00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:04,000 Speaker 1: and also social networking projects, I was like, this kind 295 00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:08,560 Speaker 1: of behavior feels different the early adopters of an online network. 296 00:17:08,880 --> 00:17:11,080 Speaker 1: That felt very similar, a sense of pride, a sense 297 00:17:11,119 --> 00:17:14,399 Speaker 1: of identity attached to sort of an online cohort. But 298 00:17:14,440 --> 00:17:16,840 Speaker 1: what felt different here was an actual sense of ownership 299 00:17:16,880 --> 00:17:20,280 Speaker 1: in terms of, Okay, this actual token, this asset that's mine, 300 00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:23,760 Speaker 1: is custodied by me, is actually both my entrance into 301 00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:26,440 Speaker 1: this experience and also a thing that gets to grow 302 00:17:26,480 --> 00:17:29,920 Speaker 1: over time as more value is sort of being created. 303 00:17:29,960 --> 00:17:31,760 Speaker 1: And that sort of collectivism was the thing we wanted 304 00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:34,560 Speaker 1: to experiment with in a digital space. And so then 305 00:17:34,560 --> 00:17:37,080 Speaker 1: the story is quite you know, twenty people, thirty people, 306 00:17:37,080 --> 00:17:39,560 Speaker 1: one hundred people, five hundred people. And then by then 307 00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:41,880 Speaker 1: I was like, wait, this is really interesting. I sort 308 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:43,880 Speaker 1: of want to step into more of a leadership role 309 00:17:43,880 --> 00:17:46,080 Speaker 1: here because it was me and seven other people sort 310 00:17:46,080 --> 00:17:48,480 Speaker 1: of contributing. And that was when I sort of stepped 311 00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:50,960 Speaker 1: into my role as the mayor sort of you know, 312 00:17:50,960 --> 00:17:53,480 Speaker 1: elected myself and a core team into this role. And 313 00:17:53,680 --> 00:17:55,720 Speaker 1: the first thing I'll say, which I think is a 314 00:17:55,720 --> 00:17:58,360 Speaker 1: fun conversation for this group here in terms of its 315 00:17:58,400 --> 00:18:01,200 Speaker 1: adjacency to sort of urbanism and civics, is you know, 316 00:18:01,280 --> 00:18:03,639 Speaker 1: wanting to be really clear that my role was not 317 00:18:03,720 --> 00:18:05,280 Speaker 1: as a CEO, but was as a mayor, and then 318 00:18:05,280 --> 00:18:07,840 Speaker 1: I'm here to sort of represent the people. And I 319 00:18:07,840 --> 00:18:10,960 Speaker 1: thought that fundamental shift in that leadership role would plant 320 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:15,160 Speaker 1: the seeds for an online community or social network platform 321 00:18:15,359 --> 00:18:18,200 Speaker 1: to be actually built people first as opposed to platform first. 322 00:18:18,440 --> 00:18:21,560 Speaker 1: And so that sort of kicked off. How FTERBB has 323 00:18:21,560 --> 00:18:24,000 Speaker 1: been sort of governed today and now it's a six 324 00:18:24,040 --> 00:18:28,240 Speaker 1: thousand person, you know, membership community organization. It's a community 325 00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:31,440 Speaker 1: owned social network where funding projects across the network within 326 00:18:31,480 --> 00:18:34,720 Speaker 1: the community. We've thrown hundreds of events all over the 327 00:18:34,760 --> 00:18:38,520 Speaker 1: world organized by community members who received tokens as compensation 328 00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:42,760 Speaker 1: for organizing those events, from gallery tours to coffee tasting 329 00:18:42,800 --> 00:18:46,199 Speaker 1: to club nights in Paris, to building our own social software, 330 00:18:46,280 --> 00:18:48,840 Speaker 1: our own products, and in our own physical goods like 331 00:18:48,880 --> 00:18:52,040 Speaker 1: apparel and merchandise and CpG, with all of that value 332 00:18:52,080 --> 00:18:54,760 Speaker 1: accruing back into that shared bank account sort of no 333 00:18:54,840 --> 00:18:57,719 Speaker 1: different than like almost like an ip or like a franchise, 334 00:18:57,800 --> 00:19:01,080 Speaker 1: where where value sort of flows back that shared treasury, 335 00:19:01,320 --> 00:19:05,600 Speaker 1: and that shared treasury you know, is a reflected This 336 00:19:05,640 --> 00:19:08,280 Speaker 1: is a question and a kind of checking my own understanding. 337 00:19:09,160 --> 00:19:12,639 Speaker 1: I join, I pay to join, and I pay in 338 00:19:12,680 --> 00:19:15,800 Speaker 1: the form of these tokens that I hold. So as 339 00:19:15,840 --> 00:19:18,920 Speaker 1: I bring value to the community, the value of my holdings, 340 00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:22,200 Speaker 1: my ownership stake also goes up. Is that the kind 341 00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:26,879 Speaker 1: of mutually beneficial economic theory behind this? Yeah, why do 342 00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:29,440 Speaker 1: you care so much about the culture part, mister mayor, 343 00:19:29,440 --> 00:19:30,600 Speaker 1: And I want to come back to the mayor in 344 00:19:30,640 --> 00:19:32,919 Speaker 1: the election point in just a second, But how are 345 00:19:32,920 --> 00:19:34,679 Speaker 1: you defining it and what does that mean for you 346 00:19:34,760 --> 00:19:37,879 Speaker 1: in terms of the currency here culture like capital c 347 00:19:38,200 --> 00:19:41,320 Speaker 1: like at large, the community's culture. The idea that FWB 348 00:19:41,440 --> 00:19:46,200 Speaker 1: itself is built around music, around arts, around these cultural 349 00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:48,320 Speaker 1: things where there are many dows which are built just 350 00:19:48,440 --> 00:19:50,960 Speaker 1: around the idea of the token itself totally totally right, 351 00:19:51,240 --> 00:19:54,000 Speaker 1: or they're organized to purchase something like that constitution dow, 352 00:19:54,119 --> 00:19:55,480 Speaker 1: which I was also a part of because I thought 353 00:19:55,480 --> 00:19:57,840 Speaker 1: it was weird and fun. So culture is the focus here? 354 00:19:57,880 --> 00:20:00,639 Speaker 1: What yeah? I mean? I think first off, community that 355 00:20:00,640 --> 00:20:03,679 Speaker 1: comes together organically and experimentally often has like threads that 356 00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:06,800 Speaker 1: connect it without it even being like an explicit manifesto 357 00:20:07,119 --> 00:20:09,680 Speaker 1: or mission statement. Right. I think we all came together 358 00:20:09,680 --> 00:20:12,639 Speaker 1: because all of us worked in cultural spaces, and I 359 00:20:12,680 --> 00:20:15,640 Speaker 1: think to date the crypto narrative has been heavily dominated 360 00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:20,119 Speaker 1: via financialization speculation and this you know ico boom and 361 00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:24,080 Speaker 1: by this token and number goes out initial coins offerings, 362 00:20:24,080 --> 00:20:25,960 Speaker 1: and we were all, like, you know, a lot of 363 00:20:26,040 --> 00:20:29,440 Speaker 1: us also our technologist were interested in technology, not cold 364 00:20:29,480 --> 00:20:32,640 Speaker 1: hard technology, but how technology can perhaps enhance human connection 365 00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:37,200 Speaker 1: and human experiences. And while this crypto boom was happening, 366 00:20:37,240 --> 00:20:39,760 Speaker 1: we all just became interested like can this actually accentuate 367 00:20:40,080 --> 00:20:42,520 Speaker 1: these cultural spaces that we all sort of came from. 368 00:20:42,880 --> 00:20:45,400 Speaker 1: And so that's sort of like one track that we're interested. Okay, fundamentally, 369 00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:48,719 Speaker 1: how does this technology impact our industries was where this started. 370 00:20:49,119 --> 00:20:51,560 Speaker 1: And the second, I think the more sort of like 371 00:20:51,680 --> 00:20:54,600 Speaker 1: meta angle of it is a lot of us have 372 00:20:54,720 --> 00:20:59,280 Speaker 1: been frustrated because we've participated in many different cultural spaces, 373 00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:03,080 Speaker 1: from those early nightclubs or bar scenes in certain neighborhoods 374 00:21:03,119 --> 00:21:06,479 Speaker 1: that then became overly gentrified once high rise commercial development 375 00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:09,800 Speaker 1: and real estate agents came in and q the Williamsburg narrative. 376 00:21:10,080 --> 00:21:12,199 Speaker 1: And we've all been a part of those various different 377 00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:17,040 Speaker 1: stories and those fifteen year movements and were interested in 378 00:21:17,240 --> 00:21:22,240 Speaker 1: perhaps new mechanics or ways where those early artists could 379 00:21:22,240 --> 00:21:25,680 Speaker 1: actually capture some of that value on that gentrification curve, 380 00:21:26,040 --> 00:21:30,520 Speaker 1: and interested in does that same curve apply in digital spaces. 381 00:21:30,880 --> 00:21:34,040 Speaker 1: And so we were really interested in, like, clearly, there's 382 00:21:34,080 --> 00:21:36,040 Speaker 1: going to be a role for culture in crypto. At 383 00:21:36,040 --> 00:21:39,439 Speaker 1: that moment, there wasn't quite one yet. Everyone participating in 384 00:21:39,440 --> 00:21:44,439 Speaker 1: crypto was heavily financially oriented, and NFTs really became the 385 00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:49,360 Speaker 1: first framework where culture could enter crypto. Artists could actually 386 00:21:49,480 --> 00:21:51,720 Speaker 1: create digital artwork and have that be stored on chain, 387 00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:55,440 Speaker 1: and we were just the community layer on top of that. 388 00:21:55,480 --> 00:21:59,920 Speaker 1: Movement that saw a need to connect creators, technologists, developer 389 00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:03,200 Speaker 1: subject knowledge experts, people who were first timers, and to 390 00:22:03,320 --> 00:22:05,720 Speaker 1: create a fun space of camaraderie where folks could learn, 391 00:22:05,800 --> 00:22:09,520 Speaker 1: share and exchange knowledge together while also playing with the 392 00:22:09,520 --> 00:22:12,600 Speaker 1: fundamental technology itself. So yeah, so you've got a culturally 393 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:16,960 Speaker 1: oriented membership club where the value of that collective is 394 00:22:16,960 --> 00:22:21,280 Speaker 1: more formally recognized than others and maybe more fairly distributed 395 00:22:21,600 --> 00:22:24,800 Speaker 1: than the historical analogies were often familiar with. Yeah, and 396 00:22:24,840 --> 00:22:26,520 Speaker 1: I'll add the last point, which I think it helps 397 00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:28,400 Speaker 1: click it for a lot of people, is those tokens 398 00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:32,600 Speaker 1: beyond value cruel are also the fundamental way you vote 399 00:22:33,080 --> 00:22:35,480 Speaker 1: in the network. So it's how you're able to put 400 00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:38,199 Speaker 1: up a proposal to fund an artist in residency program. 401 00:22:38,200 --> 00:22:40,560 Speaker 1: It's how you're able to vote on how we want 402 00:22:40,600 --> 00:22:44,360 Speaker 1: to change the network. Recently, community members proposed actually merging 403 00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:47,119 Speaker 1: two membership tiers because they were unsatisfied with one of 404 00:22:47,119 --> 00:22:48,680 Speaker 1: the membership tiers and they said, this is actually a 405 00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:51,880 Speaker 1: lackluster experience, and we want to propose merging these two 406 00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:54,200 Speaker 1: experiences together. And that was brought up by a community 407 00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:56,679 Speaker 1: member that went to a very contentious debate and it 408 00:22:56,760 --> 00:22:59,000 Speaker 1: passed and it's been implemented, and so it's one of 409 00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:01,760 Speaker 1: those is where how I think about it is, imagine 410 00:23:01,800 --> 00:23:04,639 Speaker 1: if the first thousand users or Facebook could actually weigh 411 00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:07,520 Speaker 1: in on the advertising model. That's how I approach and 412 00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:10,040 Speaker 1: think about this is would that have changed the outcomes? 413 00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:13,199 Speaker 1: And that vote not just being like a pole system 414 00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:16,359 Speaker 1: that actually doesn't care any weight, like Elon running on 415 00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:19,199 Speaker 1: Twitter doing polls all day. That vote is actually the 416 00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:24,040 Speaker 1: fundamental stock or equity or value cruel of that organization 417 00:23:24,040 --> 00:23:26,880 Speaker 1: and that entity itself, Like that became really really interesting 418 00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:29,640 Speaker 1: to us. Yeah, and that part fascinates me as well, 419 00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:33,720 Speaker 1: because merely having money in the system, you know, charging 420 00:23:33,760 --> 00:23:36,520 Speaker 1: for use of the service can give you us a 421 00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:39,200 Speaker 1: greater sense of one to pick up trash. But being 422 00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:41,800 Speaker 1: an owner is a whole other thing. So being a 423 00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:44,360 Speaker 1: subscriber is very different from being an owner and then 424 00:23:44,440 --> 00:23:46,919 Speaker 1: having say in the decision even the structure of the 425 00:23:46,960 --> 00:23:50,440 Speaker 1: thing itself. That's just it's distributing power in this form 426 00:23:50,480 --> 00:23:52,720 Speaker 1: of the practice. Then, as you said, there's a big spectrum. 427 00:23:53,800 --> 00:23:57,640 Speaker 1: What are the other ways that someone experiences that value 428 00:23:57,680 --> 00:24:00,280 Speaker 1: or cruel. I'm a member of this thing, I get 429 00:24:00,320 --> 00:24:03,280 Speaker 1: to propose, I get to vote, I get to launch 430 00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:06,760 Speaker 1: external experiments, and overall the value of my tokens might rise. 431 00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:11,720 Speaker 1: How else there's value accumulation experience by these participants. Yeah, 432 00:24:11,760 --> 00:24:16,199 Speaker 1: I think without being corny, corny, it's okay'll be corny. Like, 433 00:24:16,600 --> 00:24:18,879 Speaker 1: you know, an inside joke or a meme inside of 434 00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:21,000 Speaker 1: our community is maybe the benefits were the friends we 435 00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:24,680 Speaker 1: made along the way. You know that I didn't write 436 00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:28,240 Speaker 1: that try to warn me and I against my judgment. 437 00:24:28,520 --> 00:24:31,479 Speaker 1: I gave you the benefit of the j but you know, 438 00:24:31,600 --> 00:24:33,320 Speaker 1: without being corny, I read and I was like, that's 439 00:24:33,359 --> 00:24:35,920 Speaker 1: actually true. Like I think what transcends all of this 440 00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:41,120 Speaker 1: is it's not really about the money. The money, you know, currency, financials, 441 00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:43,359 Speaker 1: money is a is a weird thing, and it makes 442 00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:46,119 Speaker 1: things interesting. It makes things dark, it makes things exciting. 443 00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:48,720 Speaker 1: It places value on things that might not need to 444 00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:51,320 Speaker 1: even have value placed onto them. But we can all 445 00:24:51,320 --> 00:24:55,560 Speaker 1: agree money is interesting and ultimately the community currency is 446 00:24:55,600 --> 00:24:59,320 Speaker 1: a vehicle for the conversation that ultimately drives the connection. 447 00:24:59,359 --> 00:25:02,080 Speaker 1: And that's what's interesting to me full stop, is just 448 00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:05,560 Speaker 1: the people who have met and connected through friends with benefits, 449 00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:08,880 Speaker 1: who have become co founders, who have become business partners, 450 00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:12,040 Speaker 1: who have received funding for their nonprofits, to you know, 451 00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:14,920 Speaker 1: met their life partners. It's it's been incredible to see 452 00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:17,000 Speaker 1: and those are I think anyone who who's in movement 453 00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:20,159 Speaker 1: building or community building, the ultimate like aha moment is 454 00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:23,639 Speaker 1: always when that compounds over. You know, we've been doing 455 00:25:23,640 --> 00:25:25,480 Speaker 1: now for two and a half years, not a long time, 456 00:25:25,480 --> 00:25:28,040 Speaker 1: but to see now full companies that have gone on 457 00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:30,199 Speaker 1: and built incredible things in the ecosystem because they met 458 00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:33,200 Speaker 1: in a chat room is always really really exciting. It's 459 00:25:33,240 --> 00:25:37,439 Speaker 1: not an open community. There's an application process, there's a cost. 460 00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:43,399 Speaker 1: How does one become a friend with benefits? So right now, 461 00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:47,320 Speaker 1: essentially we think about it as a citizenship and tourism. Okay, 462 00:25:47,359 --> 00:25:50,200 Speaker 1: so there's citizenship as in, if you want to become 463 00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:53,679 Speaker 1: a member, you apply, and the community read your application 464 00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:55,919 Speaker 1: and votes on it and welcomes you in. And essentially 465 00:25:55,960 --> 00:25:57,840 Speaker 1: all we're looking for is that you're here and you 466 00:25:57,840 --> 00:26:02,600 Speaker 1: want to contribute. So step one application application, then the 467 00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:06,280 Speaker 1: community votes, and then if that application is accepted, you're 468 00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:09,760 Speaker 1: then sent instructions and a welcome email, college admission vibes, 469 00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:12,359 Speaker 1: and you're onboarded and there's all these new member, welcome 470 00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:14,560 Speaker 1: hangs and all this sort of stuff, and what's the tuition. 471 00:26:14,680 --> 00:26:18,680 Speaker 1: The tuition is seventy five tokens, which I fluctuates from 472 00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:21,160 Speaker 1: five hundred bucks to seven hundred field bucks. And once 473 00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:23,440 Speaker 1: you're in, you're able to go float around our digital city. 474 00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:26,119 Speaker 1: There's hundreds of channels in the discord. We've actually built 475 00:26:26,119 --> 00:26:28,440 Speaker 1: our own mobile app and it has its own social 476 00:26:28,480 --> 00:26:31,479 Speaker 1: feed and so there's all these digital connections. But that 477 00:26:31,680 --> 00:26:35,280 Speaker 1: is a portal into the hundreds of events that are 478 00:26:35,359 --> 00:26:37,560 Speaker 1: organized by the community around the world in your city 479 00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:40,199 Speaker 1: to be able to interact and connect with people in 480 00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:42,720 Speaker 1: real life, as well as getting access to various different 481 00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:47,400 Speaker 1: digital and physical goods, products and sort of services from merchandise, apparel, cold, 482 00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:49,440 Speaker 1: you know whatever, the community sort of making and creating. 483 00:26:50,119 --> 00:26:52,919 Speaker 1: That's what membership looks like. That's what citizenship looks like. 484 00:26:52,920 --> 00:26:55,880 Speaker 1: And that citizenship allows you to fundamentally vote. Let's you vote, 485 00:26:55,960 --> 00:26:59,639 Speaker 1: have a say, put proposals up, and contribute to and 486 00:26:59,760 --> 00:27:03,480 Speaker 1: of all the network itself. Tourism is how you participate 487 00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:06,040 Speaker 1: in FWB. If you don't want to be a member, 488 00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:10,800 Speaker 1: you can actually participate in various different physical events, digital 489 00:27:10,840 --> 00:27:14,520 Speaker 1: events just by holding f TOBB tokens much lower threshold 490 00:27:14,640 --> 00:27:17,560 Speaker 1: one to five FWB, from ten bucks to fifty bucks, 491 00:27:17,800 --> 00:27:20,040 Speaker 1: and you're able to go to various different things that 492 00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:22,760 Speaker 1: are all organized by the community. And our hope is 493 00:27:22,760 --> 00:27:25,080 Speaker 1: that you know, if you like visiting our city, you'll 494 00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:28,280 Speaker 1: eventually want to move here. Who are these members or 495 00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:31,040 Speaker 1: the tourists where what kind of people are signing up 496 00:27:31,040 --> 00:27:33,400 Speaker 1: at this point or have signed up at this point? Yeah, 497 00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:35,480 Speaker 1: I think there are people who come from a whole 498 00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:40,760 Speaker 1: swath of different backgrounds, but mostly cultural backgrounds are music, entertainment, technology, etc. 499 00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:46,440 Speaker 1: Who are interested in how crypto might affect their industry 500 00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:49,640 Speaker 1: or their space. It's folks who are asking these kinds 501 00:27:49,680 --> 00:27:52,760 Speaker 1: of questions who are interested in the role that this 502 00:27:52,840 --> 00:27:54,720 Speaker 1: might play in it and are looking to connect with 503 00:27:54,760 --> 00:27:57,720 Speaker 1: other people in this space who are here for bigger 504 00:27:57,720 --> 00:28:00,920 Speaker 1: reasons beyond just you know, making a lot of money 505 00:28:01,240 --> 00:28:05,000 Speaker 1: or flipping NFTs or buying tokens. Like it's really people 506 00:28:05,040 --> 00:28:07,920 Speaker 1: who are fundamentally interested in the technology itself and it's 507 00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:11,520 Speaker 1: implications for culture. That sounds very familiar, That sounds actually 508 00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:13,560 Speaker 1: pretty attractive. How much money all got in the bank, 509 00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:16,480 Speaker 1: You got these tokens, You've raised money. Part of the 510 00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:18,280 Speaker 1: whole thing is a group chat with the bank account. 511 00:28:18,440 --> 00:28:20,600 Speaker 1: So what's the treasury like? Yeah, what's cool is the 512 00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:22,480 Speaker 1: treasury is all in chain, so everyone can see and 513 00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:25,440 Speaker 1: view all in real time. The assets that this community holds. 514 00:28:25,440 --> 00:28:28,760 Speaker 1: I think it's about eighteen nineteen million US dollars worth 515 00:28:28,800 --> 00:28:31,439 Speaker 1: of sort of various different assets. And you know, at 516 00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:33,919 Speaker 1: its peak was like fifty million dollars and you know 517 00:28:33,920 --> 00:28:36,679 Speaker 1: about six eight months ago. Okase on the fluctuations of 518 00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:39,680 Speaker 1: the tokens and other tokens that we hold from ethereum 519 00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:42,680 Speaker 1: to other community tokens that we hold for subcommunities that 520 00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:45,560 Speaker 1: have spawned out of FWB. But yeah, the treasury probably 521 00:28:45,560 --> 00:28:47,640 Speaker 1: holds right about in eighteen twenty million dollars right now. 522 00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:50,160 Speaker 1: A value in there, and what in your view are 523 00:28:50,200 --> 00:28:53,080 Speaker 1: a couple of the coolest things to emerge from this 524 00:28:53,160 --> 00:28:55,760 Speaker 1: community from this environment, whether it's a product and app, 525 00:28:55,920 --> 00:28:59,280 Speaker 1: a relationship, a tool, What my dad look like? What 526 00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:04,040 Speaker 1: has that look like? Yeah, let's see. I mean earlier 527 00:29:04,040 --> 00:29:07,240 Speaker 1: this summer, we threw our first community produced festival, which 528 00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:10,320 Speaker 1: was really rad. We rented out a Liberal arts campus 529 00:29:10,360 --> 00:29:13,920 Speaker 1: outside of Los Angeles. Seven hundred community members came down 530 00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:16,240 Speaker 1: for that and we threw a three day sort of 531 00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:20,440 Speaker 1: symposium that featured music from James Blake, Jpeg Mafia, and 532 00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:24,160 Speaker 1: one o Tricks Point Never to talks and discussions and 533 00:29:24,200 --> 00:29:27,400 Speaker 1: discourse from leading sort of experts in the community and 534 00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:30,640 Speaker 1: outside of the community, with a full culinary program and 535 00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:34,040 Speaker 1: wellness program, And it was absolutely incredible and all the 536 00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:37,040 Speaker 1: community members, you know, half the lineup was community members 537 00:29:37,080 --> 00:29:39,200 Speaker 1: who offered up their talents or their skills and were 538 00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:42,120 Speaker 1: compensated in tokens for their sort of contribution. So that 539 00:29:42,240 --> 00:29:44,480 Speaker 1: was just a really incredible highlight of the year for 540 00:29:44,560 --> 00:29:47,200 Speaker 1: me to see this digital city, which can kind of 541 00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:52,520 Speaker 1: feel kind of alien like or foreign or sterile, to 542 00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:55,240 Speaker 1: then see everyone in real life and it totally felt 543 00:29:55,280 --> 00:29:58,920 Speaker 1: surprising and refreshing to meet someone that I had shared 544 00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:01,600 Speaker 1: a digital experience with for the last two years to 545 00:30:01,600 --> 00:30:03,800 Speaker 1: spend time in person. You know, a lot of us 546 00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:05,800 Speaker 1: grew up on internet forums. I think that's also another 547 00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:08,960 Speaker 1: common threat of FWB community members is a lot of 548 00:30:09,040 --> 00:30:12,440 Speaker 1: us were early early you know, music forums, punk forums, 549 00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:16,280 Speaker 1: aol aim chat rooms. You know. Our average age breakdown 550 00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:18,680 Speaker 1: is I would say, like mid twenties to like late 551 00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:21,720 Speaker 1: thirties and so a lot of folks being very familiar 552 00:30:22,080 --> 00:30:24,760 Speaker 1: with forum culture and sort of that now spelling into 553 00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:28,400 Speaker 1: sort of IRL world is an interesting thing that's been explored. 554 00:30:28,640 --> 00:30:30,640 Speaker 1: So I would say that's been an amazing highlight. And 555 00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:33,040 Speaker 1: the one I'm most excited about is just us actually 556 00:30:33,040 --> 00:30:36,280 Speaker 1: building our own social network. So we're in sort of 557 00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:39,280 Speaker 1: like beta mode right now. We've got about one hundred 558 00:30:39,320 --> 00:30:41,560 Speaker 1: community members on there who are like battle testing it 559 00:30:41,680 --> 00:30:43,720 Speaker 1: right now. We're planning on releasing it Q one of 560 00:30:43,800 --> 00:30:46,640 Speaker 1: next year. And the idea as essentially, you know, everything 561 00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:48,440 Speaker 1: to date has been run on top of a discord. 562 00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:53,800 Speaker 1: Discord is essentially run platform comes with its fair share 563 00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:57,480 Speaker 1: of challenges. It's very hard to hit that learning curve 564 00:30:57,520 --> 00:31:00,320 Speaker 1: of how do you filter through hundreds of channel yeah, 565 00:31:00,480 --> 00:31:04,000 Speaker 1: completely synchronous messages with no seemingly order to the chaos, 566 00:31:04,560 --> 00:31:08,240 Speaker 1: and it's like slack on cocaine. It's like slack on coke, Yeah, exactly, 567 00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:10,840 Speaker 1: exactly with thousand and you can imagine that with thousands 568 00:31:10,840 --> 00:31:13,560 Speaker 1: and thousands of people chatting every single day, you get 569 00:31:13,600 --> 00:31:15,600 Speaker 1: tagged in something and you can't find it. Yeah. And 570 00:31:15,640 --> 00:31:18,160 Speaker 1: so after serving the landscape and trying out a couple 571 00:31:18,200 --> 00:31:21,320 Speaker 1: different solutions, our community decided to build our own, so 572 00:31:21,360 --> 00:31:24,160 Speaker 1: we've been building sort of our own mobile app experience 573 00:31:24,520 --> 00:31:28,240 Speaker 1: that is actually primarily sort of image base for now 574 00:31:28,560 --> 00:31:31,400 Speaker 1: and allows for the community to share almost like an 575 00:31:31,400 --> 00:31:35,440 Speaker 1: Instagram or TikTok, share content within this community. That also 576 00:31:35,520 --> 00:31:38,640 Speaker 1: aggregates all the events happening in our community as well 577 00:31:38,680 --> 00:31:41,360 Speaker 1: as all the profiles so everyone can connect and add friends, 578 00:31:41,680 --> 00:31:43,640 Speaker 1: as well as the governance so inside of the app 579 00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:46,400 Speaker 1: itself you can put proposals up to change and evolve 580 00:31:46,440 --> 00:31:49,120 Speaker 1: the network itself, which is also such an for me. 581 00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:51,320 Speaker 1: It's an easy lead to go from what if that 582 00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:54,360 Speaker 1: were the experience in my other social networks and it's 583 00:31:54,640 --> 00:31:56,920 Speaker 1: the missing piece. Those decisions are being made but by 584 00:31:56,960 --> 00:31:59,479 Speaker 1: invisible committees that I have really no sway over, more 585 00:31:59,520 --> 00:32:03,560 Speaker 1: of a bid, every choice to join or not to join. Okay, Alex, 586 00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:06,800 Speaker 1: you're the mayor. You've used the word city like thirty times. 587 00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:10,680 Speaker 1: You said you elected yourself, which sounds like a dictator. 588 00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:15,400 Speaker 1: Just frame this for me about what does it mean 589 00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:18,720 Speaker 1: for you to be the mayor and do this facilitation 590 00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:22,160 Speaker 1: that you've described, and how does the city metaphor apply 591 00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:25,760 Speaker 1: In a little bit more detailed to f TOVV. Yeah. 592 00:32:25,800 --> 00:32:28,360 Speaker 1: So it all started when this was sort of being 593 00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:30,400 Speaker 1: built and we were all in real time like asking 594 00:32:30,440 --> 00:32:33,640 Speaker 1: ourselves like what is this. Every day new people were joining, 595 00:32:34,200 --> 00:32:37,000 Speaker 1: you know, Press loves to kind of put their stamp 596 00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:39,440 Speaker 1: of approval or disapproval on things, and all of a sudden, 597 00:32:39,440 --> 00:32:42,160 Speaker 1: the narrative was to centralized soho house, which you can 598 00:32:42,160 --> 00:32:44,520 Speaker 1: clearly see why a lot of us were eye rolling 599 00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:46,520 Speaker 1: to that and being like, that doesn't totally feel like 600 00:32:46,560 --> 00:32:49,479 Speaker 1: what we're trying to do here. Instead, we were interested in, 601 00:32:49,560 --> 00:32:52,520 Speaker 1: really like, what does an online community on steroids look like? 602 00:32:52,520 --> 00:32:55,280 Speaker 1: Like this felt more like a subreddit that had its 603 00:32:55,280 --> 00:32:59,200 Speaker 1: own economy than like a member's club that was like 604 00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:03,600 Speaker 1: about eating forty dollars salmons and you know, schmoozing. We 605 00:33:03,600 --> 00:33:06,320 Speaker 1: were more interested in, just like, what is an online 606 00:33:06,360 --> 00:33:09,520 Speaker 1: community that actually builds its own economies look like? And 607 00:33:09,640 --> 00:33:13,000 Speaker 1: someone in the community actually said, FWB isn't actually a 608 00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:17,000 Speaker 1: company or a Deessentiliz solo house. FWB is a city 609 00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:20,640 Speaker 1: that isn't physically distributed yet, and that for some reason clicked. 610 00:33:20,640 --> 00:33:22,280 Speaker 1: We were on a town hall with hundreds of us. 611 00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:24,120 Speaker 1: We do town halls every month. Where we talk about 612 00:33:24,120 --> 00:33:27,960 Speaker 1: issues in the community, and we all ask ourselves, wait, 613 00:33:27,960 --> 00:33:30,320 Speaker 1: this totally is like a city, just abstract away the 614 00:33:30,320 --> 00:33:33,320 Speaker 1: physicality of it. Yeah, like we are a city in 615 00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:35,600 Speaker 1: that if you were to ask what type of person 616 00:33:35,720 --> 00:33:38,719 Speaker 1: does New York City attract? We could all clearly, you know, 617 00:33:38,840 --> 00:33:41,880 Speaker 1: break down stereotypes or types of people that thrive in 618 00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:45,479 Speaker 1: New York But you cannot pinpoint one user of New 619 00:33:45,560 --> 00:33:48,600 Speaker 1: York City and so people who like pain, people who 620 00:33:48,640 --> 00:33:53,040 Speaker 1: love pain exactly, massacists and so and so. For us, 621 00:33:53,120 --> 00:33:55,000 Speaker 1: we were like, wait, that is totally how we want 622 00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:57,560 Speaker 1: to steward and build FWB. We want to FVB to 623 00:33:57,640 --> 00:34:00,760 Speaker 1: be open to everybody. Yes, New York City issive. Yes, 624 00:34:00,880 --> 00:34:02,880 Speaker 1: New York City is known for its culture and for 625 00:34:02,960 --> 00:34:05,560 Speaker 1: its food and for its art, similar to f TOVV 626 00:34:05,720 --> 00:34:07,840 Speaker 1: being known for its culture and its art and its 627 00:34:07,880 --> 00:34:11,279 Speaker 1: cultural sort of proximity. But ultimately, New York City is 628 00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:13,319 Speaker 1: what you make of it, as is FTVV is what 629 00:34:13,320 --> 00:34:14,960 Speaker 1: you sort of make of it. And so once we 630 00:34:14,960 --> 00:34:17,400 Speaker 1: started to run through that analogy and we began to 631 00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:21,320 Speaker 1: really explore various different urban theory and urban planning frameworks 632 00:34:21,400 --> 00:34:24,040 Speaker 1: to how we should grow AFTERVB, things started to make 633 00:34:24,080 --> 00:34:27,360 Speaker 1: a lot more sense. So for example, not running AFTERBB 634 00:34:27,480 --> 00:34:31,680 Speaker 1: like a startup or a company that seeks that's everybody else? 635 00:34:31,800 --> 00:34:35,759 Speaker 1: Does that? Everybody? We want? Interesting? The premise is that 636 00:34:35,920 --> 00:34:40,320 Speaker 1: your social network, your digital gathering space, your online community 637 00:34:40,760 --> 00:34:42,960 Speaker 1: needs to be a business totally. And you said no 638 00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:45,799 Speaker 1: one needs to be a city. To continue on what 639 00:34:45,880 --> 00:34:48,080 Speaker 1: that difference feels like. Yeah, and so when you call 640 00:34:48,160 --> 00:34:50,560 Speaker 1: something a business, a business exists to drudge profit and 641 00:34:50,640 --> 00:34:53,680 Speaker 1: profit comes from hopefully your revenue is more than your expenses, 642 00:34:53,719 --> 00:34:57,399 Speaker 1: and then that extra amount gets distributed to owners. Cooperatives 643 00:34:57,400 --> 00:35:01,960 Speaker 1: are interesting because that surplus gets distributed to the entire pie. 644 00:35:02,160 --> 00:35:05,920 Speaker 1: But we were really interested in a city framework because 645 00:35:05,920 --> 00:35:09,920 Speaker 1: we thought, instead of thinking about pure profit, how do 646 00:35:09,960 --> 00:35:12,960 Speaker 1: we actually think about GDP, How do we actually think 647 00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:17,480 Speaker 1: about expanding economic activity of the network. How do we 648 00:35:17,520 --> 00:35:20,920 Speaker 1: actually think about income per individual? How can we think 649 00:35:20,920 --> 00:35:25,239 Speaker 1: about generating opportunities for people inside an FTVV? How do 650 00:35:25,280 --> 00:35:29,080 Speaker 1: we think about our import and our export strategy where 651 00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:32,800 Speaker 1: we can actually import goods and export goods and capture 652 00:35:32,880 --> 00:35:34,800 Speaker 1: fee on those goods that go back to the treasury 653 00:35:35,080 --> 00:35:38,840 Speaker 1: and utilize the community as a cooperative to essentially promote 654 00:35:38,880 --> 00:35:42,080 Speaker 1: and distribute those various different goods or products or services. 655 00:35:42,280 --> 00:35:44,320 Speaker 1: And so we began experimenting with a couple of things 656 00:35:44,600 --> 00:35:48,400 Speaker 1: to test that thesis out. Early on, we began to 657 00:35:48,400 --> 00:35:50,560 Speaker 1: create artwork in the form of NFTs. We had so 658 00:35:50,600 --> 00:35:54,600 Speaker 1: many artists, visual artists, graphic artists inside the community who 659 00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:59,560 Speaker 1: we're experimenting with NFT technology. And Eric, who an amazing designer, 660 00:36:00,040 --> 00:36:03,520 Speaker 1: created a project called Monarchs, which were these beautiful digitally 661 00:36:03,520 --> 00:36:06,120 Speaker 1: generative butterflies. And you know, he had a long back. 662 00:36:06,239 --> 00:36:08,080 Speaker 1: He was the creative director at Essence and Nike, and 663 00:36:08,239 --> 00:36:12,520 Speaker 1: he created this amazing butterfly project that generated three million 664 00:36:12,560 --> 00:36:15,680 Speaker 1: dollars in terms of primary sales, and he chose to 665 00:36:15,719 --> 00:36:18,240 Speaker 1: give f TOWB you know, ten percent of that revenue 666 00:36:18,239 --> 00:36:20,600 Speaker 1: back to the treasury in exchange for the community itself 667 00:36:20,640 --> 00:36:25,680 Speaker 1: supporting and uplifting that artist. That generated you know, close 668 00:36:25,719 --> 00:36:28,360 Speaker 1: to half a million, seven hundred thousand dollars within the 669 00:36:28,400 --> 00:36:31,000 Speaker 1: course of that sale, which then we used to begin 670 00:36:31,040 --> 00:36:34,160 Speaker 1: to fund various different art programs and other experiences inside 671 00:36:34,160 --> 00:36:38,320 Speaker 1: of F TOWB. So, you know, thinking about the idea that, okay, 672 00:36:38,320 --> 00:36:41,800 Speaker 1: how do we actually expand economic activity of a cohort 673 00:36:41,840 --> 00:36:46,040 Speaker 1: of individuals as opposed to primary business models of communities 674 00:36:46,040 --> 00:36:49,799 Speaker 1: to date, which are like recurring subscriptions, were charging an 675 00:36:49,960 --> 00:36:54,120 Speaker 1: entry fee and monetizing explicitly on how many users come 676 00:36:54,200 --> 00:36:57,880 Speaker 1: in to your individual network. So let me pause you there. 677 00:36:58,520 --> 00:37:00,759 Speaker 1: The example that you gave. My first question was like, 678 00:37:00,800 --> 00:37:04,120 Speaker 1: why would an artist run it through FWB when they 679 00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:06,560 Speaker 1: can just launch their thing? But there was a value 680 00:37:06,560 --> 00:37:10,239 Speaker 1: exchange of the kind right promotion distribution marketing, which could 681 00:37:10,239 --> 00:37:13,839 Speaker 1: cost money. Your GDP analogy is really interesting to me, 682 00:37:13,880 --> 00:37:16,160 Speaker 1: and I saw a comment from Tanya Fox and the 683 00:37:16,239 --> 00:37:18,279 Speaker 1: chat Hello Tanya, So I want to plug this one 684 00:37:18,320 --> 00:37:22,120 Speaker 1: in right now. There's limits to the value of GDP, 685 00:37:22,520 --> 00:37:26,080 Speaker 1: right Like GDP doesn't capture all sorts of things. GDP 686 00:37:26,440 --> 00:37:29,560 Speaker 1: is a measure of planetary destruction in some ways as well. 687 00:37:29,960 --> 00:37:34,800 Speaker 1: So how much does your city metaphor adhere to methods 688 00:37:34,800 --> 00:37:37,200 Speaker 1: of city management that we're trying to get away from 689 00:37:37,880 --> 00:37:42,960 Speaker 1: versus more sustainable, regenerative ways of managing city collectively that 690 00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:46,680 Speaker 1: we want to approach and be more like? Yeah, absolutely, 691 00:37:46,719 --> 00:37:49,400 Speaker 1: I mean obviously our city analogy is is quite theoretical. 692 00:37:49,680 --> 00:37:54,840 Speaker 1: We're very much not leaning exclusively on running urban infrastructure 693 00:37:54,840 --> 00:37:57,600 Speaker 1: play here. I think it's really just looking at really 694 00:37:57,680 --> 00:38:02,560 Speaker 1: alternatives to running profit in businesses in terms of community 695 00:38:02,960 --> 00:38:06,800 Speaker 1: organized platforms. So it's really less about like, oh, everything 696 00:38:06,800 --> 00:38:08,920 Speaker 1: we do has to follow the city analogy. It's more 697 00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:14,040 Speaker 1: borrowing and remixing components that feel more organic to community 698 00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:16,920 Speaker 1: driven projects. And so I at least believe that if 699 00:38:16,920 --> 00:38:20,600 Speaker 1: your primary product are users and people, there should be 700 00:38:20,640 --> 00:38:23,520 Speaker 1: a way to attribute value and grow value for those individuals, 701 00:38:23,560 --> 00:38:27,000 Speaker 1: as opposed to just purely extracting value from those individuals. 702 00:38:29,040 --> 00:38:32,320 Speaker 1: After the break, what elections and voting on the blockchain 703 00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:35,439 Speaker 1: look like and what we can learn about economics from 704 00:38:35,440 --> 00:38:39,080 Speaker 1: the club. Yes, we talk in nightclubs. It's such a 705 00:38:39,080 --> 00:38:51,080 Speaker 1: great episode. I'm curious about the decision making structure of FWB. 706 00:38:51,880 --> 00:38:54,800 Speaker 1: You don't as mayor impose your will in the community. 707 00:38:54,960 --> 00:38:58,040 Speaker 1: You've talked about people floating proposals and their tokens allow 708 00:38:58,120 --> 00:39:01,040 Speaker 1: them to vote, but high level of view how our 709 00:39:01,120 --> 00:39:04,200 Speaker 1: decisions made and how our proposals floated and voted a 710 00:39:04,280 --> 00:39:06,600 Speaker 1: pun So right now, I would I always say the 711 00:39:06,719 --> 00:39:09,680 Speaker 1: FWB runs much more like a representative democracy as opposed 712 00:39:09,680 --> 00:39:12,160 Speaker 1: to a direct democracy. So we've had a lot of 713 00:39:12,239 --> 00:39:14,520 Speaker 1: roles that have been sort of put up for a vote, 714 00:39:14,560 --> 00:39:16,719 Speaker 1: an election, and then the community votes that person in 715 00:39:16,960 --> 00:39:19,279 Speaker 1: because I believe, you know, tragedy of the comments. You know, 716 00:39:19,480 --> 00:39:21,280 Speaker 1: the whole notion that if you have just like thousands 717 00:39:21,320 --> 00:39:23,640 Speaker 1: of people making thousands of decisions, you know, you kind 718 00:39:23,640 --> 00:39:25,719 Speaker 1: of get a pretty chaotic mess. But if you have 719 00:39:25,760 --> 00:39:28,720 Speaker 1: a thousand people sort of electing a group of decision 720 00:39:28,719 --> 00:39:30,839 Speaker 1: makers with the right sort of checks and balances put 721 00:39:30,880 --> 00:39:35,200 Speaker 1: in place of sort of say impeachment in an extreme scenario, 722 00:39:35,600 --> 00:39:37,880 Speaker 1: to just various different checkpoints along the way, you can 723 00:39:37,880 --> 00:39:41,920 Speaker 1: actually run a somewhat symbiotic, flat sort of leadership structure. 724 00:39:41,920 --> 00:39:44,160 Speaker 1: Because the truth is also a majority of people don't 725 00:39:44,200 --> 00:39:45,600 Speaker 1: want to lead. A lot of people just want to 726 00:39:45,640 --> 00:39:47,640 Speaker 1: be along for the ride. Not everyone wants to like 727 00:39:47,760 --> 00:39:52,000 Speaker 1: necessarily work inside of a cooperative. And so in our instance, 728 00:39:52,280 --> 00:39:53,600 Speaker 1: I would say, you know, a third and a half 729 00:39:53,640 --> 00:39:55,960 Speaker 1: of our roles have been elected in terms of like 730 00:39:55,960 --> 00:39:57,759 Speaker 1: the community as some role where it's you know, whether 731 00:39:57,760 --> 00:40:00,920 Speaker 1: there's the city representatives or they're in specific roles, and 732 00:40:00,960 --> 00:40:03,080 Speaker 1: then other roles are a little bit more evergreen, as 733 00:40:03,120 --> 00:40:05,279 Speaker 1: it's a little bit of like just keeping you know, 734 00:40:05,360 --> 00:40:06,640 Speaker 1: at the end of the day, like a lot of 735 00:40:06,680 --> 00:40:08,879 Speaker 1: this is theoretical and where we are like a two 736 00:40:08,960 --> 00:40:11,480 Speaker 1: year old experiment that a lot of it requires just 737 00:40:11,560 --> 00:40:14,000 Speaker 1: keeping the lights on, you know, our legal team, our 738 00:40:14,080 --> 00:40:17,319 Speaker 1: operational team, myself, like various different folks. Where if I 739 00:40:17,360 --> 00:40:19,160 Speaker 1: was just going up for election every single year, I 740 00:40:19,200 --> 00:40:21,960 Speaker 1: think it would get quite exhausting quite soon. But the 741 00:40:22,000 --> 00:40:25,520 Speaker 1: goal very much is as FTBB continues to decentralize. It 742 00:40:25,560 --> 00:40:28,719 Speaker 1: was started centrally by one person with a founder. It's 743 00:40:28,719 --> 00:40:32,560 Speaker 1: now past leadership hands multiple times. I anticipate my involvement 744 00:40:32,840 --> 00:40:35,000 Speaker 1: in a sort of a mayoral capacity for another year 745 00:40:35,080 --> 00:40:37,440 Speaker 1: or so before another person is able to step in. 746 00:40:37,760 --> 00:40:40,080 Speaker 1: Once we've hit a couple of key sort of legal 747 00:40:40,120 --> 00:40:43,520 Speaker 1: milestones and operational milestones of how it can function, that 748 00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:46,799 Speaker 1: f TOBB can continue to decentralize and be governed by 749 00:40:46,800 --> 00:40:49,359 Speaker 1: its token holders or its community. What does the town 750 00:40:49,440 --> 00:40:52,239 Speaker 1: hall feel like? How do those operate? How many people 751 00:40:52,280 --> 00:40:55,080 Speaker 1: show they're electric? It's I mean literally because they're on 752 00:40:55,120 --> 00:40:59,200 Speaker 1: like a server. Yeah exactly that man figuratively. But they're fun. 753 00:40:59,280 --> 00:41:01,000 Speaker 1: You know, they're there are a chance for us to 754 00:41:01,080 --> 00:41:04,040 Speaker 1: check in, me, to check in with the community. You know, 755 00:41:04,080 --> 00:41:06,000 Speaker 1: we'll throw them on zoom no different like this. People 756 00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:08,360 Speaker 1: are chatting all day and asking questions. You know, we 757 00:41:08,520 --> 00:41:10,680 Speaker 1: usually have some sort of a presentation. It's almost like 758 00:41:10,719 --> 00:41:13,560 Speaker 1: our board meeting where we'll present to the community of 759 00:41:13,560 --> 00:41:18,600 Speaker 1: like metrics, projects, accomplishments, areas of improvement, and then we 760 00:41:18,640 --> 00:41:20,520 Speaker 1: open it up for questions. And so it's a mix 761 00:41:20,600 --> 00:41:23,600 Speaker 1: between a town hall to an Apple keynote presentation of 762 00:41:23,840 --> 00:41:27,400 Speaker 1: exciting shiny products and events and things that have emerged 763 00:41:27,440 --> 00:41:29,920 Speaker 1: from the community. And it's very much round robin where 764 00:41:29,960 --> 00:41:32,320 Speaker 1: we pass the mic around and allow different folks in 765 00:41:32,400 --> 00:41:35,279 Speaker 1: different sort of team leads who've worked on really great 766 00:41:35,280 --> 00:41:37,600 Speaker 1: projects to share what they're working on. You know, from 767 00:41:37,600 --> 00:41:40,640 Speaker 1: our editor of an editorial platform that sort of covers 768 00:41:40,800 --> 00:41:45,080 Speaker 1: news and essays across culture and Web three, and that 769 00:41:45,120 --> 00:41:48,040 Speaker 1: has a really interesting perspective. In POV, it's definitely more 770 00:41:48,080 --> 00:41:50,400 Speaker 1: on the more critical side of Web three, which we 771 00:41:50,480 --> 00:41:52,319 Speaker 1: love in terms of ways it can improve. And it's 772 00:41:52,360 --> 00:41:56,560 Speaker 1: not just crypto crypto crypto, but talking about the downsides 773 00:41:56,560 --> 00:41:59,279 Speaker 1: of constitution dow and how it lost its way, or 774 00:42:00,040 --> 00:42:02,960 Speaker 1: you know, diversity issues of diversity and inclusion in Web 775 00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:05,040 Speaker 1: three and how that can be improved, all the way 776 00:42:05,080 --> 00:42:07,239 Speaker 1: to our product team providing updates. But yeah, it's very 777 00:42:07,280 --> 00:42:09,279 Speaker 1: much like a fun way where we're able to check 778 00:42:09,320 --> 00:42:11,319 Speaker 1: in and communicate information as well as create a space 779 00:42:11,320 --> 00:42:13,960 Speaker 1: where people can just share how their experiences. So you've 780 00:42:14,400 --> 00:42:18,040 Speaker 1: used this representative democracy analogy. You even have town halls 781 00:42:18,080 --> 00:42:21,239 Speaker 1: like physical cities. Do I'm wondering if you also see 782 00:42:21,320 --> 00:42:26,759 Speaker 1: FWB as this sandbox for experiments for ways to practice 783 00:42:27,080 --> 00:42:31,560 Speaker 1: new methods of communal self governance. Yeah. Absolutely, I mean 784 00:42:31,600 --> 00:42:33,440 Speaker 1: the whole thing is a massive experiment every day and 785 00:42:33,440 --> 00:42:35,880 Speaker 1: we tell ourselves that, and within that experiment is a 786 00:42:35,920 --> 00:42:38,960 Speaker 1: myriad of micro experiments from like quorum based voting to 787 00:42:39,080 --> 00:42:42,120 Speaker 1: quadratic voting systems. Like we're really much on the forefront 788 00:42:42,120 --> 00:42:45,520 Speaker 1: of exploring new forms of voting mechanics that are beyond 789 00:42:45,960 --> 00:42:48,680 Speaker 1: one person, one vote or one token one vote. But 790 00:42:48,800 --> 00:42:51,440 Speaker 1: instead let me Yeah, I do want to get wonky 791 00:42:51,440 --> 00:42:53,920 Speaker 1: about that, because I think part of the spirit of 792 00:42:53,960 --> 00:42:56,680 Speaker 1: my question is I think so many of us feel 793 00:42:57,200 --> 00:43:03,840 Speaker 1: collectively uninspired by democratic small D democratic practice actually means. 794 00:43:04,239 --> 00:43:07,279 Speaker 1: And so we have our ritual voting experience, and we 795 00:43:07,360 --> 00:43:10,600 Speaker 1: have our built in lack of faith and trust in 796 00:43:10,640 --> 00:43:14,120 Speaker 1: our representatives in our representative democracy, and we are fatigued 797 00:43:14,200 --> 00:43:16,759 Speaker 1: by the influence of outside money and all these things. Cool. Cool, 798 00:43:17,000 --> 00:43:20,439 Speaker 1: So yes, double tap on that one. In terms of 799 00:43:20,480 --> 00:43:23,319 Speaker 1: the decision making tools you are playing with, can you 800 00:43:23,400 --> 00:43:26,680 Speaker 1: define the quadratic voting, define the quorum based thing as 801 00:43:26,719 --> 00:43:29,200 Speaker 1: opposed to just one token, one vote, one person, one 802 00:43:29,280 --> 00:43:31,680 Speaker 1: vote as we know in the outside world. Yeah, totally, 803 00:43:31,800 --> 00:43:35,160 Speaker 1: So trout voting frameworks one person, one vote, Right, you're 804 00:43:35,160 --> 00:43:38,120 Speaker 1: a citizen's sort of registered to your identification, you can 805 00:43:38,120 --> 00:43:41,080 Speaker 1: cost one vote. In crypto, that's a little bit more 806 00:43:41,160 --> 00:43:43,680 Speaker 1: hard because of what it's called civilly resistant, meaning it's 807 00:43:43,680 --> 00:43:47,080 Speaker 1: actually very difficult to verify that one person is actually 808 00:43:47,080 --> 00:43:50,680 Speaker 1: one person, right, because it's one wallet, one vote, and 809 00:43:50,719 --> 00:43:53,799 Speaker 1: so someone can create hundreds of ghost wallets and be 810 00:43:53,880 --> 00:43:59,040 Speaker 1: able to vote because there's no real identification system in cryptocurrency. Honestly, 811 00:43:59,080 --> 00:44:01,640 Speaker 1: no different than being able to spin up dozens of 812 00:44:01,680 --> 00:44:04,600 Speaker 1: fake Facebook accounts to be able to go right, because 813 00:44:04,600 --> 00:44:08,120 Speaker 1: you just create infinite email addresses, create up new Facebook accounts, 814 00:44:08,160 --> 00:44:10,839 Speaker 1: and then imagine that tied to a voting heroistory. So 815 00:44:11,320 --> 00:44:15,239 Speaker 1: that's one person, one vote, one wallet, one vote. Then 816 00:44:15,239 --> 00:44:18,400 Speaker 1: there's one token, one vote, which obviously the red flags 817 00:44:18,400 --> 00:44:19,920 Speaker 1: go off of like, well, if you just have more tokens, 818 00:44:19,960 --> 00:44:22,000 Speaker 1: you get more voting. So then they begin just how 819 00:44:22,040 --> 00:44:25,399 Speaker 1: your current system feels like it works exactly. So then 820 00:44:25,520 --> 00:44:28,279 Speaker 1: que quadratic voting, which is a way to sort of 821 00:44:28,880 --> 00:44:32,760 Speaker 1: de emphasize one token, one vote while still giving power 822 00:44:32,800 --> 00:44:37,440 Speaker 1: to people who have accumulated tokens, because ultimately accumulating tokens 823 00:44:37,480 --> 00:44:40,479 Speaker 1: doesn't necessarily have to be singularly a bad thing. Many 824 00:44:40,480 --> 00:44:43,960 Speaker 1: people enough to bebe earned their tokens for contributing and 825 00:44:44,040 --> 00:44:46,600 Speaker 1: working and showing up to events, and so one might 826 00:44:46,680 --> 00:44:51,719 Speaker 1: posit you deserve more say in the network because you 827 00:44:51,760 --> 00:44:54,840 Speaker 1: actively have shown up and you've actively been to town halls, 828 00:44:55,120 --> 00:44:57,600 Speaker 1: and you are a valued member of this network. So 829 00:44:57,719 --> 00:45:01,280 Speaker 1: quadratic is essentially a way to create an add weight 830 00:45:01,719 --> 00:45:04,400 Speaker 1: in voting of those tokens, and it allows for you 831 00:45:04,440 --> 00:45:09,880 Speaker 1: to place a level of confidence quadratically into quadrants to 832 00:45:10,000 --> 00:45:13,720 Speaker 1: say this is how much I actually care about this decision, 833 00:45:14,239 --> 00:45:17,560 Speaker 1: And it condenses the level of voting so that let's 834 00:45:17,560 --> 00:45:19,240 Speaker 1: say you have one token and I have one hundred 835 00:45:19,280 --> 00:45:22,400 Speaker 1: tokens on a one token, one vote, that would be 836 00:45:22,480 --> 00:45:24,680 Speaker 1: very stark, and a more quadratic format that might be 837 00:45:24,719 --> 00:45:27,880 Speaker 1: trunk because the weight that you're applying to yours. You 838 00:45:27,960 --> 00:45:31,640 Speaker 1: might your total sum exactly. You might be like, you 839 00:45:31,640 --> 00:45:33,520 Speaker 1: know what, I actually don't care about this that much, 840 00:45:33,719 --> 00:45:35,040 Speaker 1: so I'm going to put on a one to ten. 841 00:45:35,080 --> 00:45:37,759 Speaker 1: I'm going to allocate ten percent to this. But you know, 842 00:45:37,800 --> 00:45:39,520 Speaker 1: it'd be cool if it passes, but my life doesn't 843 00:45:39,600 --> 00:45:42,960 Speaker 1: change if it doesn't. Versus a major proposal, and like 844 00:45:43,520 --> 00:45:46,200 Speaker 1: everything is on the line, like you know, an election. 845 00:45:46,320 --> 00:45:50,920 Speaker 1: We explored quadratic polling with Audrey Tangue from Taiwan, and 846 00:45:51,040 --> 00:45:54,600 Speaker 1: exactly this infrastructure, which just reveals a different level I 847 00:45:54,600 --> 00:45:58,800 Speaker 1: would say, a lower level of seeming polarization. Yes, because 848 00:45:58,800 --> 00:46:00,440 Speaker 1: when you ask by any request and did you get 849 00:46:00,480 --> 00:46:04,120 Speaker 1: binary answers exactly weighted questions and you get weighted and 850 00:46:04,440 --> 00:46:06,840 Speaker 1: nucunced answers, and so counting votes in that way is 851 00:46:06,880 --> 00:46:11,880 Speaker 1: also very interesting. Why, Alex, other than the sort of 852 00:46:11,920 --> 00:46:17,040 Speaker 1: potential scamming of like multiple wallets coordinating to vote attacks, 853 00:46:17,760 --> 00:46:21,719 Speaker 1: what is your incentive to experiment with these methods of 854 00:46:22,120 --> 00:46:25,640 Speaker 1: digital civic participation? Why are you messing around? I just 855 00:46:25,680 --> 00:46:28,600 Speaker 1: think it's fun, you know, I think like I think 856 00:46:28,640 --> 00:46:31,920 Speaker 1: like so much of civics is boring right now and unengaged, 857 00:46:31,960 --> 00:46:33,799 Speaker 1: and like you said, we're all bored and looking for 858 00:46:33,880 --> 00:46:36,400 Speaker 1: new outcomes and new ways to engage with those outcomes. 859 00:46:36,400 --> 00:46:40,399 Speaker 1: And I think for us, like where overall, civic participation 860 00:46:40,560 --> 00:46:43,279 Speaker 1: is probably waning, and the younger kids get, the less 861 00:46:43,280 --> 00:46:46,880 Speaker 1: they even care, it seems, and ultimately we're interested in 862 00:46:46,920 --> 00:46:49,719 Speaker 1: shifting that narrative and that perception of civic participation to 863 00:46:49,840 --> 00:46:53,640 Speaker 1: not just equating to voting in a presidential election or 864 00:46:53,719 --> 00:46:57,320 Speaker 1: voting in a local, you know, district election, but insteady 865 00:46:57,800 --> 00:47:01,239 Speaker 1: voting in spaces you care about being one of them, 866 00:47:01,280 --> 00:47:04,440 Speaker 1: digital being one that our kids are probably spending eighty 867 00:47:04,480 --> 00:47:08,040 Speaker 1: percent of their days and lives in. And so I 868 00:47:08,080 --> 00:47:12,480 Speaker 1: think creating more interesting ways for people to have a 869 00:47:12,600 --> 00:47:15,919 Speaker 1: say in their digital spaces that doesn't need to feel 870 00:47:15,920 --> 00:47:19,799 Speaker 1: so complicated but can feel fun is something that we 871 00:47:19,840 --> 00:47:21,840 Speaker 1: really really care about. So a fun example for that 872 00:47:21,840 --> 00:47:24,759 Speaker 1: would be we started organizing these events through the community 873 00:47:24,880 --> 00:47:27,200 Speaker 1: all over the world, and we thought, wouldn't it be 874 00:47:27,200 --> 00:47:29,839 Speaker 1: fun if we could actually elect city leads to top 875 00:47:29,880 --> 00:47:32,040 Speaker 1: in a little bit more budget to throw bigger and 876 00:47:32,120 --> 00:47:35,080 Speaker 1: more fun events and almost have a little bit more 877 00:47:35,520 --> 00:47:40,399 Speaker 1: sort of jurisdiction over a specific city and oh yeah, 878 00:47:40,440 --> 00:47:43,319 Speaker 1: a little bit more autonomy. And so what we ended 879 00:47:43,360 --> 00:47:47,600 Speaker 1: up seeing was dozens of people apply, submit campaign videos, 880 00:47:47,640 --> 00:47:52,480 Speaker 1: create campaign strategies to become the LA lead in the 881 00:47:52,520 --> 00:47:54,759 Speaker 1: New York lead, in a London lead, in San Francisco lead. 882 00:47:54,960 --> 00:47:57,240 Speaker 1: And then all that was running in a massive election 883 00:47:57,680 --> 00:48:01,160 Speaker 1: where we had people like postering and going on podcasts. 884 00:48:01,200 --> 00:48:03,759 Speaker 1: It was so fun to see and all of that 885 00:48:03,840 --> 00:48:06,120 Speaker 1: to me was just like, I hope this encourages people 886 00:48:06,200 --> 00:48:08,640 Speaker 1: just to even go out and vote in their towns 887 00:48:08,719 --> 00:48:10,759 Speaker 1: and their cities, because clearly you can see how fun 888 00:48:10,840 --> 00:48:13,759 Speaker 1: this is to just give people power and to pick 889 00:48:13,800 --> 00:48:15,959 Speaker 1: your favor in a root for someone on a micro level, 890 00:48:16,000 --> 00:48:19,600 Speaker 1: which I think local is important, and that local, you know, 891 00:48:19,640 --> 00:48:21,720 Speaker 1: sort of just drives more engagement because it feels closer 892 00:48:21,719 --> 00:48:24,520 Speaker 1: to home. Yo, you were singing my tune. I don't 893 00:48:24,560 --> 00:48:26,440 Speaker 1: know that I've ever shared with you that I was 894 00:48:27,080 --> 00:48:29,200 Speaker 1: mayor a four square Like I won an award for 895 00:48:29,239 --> 00:48:32,399 Speaker 1: being the best mayor in the four Square universe and 896 00:48:32,920 --> 00:48:35,760 Speaker 1: I competed with someone for the mayorship of one Venue 897 00:48:35,800 --> 00:48:38,440 Speaker 1: in New York City and Nolita, and we had campaign 898 00:48:38,520 --> 00:48:41,560 Speaker 1: rallies and we both signs and we did. We picketed 899 00:48:41,600 --> 00:48:45,319 Speaker 1: each other's moments, and it just it made civics fun, 900 00:48:45,360 --> 00:48:48,319 Speaker 1: even though that was a sandbox we were playing and 901 00:48:48,360 --> 00:48:50,520 Speaker 1: we had no ownership over the platform plan the main 902 00:48:50,600 --> 00:48:53,160 Speaker 1: technology fun. I mean, that sounds so fun four square 903 00:48:53,200 --> 00:48:55,360 Speaker 1: back then, and like now we're left with these massive, 904 00:48:55,360 --> 00:48:58,840 Speaker 1: behemoth social networks that don't feel fun anymore. So I 905 00:48:58,880 --> 00:49:01,760 Speaker 1: want to build on that, and I'm seeing a bridge 906 00:49:02,120 --> 00:49:04,120 Speaker 1: and I hope that this is where it can go. 907 00:49:04,160 --> 00:49:08,080 Speaker 1: If more people participate in social taws like this with 908 00:49:08,239 --> 00:49:12,359 Speaker 1: the city metaphor rather than the business growth metaphor, it's 909 00:49:12,400 --> 00:49:15,680 Speaker 1: a chance to play around with democratic culture. It's a 910 00:49:15,760 --> 00:49:19,640 Speaker 1: chance to kind of use those muscles of not just voting, 911 00:49:19,840 --> 00:49:24,520 Speaker 1: even quadratically, but contributing. What you described about sort of 912 00:49:24,680 --> 00:49:30,120 Speaker 1: having your civic contributions recognized by attending events, by showing 913 00:49:30,200 --> 00:49:33,200 Speaker 1: up for town hall meetings, by bringing your offerings to 914 00:49:33,200 --> 00:49:36,680 Speaker 1: the community, to participate even economically, and that rather than 915 00:49:36,719 --> 00:49:40,080 Speaker 1: just keeping it to yourself, so resource distribution. I want 916 00:49:40,120 --> 00:49:43,880 Speaker 1: to see that practice replicated beyond the discord server right, 917 00:49:43,920 --> 00:49:48,280 Speaker 1: and beyond the FWB app. Do you see that bridge happening. 918 00:49:48,360 --> 00:49:52,399 Speaker 1: Do you think that this online civic innovation practice can 919 00:49:52,440 --> 00:49:56,279 Speaker 1: affect our offline civic innovation practice. Yeah. Absolutely. I think 920 00:49:56,320 --> 00:49:58,359 Speaker 1: it's all modeled behavior, right. I think if people can 921 00:49:58,400 --> 00:50:01,600 Speaker 1: begin to see that these annas are fun and they 922 00:50:01,600 --> 00:50:04,120 Speaker 1: work and they can improve something, it might restore faith 923 00:50:04,160 --> 00:50:07,000 Speaker 1: in the overall system and structure itself, which then might 924 00:50:07,080 --> 00:50:09,640 Speaker 1: encourage more sort of ripple out effects for people to 925 00:50:09,680 --> 00:50:12,160 Speaker 1: get involved in their own local organizations or their own 926 00:50:12,160 --> 00:50:15,759 Speaker 1: local cooperatives or groups. So our focus at least is 927 00:50:15,800 --> 00:50:18,320 Speaker 1: to really think about, you know, the role that crypto 928 00:50:18,400 --> 00:50:20,560 Speaker 1: can plain culture. You know, we want to be advocates 929 00:50:20,760 --> 00:50:23,640 Speaker 1: of crypto. We know crypto has been cursed with a 930 00:50:23,680 --> 00:50:26,359 Speaker 1: case of really really bad pr and rightfully so, tons 931 00:50:26,400 --> 00:50:29,280 Speaker 1: of scammers, tons of charlatans. It's a very muddled space, 932 00:50:29,840 --> 00:50:32,680 Speaker 1: but for us, we care about being advocates for it. 933 00:50:32,960 --> 00:50:35,399 Speaker 1: We threw an event in New York at Good Room, 934 00:50:35,440 --> 00:50:38,360 Speaker 1: a legendary club in green Point that was really struggling 935 00:50:38,440 --> 00:50:41,040 Speaker 1: during COVID, a bar venue that has been a sort 936 00:50:41,040 --> 00:50:43,840 Speaker 1: of a bedrock of Brooklyn for ten years. And we 937 00:50:43,920 --> 00:50:46,560 Speaker 1: threw a party, and we did an auction with all 938 00:50:46,560 --> 00:50:49,080 Speaker 1: the proceeds to go to that venue and raised sixty 939 00:50:49,120 --> 00:50:52,440 Speaker 1: seventy k in crypto and taught that venue how to 940 00:50:52,440 --> 00:50:55,560 Speaker 1: set up a wallet, had to custody that those assets, 941 00:50:55,560 --> 00:50:58,560 Speaker 1: how to earn you more of those assets that ultimately 942 00:50:58,640 --> 00:51:00,960 Speaker 1: they said helped them achieve fifty cent of their fundraising goal, 943 00:51:01,040 --> 00:51:03,400 Speaker 1: be a kickscharter. Things like that. We just want to 944 00:51:03,400 --> 00:51:05,319 Speaker 1: show people that crypto doesn't all have to be bad. 945 00:51:05,520 --> 00:51:07,880 Speaker 1: It doesn't all have to be about gatekeeping. Isn't all 946 00:51:07,920 --> 00:51:10,959 Speaker 1: have to be about scams. There's people building interesting things 947 00:51:10,960 --> 00:51:13,440 Speaker 1: in this space. It's coming whether we like it or not. 948 00:51:13,960 --> 00:51:16,120 Speaker 1: And we hope to be one of those corners of 949 00:51:16,120 --> 00:51:19,600 Speaker 1: the Internet that uses crypto in an interesting way to 950 00:51:19,600 --> 00:51:22,400 Speaker 1: show folks that it can accrue different forms of value 951 00:51:22,400 --> 00:51:25,560 Speaker 1: beyond just financial and it can lead to stronger human coordination, 952 00:51:26,040 --> 00:51:29,080 Speaker 1: can lead to better incentive design, and can hopefully create 953 00:51:29,160 --> 00:51:32,360 Speaker 1: new digital spaces that are more closely and sort of 954 00:51:32,360 --> 00:51:36,319 Speaker 1: self or community governed than our existing options. I want 955 00:51:36,320 --> 00:51:39,640 Speaker 1: to spend three more hours with you. I can't do that. 956 00:51:40,040 --> 00:51:42,759 Speaker 1: What I can do, though, is reflect briefly on the 957 00:51:42,800 --> 00:51:46,200 Speaker 1: crypto comment as a bridge to the role of economics 958 00:51:46,440 --> 00:51:51,080 Speaker 1: in general. You've cited Wendell Berry, this poet, novelist, environmentalist, 959 00:51:51,480 --> 00:51:55,320 Speaker 1: saying a community to be whole must also be an economy. 960 00:51:55,880 --> 00:51:58,920 Speaker 1: My cards are open, I hold some crypto assets. I'm 961 00:51:58,960 --> 00:52:01,680 Speaker 1: a member of some dolls. I'm also deeply critical of 962 00:52:01,719 --> 00:52:04,120 Speaker 1: the idea that we need to financialize things in order 963 00:52:04,160 --> 00:52:07,240 Speaker 1: to innovate them, while I'm also excited by new models 964 00:52:07,239 --> 00:52:13,120 Speaker 1: of ownership. So I'm conflicted, but informedly optimistically skeptical, and 965 00:52:13,520 --> 00:52:16,120 Speaker 1: hearing that quote about community to be real must also 966 00:52:16,160 --> 00:52:19,040 Speaker 1: be an economy that rubs me a little odd. It 967 00:52:19,120 --> 00:52:21,480 Speaker 1: sounds a little controversial, and I'm like, does it though, 968 00:52:21,800 --> 00:52:24,760 Speaker 1: at least the way we have recognized economy with infinite 969 00:52:24,760 --> 00:52:26,520 Speaker 1: growth and all the harm that comes along with it. 970 00:52:26,880 --> 00:52:29,799 Speaker 1: So can you just explore that a little bit with me? 971 00:52:29,880 --> 00:52:31,920 Speaker 1: What do you mean by that? Why do you cite 972 00:52:31,960 --> 00:52:34,080 Speaker 1: that statement, and how do you think it means we 973 00:52:34,080 --> 00:52:39,040 Speaker 1: should practice community truly? Yeah, I love that question. I 974 00:52:39,080 --> 00:52:42,040 Speaker 1: think we need to decouple the definition of economy from 975 00:52:42,040 --> 00:52:46,120 Speaker 1: like late stage capitalistic American economy. I think economy as 976 00:52:46,160 --> 00:52:50,840 Speaker 1: a definition is just an exchange. And so when I 977 00:52:50,880 --> 00:52:53,840 Speaker 1: say that a community to be whole must also be 978 00:52:53,840 --> 00:52:56,279 Speaker 1: an economy, I do not mean a community to be 979 00:52:56,320 --> 00:52:59,959 Speaker 1: a whole must be a late stage capitalist profit driven 980 00:53:00,080 --> 00:53:03,040 Speaker 1: to tea. An economy doesn't even need necessarily be money. 981 00:53:03,239 --> 00:53:06,200 Speaker 1: It can be an economy of non financial goods. You know, 982 00:53:06,239 --> 00:53:08,560 Speaker 1: if you study sort of like who the author but 983 00:53:08,640 --> 00:53:11,280 Speaker 1: debt the first thousand years, the first quarter of the book, 984 00:53:11,680 --> 00:53:13,800 Speaker 1: like it's the history of debt and how debt was created, 985 00:53:14,200 --> 00:53:17,720 Speaker 1: and they study how most of these sort of groups 986 00:53:17,719 --> 00:53:22,360 Speaker 1: and tribes and organizations of people existed and scaled by trading, 987 00:53:22,600 --> 00:53:26,120 Speaker 1: you know, leila cloths and seashells and various different goods, 988 00:53:26,239 --> 00:53:28,600 Speaker 1: and currency was just the most effective way to actually 989 00:53:28,640 --> 00:53:31,799 Speaker 1: create a ledger of one goat equaling you know, six 990 00:53:31,880 --> 00:53:34,280 Speaker 1: cows or whatever. And I can only speak to the experience, 991 00:53:34,320 --> 00:53:36,239 Speaker 1: I know, as I'm not an economist, and I you know, 992 00:53:36,400 --> 00:53:40,840 Speaker 1: I'm a club kid. Clubs have economies. You're trading and 993 00:53:40,920 --> 00:53:47,400 Speaker 1: bartering backstage tickets, drugs, drink tickets, experiences, sex, whatever it 994 00:53:47,480 --> 00:53:51,280 Speaker 1: might be. There's an economy there, there's an exchange of energy, 995 00:53:51,360 --> 00:53:56,640 Speaker 1: there's an exchange of experiences. Because I think any community 996 00:53:56,640 --> 00:54:00,239 Speaker 1: that has actually begun to grow an identity, there is 997 00:54:00,239 --> 00:54:04,080 Speaker 1: always an inherent urge I believe to create, to create memes, 998 00:54:04,560 --> 00:54:06,799 Speaker 1: and I use memes. Is the broad conceptual thing, to 999 00:54:06,880 --> 00:54:12,160 Speaker 1: create shared language, to create culture, and an economy. An 1000 00:54:12,200 --> 00:54:14,880 Speaker 1: exchange of those components, whether the financial assets or non 1001 00:54:14,880 --> 00:54:19,160 Speaker 1: financial assets, feel incredibly native and organic, an emergent. And 1002 00:54:19,200 --> 00:54:21,279 Speaker 1: so yeah, when I quote Barry, I don't mean that 1003 00:54:21,320 --> 00:54:24,200 Speaker 1: every community needs to have a token, or every community 1004 00:54:24,440 --> 00:54:27,160 Speaker 1: needs to be financialized or should exist to drive profit. 1005 00:54:27,360 --> 00:54:30,160 Speaker 1: Any community that has meaning, there are probably ways in 1006 00:54:30,160 --> 00:54:33,120 Speaker 1: which that community exchanges things between each other. Whether it's 1007 00:54:33,120 --> 00:54:36,280 Speaker 1: a potlock and they all bring you food to a house, 1008 00:54:36,600 --> 00:54:39,440 Speaker 1: that's a form of an exchange of value being exchanged 1009 00:54:39,440 --> 00:54:42,680 Speaker 1: across one another. Thank you for that update. The book 1010 00:54:43,040 --> 00:54:48,320 Speaker 1: is Debt The First five Thousand Years by anthropologist David Graber. 1011 00:54:48,680 --> 00:54:53,440 Speaker 1: Y'all did a census, Mayor you did an FWB census, 1012 00:54:53,600 --> 00:54:55,799 Speaker 1: and we touched on this. You know. One of the 1013 00:54:55,840 --> 00:54:58,879 Speaker 1: pieces of feedback was that the discord was overwhelming, said 1014 00:54:58,880 --> 00:55:01,719 Speaker 1: it was a fire hose, And so you're trying to 1015 00:55:01,719 --> 00:55:03,920 Speaker 1: solve that, right, you already announced this app and that's 1016 00:55:03,920 --> 00:55:06,440 Speaker 1: going to help that out. But do you think in 1017 00:55:06,560 --> 00:55:10,680 Speaker 1: terms of the scale that a DOO could get how big? Right? 1018 00:55:10,719 --> 00:55:12,400 Speaker 1: Do you think a DOO could work at the scale 1019 00:55:12,400 --> 00:55:15,160 Speaker 1: of a nation or a major city or something in 1020 00:55:15,160 --> 00:55:18,640 Speaker 1: between a state. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean I'm not a 1021 00:55:18,719 --> 00:55:21,400 Speaker 1: huge subscriber of bology network state. I think he can 1022 00:55:21,480 --> 00:55:24,760 Speaker 1: be a little bit too techno utopian. But like BLOGI 1023 00:55:25,200 --> 00:55:28,360 Speaker 1: Strinivasian who wrote a book called Network State, which is 1024 00:55:28,400 --> 00:55:31,600 Speaker 1: digital cities and digital nation states. Look, yeah, I think 1025 00:55:31,640 --> 00:55:34,040 Speaker 1: dows could reach that scale, right. I think you're seeing 1026 00:55:34,080 --> 00:55:36,880 Speaker 1: dials that have now accrued sixty seventy eighty million dollars 1027 00:55:36,920 --> 00:55:41,560 Speaker 1: worth of assets, which could probably become comparable to super 1028 00:55:41,560 --> 00:55:43,919 Speaker 1: super small towns. I think it's only amount of time, 1029 00:55:44,239 --> 00:55:46,799 Speaker 1: our cities the only amoutter of time before some of 1030 00:55:46,800 --> 00:55:49,680 Speaker 1: those dows begin to actually connect and trade with each other, 1031 00:55:49,800 --> 00:55:52,600 Speaker 1: forming super dows. I think that's totally in the world 1032 00:55:52,600 --> 00:55:54,719 Speaker 1: for But I think maybe the question under your question 1033 00:55:54,760 --> 00:55:56,239 Speaker 1: is like, what does that actually look like? What does 1034 00:55:56,239 --> 00:55:59,120 Speaker 1: it take to get there? You know? I think ultimately 1035 00:56:00,080 --> 00:56:02,399 Speaker 1: anything that reaches the scale of a nation state will 1036 00:56:02,480 --> 00:56:05,880 Speaker 1: ultimately become a network of dows. There will be subdows 1037 00:56:05,880 --> 00:56:07,399 Speaker 1: as we call them in sort of our space, where 1038 00:56:07,440 --> 00:56:12,080 Speaker 1: you have micro committees or organizations that custody their own assets, 1039 00:56:12,120 --> 00:56:15,960 Speaker 1: that trade and interoperate with the parent dow organization in 1040 00:56:15,960 --> 00:56:19,200 Speaker 1: interesting ways. That ultimately that network itself, you can call it, 1041 00:56:19,239 --> 00:56:21,640 Speaker 1: you know, I don't know, federalist, you know, states versus 1042 00:56:21,640 --> 00:56:24,160 Speaker 1: the nation. However, people would want to structure it. Right now, 1043 00:56:24,160 --> 00:56:26,879 Speaker 1: it's still super early, and it's still super reflective based 1044 00:56:26,880 --> 00:56:29,040 Speaker 1: on a larger crypto economy. But I totally see a 1045 00:56:29,080 --> 00:56:31,840 Speaker 1: world of wunch. DOWS can reach very large sets of 1046 00:56:31,840 --> 00:56:34,440 Speaker 1: scale that end up becoming sort of networks or nests 1047 00:56:34,440 --> 00:56:38,719 Speaker 1: of smaller organizations. One thing that I'm intrigued by is 1048 00:56:39,160 --> 00:56:44,040 Speaker 1: I'm concerned about a divestment from the IRL universe in 1049 00:56:44,080 --> 00:56:47,480 Speaker 1: favor of online universes. I think that's what freaks me 1050 00:56:47,520 --> 00:56:51,000 Speaker 1: out so much about Zuckerberg's vision of the metaverse, that 1051 00:56:51,040 --> 00:56:52,799 Speaker 1: we're just going to live with goggle strapped to our 1052 00:56:52,840 --> 00:56:56,120 Speaker 1: faces and as it eventually, just have like catheters and 1053 00:56:56,239 --> 00:56:59,560 Speaker 1: feeding tubes and never leave our shelves. You know, well 1054 00:56:59,600 --> 00:57:01,560 Speaker 1: we kind of stored inside, but we'll have all this 1055 00:57:01,680 --> 00:57:05,200 Speaker 1: rich life through the screens. I want to see the combination, right, 1056 00:57:05,239 --> 00:57:07,640 Speaker 1: I want to see us use digital tools to enhance 1057 00:57:08,160 --> 00:57:11,120 Speaker 1: not just our digital lives, but our whole lives. And 1058 00:57:11,160 --> 00:57:14,160 Speaker 1: so thinking about DOWS, what if we flipped it a 1059 00:57:14,200 --> 00:57:17,160 Speaker 1: little bit and said Okay, you're already a member of 1060 00:57:17,200 --> 00:57:21,440 Speaker 1: an apartment complex or a county or a city, and 1061 00:57:21,880 --> 00:57:25,320 Speaker 1: as a part of that residential relationship or that physical relationship, 1062 00:57:25,840 --> 00:57:29,400 Speaker 1: you get a DOW membership too, to enhance your ability 1063 00:57:29,960 --> 00:57:32,720 Speaker 1: to self govern with others. And so you're not kind 1064 00:57:32,720 --> 00:57:36,600 Speaker 1: of trading one for the other, you're hopefully using one 1065 00:57:36,640 --> 00:57:39,360 Speaker 1: to inform the other. Have you seen anything like that? 1066 00:57:39,400 --> 00:57:41,800 Speaker 1: What do you think about that idea of kind of 1067 00:57:42,120 --> 00:57:46,600 Speaker 1: a complementary DOW or online governance community rather than a 1068 00:57:46,640 --> 00:57:50,160 Speaker 1: substitution for physical community. I mean, that's by far what's 1069 00:57:50,240 --> 00:57:52,479 Speaker 1: most exciting to us, right. I think we all don't 1070 00:57:52,560 --> 00:57:56,120 Speaker 1: subscribe to zucks Daddy Zucks, you know, metaverse link up, 1071 00:57:56,360 --> 00:57:59,360 Speaker 1: you know, goggle Verse is not interesting to us either. 1072 00:57:59,560 --> 00:58:03,520 Speaker 1: We've we've always said technologies to accentuate reality and highlight 1073 00:58:03,600 --> 00:58:08,040 Speaker 1: physicality and be a lot more high fidelity, you know. 1074 00:58:08,080 --> 00:58:10,400 Speaker 1: I always say we live in the metaverse now, right, 1075 00:58:10,480 --> 00:58:12,760 Speaker 1: Like our phones are so connected to our lives and 1076 00:58:12,800 --> 00:58:15,560 Speaker 1: I can open it at this exact moment and find 1077 00:58:15,640 --> 00:58:18,880 Speaker 1: fifteen things to do in New York City and friends 1078 00:58:18,920 --> 00:58:21,480 Speaker 1: to connect with immediately and jump into it. And that 1079 00:58:21,520 --> 00:58:24,640 Speaker 1: to me feels like some liminal space between physical and digital, 1080 00:58:24,640 --> 00:58:26,720 Speaker 1: which is I think the actual definition of the metaverse 1081 00:58:27,120 --> 00:58:31,280 Speaker 1: in terms of Dows's applications to real world structures. Yeah, 1082 00:58:31,400 --> 00:58:33,080 Speaker 1: I love that. I think I saw someone in the 1083 00:58:33,080 --> 00:58:35,600 Speaker 1: comment mentioned city doos. You know a way that DAWs 1084 00:58:35,640 --> 00:58:38,040 Speaker 1: can steward land conservation and preservation. You know, I think 1085 00:58:38,080 --> 00:58:40,320 Speaker 1: for us we're very much coming at it from physical 1086 00:58:40,360 --> 00:58:43,640 Speaker 1: We're thinking about CANADAO actually govern a decentralized events network? 1087 00:58:44,080 --> 00:58:46,680 Speaker 1: You know, is there a way where daals can actually 1088 00:58:46,720 --> 00:58:48,680 Speaker 1: reward an allocate capital to people who want to throw 1089 00:58:48,680 --> 00:58:51,400 Speaker 1: events all over the world. That's something that I'm super 1090 00:58:51,440 --> 00:58:54,760 Speaker 1: interested and passionate about, you know, full loop to the 1091 00:58:54,760 --> 00:58:58,120 Speaker 1: beginning of like most things shouldn't be taos, I totally 1092 00:58:58,160 --> 00:59:00,560 Speaker 1: still stand by that most things don't need to live 1093 00:59:00,560 --> 00:59:03,120 Speaker 1: on the blockchain, most things don't need to be crypto based. 1094 00:59:03,520 --> 00:59:07,479 Speaker 1: But in a world where that technology provides real value 1095 00:59:07,520 --> 00:59:10,480 Speaker 1: to that organizing structure, that I think a DOO is 1096 00:59:10,480 --> 00:59:13,520 Speaker 1: a really great thing to explore in terms of how 1097 00:59:13,560 --> 00:59:17,680 Speaker 1: you can create fundamental transparency and sort of value cruel 1098 00:59:17,720 --> 00:59:21,320 Speaker 1: to people who participate in that network. You've mentioned many 1099 00:59:21,360 --> 00:59:24,600 Speaker 1: times that doos are not required and that crypto is 1100 00:59:24,640 --> 00:59:27,280 Speaker 1: not required. I kind of want to emphasize that point. 1101 00:59:27,720 --> 00:59:30,600 Speaker 1: In season three of this series, we head on Pia 1102 00:59:30,680 --> 00:59:35,040 Speaker 1: Mancini of Open Collective, which has created this framework for 1103 00:59:35,200 --> 00:59:40,680 Speaker 1: organizations to collaborate around fundraising, legal, administrative, and offer full 1104 00:59:40,680 --> 00:59:44,640 Speaker 1: transparency around all those numbers so they can save money, 1105 00:59:44,720 --> 00:59:47,640 Speaker 1: but also show how they're using money, especially if they 1106 00:59:47,680 --> 00:59:50,919 Speaker 1: are kind of decentralized organizations like mutual aid societies, etc. 1107 00:59:51,440 --> 00:59:53,360 Speaker 1: And don't have the budgets to hire their own lower, 1108 00:59:53,360 --> 00:59:56,920 Speaker 1: their own accountant, etc. You know, to what degree is 1109 00:59:56,920 --> 01:00:00,320 Speaker 1: the token of requirement versus money of some kind? Can 1110 01:00:00,360 --> 01:00:03,040 Speaker 1: it be credit cards? Can it be US dollars? To 1111 01:00:03,120 --> 01:00:05,360 Speaker 1: still achieve so many of the goals that you want, 1112 01:00:05,360 --> 01:00:08,720 Speaker 1: which is value, a cruel, transparency, and a sense of 1113 01:00:08,760 --> 01:00:15,439 Speaker 1: participation beyond some concentrated group. I mean for transparency and value, cruel, 1114 01:00:15,760 --> 01:00:18,600 Speaker 1: those are the tenets of cryptocurrency, right, So I think, like, 1115 01:00:19,160 --> 01:00:21,480 Speaker 1: I don't know how you would enforce credit card transparency 1116 01:00:22,080 --> 01:00:24,880 Speaker 1: or you know, because those are all managed on centralized servers, 1117 01:00:24,920 --> 01:00:27,560 Speaker 1: you can't really look into that unless the company published 1118 01:00:27,600 --> 01:00:29,520 Speaker 1: publishes that data, and then there's no way to even 1119 01:00:29,560 --> 01:00:32,520 Speaker 1: verify that what they publishes. A hunters and occurate versus 1120 01:00:32,520 --> 01:00:34,720 Speaker 1: on the blockchain. No one can manipulate that. That's all 1121 01:00:34,760 --> 01:00:39,680 Speaker 1: run through smart contracts. So that's me baritune day here 1122 01:00:39,720 --> 01:00:43,960 Speaker 1: with an explainer Tune Day. Smart contracts were conceptualized by 1123 01:00:44,040 --> 01:00:47,960 Speaker 1: computer scientist and legal scholar Nick Zabo way back in 1124 01:00:48,080 --> 01:00:51,280 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety four, and they've since been incorporated into blockchain 1125 01:00:51,320 --> 01:00:55,800 Speaker 1: networks that cryptocurrencies like ethereum and Bitcoin run on. To 1126 01:00:55,800 --> 01:00:58,520 Speaker 1: try to be as simple as possible. A smart contract 1127 01:00:58,600 --> 01:01:02,320 Speaker 1: is a computer program written into a blockchain, and it 1128 01:01:02,480 --> 01:01:06,240 Speaker 1: automatically executes the term of an agreement or contract when 1129 01:01:06,240 --> 01:01:09,920 Speaker 1: certain conditions are met. In theory, this eliminates the need 1130 01:01:09,960 --> 01:01:14,760 Speaker 1: for intermediaries like my very trustworthy accountant or lawyers or notaries, 1131 01:01:14,920 --> 01:01:18,000 Speaker 1: and help ensure that all kinds of contract terms are 1132 01:01:18,000 --> 01:01:23,480 Speaker 1: followed transparently and accurately. Now, smart contracts do have limitations. 1133 01:01:23,800 --> 01:01:25,960 Speaker 1: You've got to be able to express your contract terms 1134 01:01:25,960 --> 01:01:28,880 Speaker 1: in computer code. In the first place. That code is 1135 01:01:28,920 --> 01:01:31,880 Speaker 1: tamper proof, which is good for security, but bad if 1136 01:01:31,920 --> 01:01:33,600 Speaker 1: you make a mistake in the code or need to 1137 01:01:33,680 --> 01:01:37,200 Speaker 1: change the contract because you can't. And there's a lack 1138 01:01:37,200 --> 01:01:40,760 Speaker 1: of legal and regulatory clarity on how these contracts are 1139 01:01:40,760 --> 01:01:45,280 Speaker 1: treated by existing authorities. So overall, smart contracts are a 1140 01:01:45,400 --> 01:01:48,560 Speaker 1: great safeguard in theory, but they're still being worked out 1141 01:01:48,560 --> 01:01:53,040 Speaker 1: in practice. Sound familiar, kind of like democracy. Oh yeah, 1142 01:01:53,040 --> 01:01:55,160 Speaker 1: here we go. Anyway back to Alex's I'm having too 1143 01:01:55,240 --> 01:02:00,200 Speaker 1: much fun on the blockchain. No one can manipu like that. 1144 01:02:00,240 --> 01:02:02,480 Speaker 1: That's all run through smart contracts, So that to me 1145 01:02:02,520 --> 01:02:07,840 Speaker 1: addresses transparency value cruel. You know, sure value cruel can 1146 01:02:07,920 --> 01:02:10,360 Speaker 1: can be reflected in equity, which has been done in cooperatives. 1147 01:02:10,480 --> 01:02:13,439 Speaker 1: That's you know, yeah, that totally solves that, but it's 1148 01:02:13,520 --> 01:02:15,760 Speaker 1: very hard to you know, I've invested in support a 1149 01:02:15,760 --> 01:02:18,320 Speaker 1: lot of different fractionalized equity companies. You know, we've seen 1150 01:02:18,320 --> 01:02:20,120 Speaker 1: so many of our friends raised companies on like micro 1151 01:02:20,240 --> 01:02:22,880 Speaker 1: equity fundraises. I think those are great and those are 1152 01:02:22,880 --> 01:02:26,440 Speaker 1: super effective. I just think they're very non favorable to 1153 01:02:26,880 --> 01:02:30,600 Speaker 1: non US clients, people who don't have bank accounts, people 1154 01:02:30,600 --> 01:02:32,439 Speaker 1: who want to engage in it. It is a little 1155 01:02:32,480 --> 01:02:35,400 Speaker 1: bit limiting in that capacity as well. So there's a 1156 01:02:35,480 --> 01:02:38,600 Speaker 1: large animal in the room that I want us to address, 1157 01:02:38,680 --> 01:02:41,600 Speaker 1: which you've hinted at in terms of the scandals and 1158 01:02:41,640 --> 01:02:46,440 Speaker 1: controversies plaguing this whole crypto space, and we've had many, 1159 01:02:46,480 --> 01:02:49,880 Speaker 1: many collapses. The value of overall coins and tokens is 1160 01:02:49,920 --> 01:02:55,760 Speaker 1: down sbf ftx FWTF. Right, there's it's wild with the 1161 01:02:55,760 --> 01:02:58,040 Speaker 1: promises that were made in the mismanagement in something that 1162 01:02:58,120 --> 01:03:02,120 Speaker 1: was supposed to be transparent and help people without traditional banking, 1163 01:03:02,240 --> 01:03:04,480 Speaker 1: you know, a crew value, and the opposite has happened 1164 01:03:04,480 --> 01:03:06,480 Speaker 1: in that case, but not just that case, many others. 1165 01:03:07,120 --> 01:03:10,280 Speaker 1: You're in this world. FWB is a part of this world. 1166 01:03:10,600 --> 01:03:14,080 Speaker 1: What's been the impact of the loss of trust in 1167 01:03:14,080 --> 01:03:17,320 Speaker 1: a system that was supposed to be a solution to 1168 01:03:17,480 --> 01:03:20,960 Speaker 1: the loss of trust in the system? I mean it's 1169 01:03:20,960 --> 01:03:23,960 Speaker 1: a real shame, right. I think crypto really has been 1170 01:03:24,000 --> 01:03:27,120 Speaker 1: the subject of really really bad pr for rightful reasons. 1171 01:03:27,320 --> 01:03:30,760 Speaker 1: And I think in any space that's so hyper financialized, 1172 01:03:30,880 --> 01:03:32,880 Speaker 1: you had a lot of people who flight it in 1173 01:03:32,880 --> 01:03:35,439 Speaker 1: to make a quick buck. That's the issue with these 1174 01:03:35,800 --> 01:03:40,680 Speaker 1: hyper capitalist environments. It's effect on us, luckily, hasn't been massive, 1175 01:03:40,880 --> 01:03:43,360 Speaker 1: mostly because we've always operated in more of like sort 1176 01:03:43,400 --> 01:03:46,320 Speaker 1: of a social cultural space as opposed to like a 1177 01:03:46,440 --> 01:03:50,320 Speaker 1: purely defy financialized space. Sure, it's made people a little 1178 01:03:50,320 --> 01:03:52,080 Speaker 1: bit more hesitant to be like, okay, am I about 1179 01:03:52,080 --> 01:03:55,080 Speaker 1: to buy this token right now? Is that actually real thing? 1180 01:03:55,600 --> 01:03:56,720 Speaker 1: You know? I've had a lot of people come up 1181 01:03:56,720 --> 01:03:59,560 Speaker 1: between the last month and a half. Not FBB people, 1182 01:03:59,600 --> 01:04:02,080 Speaker 1: but more just like your aunt at Thanksgiving, who is 1183 01:04:02,080 --> 01:04:04,520 Speaker 1: like his crypto going to fully viscrate. Is it even 1184 01:04:04,520 --> 01:04:06,720 Speaker 1: going to be a thing anymore? Yes, it'll still be 1185 01:04:06,760 --> 01:04:09,240 Speaker 1: a thing, you know. It is going to continue to exist, 1186 01:04:09,640 --> 01:04:11,520 Speaker 1: just as a space for the industry to continue to 1187 01:04:11,560 --> 01:04:16,080 Speaker 1: evolve and step up and improve transparency. It's communication because frankly, 1188 01:04:16,120 --> 01:04:20,880 Speaker 1: what SPF showed and FTX has showed that FTX is 1189 01:04:20,920 --> 01:04:24,400 Speaker 1: actually a case where if it were actually decentralized, that 1190 01:04:24,440 --> 01:04:26,920 Speaker 1: would not have been possible. It would have all been transparent, 1191 01:04:26,920 --> 01:04:29,080 Speaker 1: it would have all been clear. You would have been 1192 01:04:29,120 --> 01:04:32,080 Speaker 1: able to see the movement of funds from various different 1193 01:04:32,120 --> 01:04:35,160 Speaker 1: on chain you know accounts to different on chain accounts. 1194 01:04:35,480 --> 01:04:39,320 Speaker 1: The issue was he ran a decentralized company incredibly centralized 1195 01:04:39,400 --> 01:04:42,960 Speaker 1: all around him, and so ultimately, while the whole thing 1196 01:04:43,040 --> 01:04:47,080 Speaker 1: is completely disastrous, he was an example of why more 1197 01:04:47,120 --> 01:04:52,320 Speaker 1: decentralized exchanges like UNISWAP are literally and technically impervious to 1198 01:04:52,400 --> 01:04:54,880 Speaker 1: what happened. It is impossible for that to occur because 1199 01:04:54,880 --> 01:04:57,920 Speaker 1: it is decentralized. Not if the entire UNISWAP team died, 1200 01:04:58,160 --> 01:05:01,000 Speaker 1: it would continue to run and exist and the exchange 1201 01:05:01,000 --> 01:05:04,440 Speaker 1: would continue to fulfill exchanges of currency. Like, that's really 1202 01:05:04,480 --> 01:05:06,600 Speaker 1: exciting to me. And what do you think will keep 1203 01:05:07,160 --> 01:05:11,360 Speaker 1: FWB on that side of things? Keep it from being 1204 01:05:11,360 --> 01:05:14,240 Speaker 1: phased out for the next shiny thing. We say, we're 1205 01:05:14,240 --> 01:05:16,720 Speaker 1: not a crypto community or a community that uses crypto, 1206 01:05:16,840 --> 01:05:18,480 Speaker 1: So I think as long as we keep community at 1207 01:05:18,480 --> 01:05:20,200 Speaker 1: the center of it, and we continue to play with 1208 01:05:20,240 --> 01:05:23,200 Speaker 1: the tools in an interesting way that enhances the community 1209 01:05:23,320 --> 01:05:27,680 Speaker 1: and we remain culture first, then we'll be fine. Culture 1210 01:05:27,720 --> 01:05:29,800 Speaker 1: waxes and WANs. Look at a fashion house. You'll have 1211 01:05:29,840 --> 01:05:32,040 Speaker 1: a great season and the next season it will be irrelevant, 1212 01:05:32,080 --> 01:05:34,040 Speaker 1: and then it'll come back. And you know, I think 1213 01:05:34,040 --> 01:05:36,040 Speaker 1: of scenes and communities as similar. You can't be the 1214 01:05:36,040 --> 01:05:40,080 Speaker 1: hot community forever. And ultimately, as long as you're creating 1215 01:05:40,640 --> 01:05:44,000 Speaker 1: real value, people are really connecting with each other, it's 1216 01:05:44,040 --> 01:05:47,120 Speaker 1: coming from a place of genuineness, I think will continue 1217 01:05:47,640 --> 01:05:50,439 Speaker 1: to evolve. We actually kind of love bear markets because 1218 01:05:50,480 --> 01:05:54,000 Speaker 1: you actually attract people who are here for the right reasons. 1219 01:05:54,040 --> 01:05:56,760 Speaker 1: After we started in a bear market. We're now seeing 1220 01:05:56,920 --> 01:06:00,640 Speaker 1: more artists join, being like, all right, it's cheaper now, 1221 01:06:00,720 --> 01:06:04,200 Speaker 1: and I can actually experiment and the stakes feel less high, 1222 01:06:04,240 --> 01:06:06,000 Speaker 1: and I don't need to launch an art project that 1223 01:06:06,040 --> 01:06:08,360 Speaker 1: gets me global press like all my peers, and instead 1224 01:06:08,600 --> 01:06:11,160 Speaker 1: I can make a stupid little project and share it 1225 01:06:11,320 --> 01:06:13,880 Speaker 1: and have fun with it and not be stressed out. 1226 01:06:14,360 --> 01:06:17,600 Speaker 1: That's what we love versus in the bull market, it 1227 01:06:17,640 --> 01:06:21,280 Speaker 1: was everyone joining to jump onto the train, which is fine, 1228 01:06:21,360 --> 01:06:24,720 Speaker 1: but those people aren't the ones defining and creating the culture. Well, 1229 01:06:24,840 --> 01:06:28,000 Speaker 1: and my motivation and our strong motivation for having you 1230 01:06:28,080 --> 01:06:32,240 Speaker 1: here is to talk about the value of the self governance, experimentation. 1231 01:06:32,800 --> 01:06:36,440 Speaker 1: And if the price of experimentation is so high because 1232 01:06:36,520 --> 01:06:39,040 Speaker 1: the markets flooded with people who don't care at all 1233 01:06:39,080 --> 01:06:42,200 Speaker 1: about that, they just care about the financial speculation, then 1234 01:06:42,240 --> 01:06:45,479 Speaker 1: they're actually crowding out our ability to learn from things 1235 01:06:45,520 --> 01:06:49,520 Speaker 1: like this to improve things. Well, beyond this, how has 1236 01:06:49,560 --> 01:06:52,240 Speaker 1: being part of a DOO affected the way you show 1237 01:06:52,320 --> 01:06:55,880 Speaker 1: up as a citizen, as a colleague, as a collaborator, 1238 01:06:56,080 --> 01:06:59,400 Speaker 1: as a member of community. My leadership style and all 1239 01:06:59,400 --> 01:07:03,120 Speaker 1: the organizations I've been fortunate to lead has always been 1240 01:07:03,360 --> 01:07:05,320 Speaker 1: much more of a facilitator. I've never been like a 1241 01:07:05,360 --> 01:07:08,760 Speaker 1: dictatorial do this because I say I'm the boss. Even 1242 01:07:08,840 --> 01:07:11,400 Speaker 1: in scenarios where I have been, you know, the CEO 1243 01:07:11,560 --> 01:07:15,520 Speaker 1: or whatnot, I've always enjoyed being sort of one that 1244 01:07:15,600 --> 01:07:20,480 Speaker 1: distributes power, one that uplifts and creates structures for qualify 1245 01:07:20,560 --> 01:07:23,880 Speaker 1: people to emerge into lead. Nothing makes me happier as 1246 01:07:23,920 --> 01:07:28,000 Speaker 1: a manager than when someone you're managing excels and exceeds 1247 01:07:28,040 --> 01:07:31,720 Speaker 1: and now is really owning a specific department or category. 1248 01:07:31,920 --> 01:07:34,520 Speaker 1: Dows is that with your users, which is so fun 1249 01:07:34,560 --> 01:07:37,000 Speaker 1: to me. Dows is that with your community members where 1250 01:07:37,400 --> 01:07:41,600 Speaker 1: anyone who's done community work, let's call a social nonprofit 1251 01:07:42,040 --> 01:07:44,880 Speaker 1: civil rights work knows it's about uplifting those people who 1252 01:07:44,920 --> 01:07:46,960 Speaker 1: are showing up to all the various different rallies and 1253 01:07:47,000 --> 01:07:50,320 Speaker 1: events and empowering them and to create sort of that 1254 01:07:50,400 --> 01:07:53,680 Speaker 1: network effect where ultimately, because of all volunteers, you're not 1255 01:07:53,680 --> 01:07:55,960 Speaker 1: even actually paying them. And so I think of that 1256 01:07:56,040 --> 01:07:59,000 Speaker 1: as like something that's always just been fundamental to my 1257 01:07:59,080 --> 01:08:02,800 Speaker 1: leadership style, and DAWs have just now supercharged that because 1258 01:08:02,800 --> 01:08:05,360 Speaker 1: now it's like a lot more literal. Now I can 1259 01:08:05,360 --> 01:08:08,160 Speaker 1: actually compensate them in sort of this native currency. Now 1260 01:08:08,280 --> 01:08:11,680 Speaker 1: their work can be recognized on chain through the format 1261 01:08:11,680 --> 01:08:14,919 Speaker 1: of proposals, and that's created this really interesting loop where 1262 01:08:15,160 --> 01:08:17,480 Speaker 1: now I show up in spaces that aren't even cryptospaces 1263 01:08:17,520 --> 01:08:20,479 Speaker 1: from you know, various different communities or nonprofits that I 1264 01:08:20,640 --> 01:08:23,519 Speaker 1: support or advise on, and try to bring some of 1265 01:08:23,520 --> 01:08:28,320 Speaker 1: that similar sort of consensus making between directions as opposed 1266 01:08:28,360 --> 01:08:30,600 Speaker 1: to like, I'm the boss, let's do this, because I 1267 01:08:30,640 --> 01:08:33,160 Speaker 1: just don't think that that's just not how I that's 1268 01:08:33,160 --> 01:08:35,400 Speaker 1: not a high lead. So it's giving you a place 1269 01:08:35,400 --> 01:08:40,960 Speaker 1: to practice more of what you been preaching. Us are Alex. 1270 01:08:41,040 --> 01:08:44,200 Speaker 1: We title this show how to Citizen because we believe 1271 01:08:44,240 --> 01:08:47,360 Speaker 1: citizen is a verb, not simply a noun and a 1272 01:08:47,439 --> 01:08:50,439 Speaker 1: legal status. It's something a lot more and it involves action. 1273 01:08:51,120 --> 01:08:54,360 Speaker 1: If you are to interpret citizen as a verb, how 1274 01:08:54,400 --> 01:08:57,160 Speaker 1: would you define it? What does it mean to citizen? 1275 01:08:57,600 --> 01:09:00,400 Speaker 1: To you? I think to citizen is to have an 1276 01:09:00,439 --> 01:09:03,040 Speaker 1: opinion and then to feel the sovereignty to be able 1277 01:09:03,080 --> 01:09:07,080 Speaker 1: to put that opinion into action and to collaborate. Citizen 1278 01:09:07,120 --> 01:09:10,760 Speaker 1: is that translation from opinion into action and that sort 1279 01:09:10,800 --> 01:09:13,960 Speaker 1: of forward energy momentum of feeling like you can actually 1280 01:09:14,000 --> 01:09:16,840 Speaker 1: make a difference in a structure. I think many of 1281 01:09:16,880 --> 01:09:19,120 Speaker 1: us have opinions about things, but we keep them to ourselves, 1282 01:09:19,200 --> 01:09:21,000 Speaker 1: or we mumble them or whisper them to a friend. 1283 01:09:21,360 --> 01:09:24,639 Speaker 1: But I think in so many different social structures, digital, physical, 1284 01:09:25,000 --> 01:09:27,000 Speaker 1: the ability to have an opinion on how something could 1285 01:09:27,040 --> 01:09:28,960 Speaker 1: improve or change and then be able to put that 1286 01:09:29,000 --> 01:09:32,080 Speaker 1: into action in a constructive and collaborative way. It feels 1287 01:09:32,080 --> 01:09:36,519 Speaker 1: like how I would citizen constructive and collaborative, because yeah, 1288 01:09:36,560 --> 01:09:39,800 Speaker 1: there's definitely no shortage of opinions, but that's for sure. 1289 01:09:40,200 --> 01:09:43,800 Speaker 1: Moving them to action is another one. Alex, thank you 1290 01:09:43,880 --> 01:09:46,479 Speaker 1: so much for joining me for this conversation. Thanks for 1291 01:09:46,520 --> 01:09:49,759 Speaker 1: having me. This was fun. Okay, we are shifting gears 1292 01:09:49,840 --> 01:09:54,440 Speaker 1: into the community. Speaking of community and an audience questions. 1293 01:09:54,439 --> 01:09:58,439 Speaker 1: First up, Tanya Fox, you got Alex Alex today. Thank you. 1294 01:09:58,920 --> 01:10:03,719 Speaker 1: I'm Tanya Fox in Montreal, Canada. With taking venture capital, 1295 01:10:04,000 --> 01:10:07,200 Speaker 1: how does that affect the weight of other people's voting 1296 01:10:07,680 --> 01:10:12,560 Speaker 1: and how is that distributed in terms of the profitability 1297 01:10:12,680 --> 01:10:16,080 Speaker 1: of the other two kens. So we raised venture capital 1298 01:10:16,120 --> 01:10:18,719 Speaker 1: back in November. It was about ten percent of the supply. 1299 01:10:19,280 --> 01:10:21,559 Speaker 1: That was a proposal actually, so the community agreed to 1300 01:10:21,600 --> 01:10:24,800 Speaker 1: accept venture funding. So we put together a proposal that 1301 01:10:24,840 --> 01:10:27,479 Speaker 1: outlined all of the terms, and then the community actually 1302 01:10:27,520 --> 01:10:30,200 Speaker 1: had like counter points, which was really interesting, and then 1303 01:10:30,200 --> 01:10:32,240 Speaker 1: we actually negotiated and I was almost like a proxy 1304 01:10:32,320 --> 01:10:35,080 Speaker 1: with the investors, and one of those counterpoints is actually 1305 01:10:35,080 --> 01:10:37,160 Speaker 1: decreasing their voting power. So they wanted obviously the venture 1306 01:10:37,160 --> 01:10:40,599 Speaker 1: conpitalists wanted more ownership in the network, but the community said, 1307 01:10:40,600 --> 01:10:42,360 Speaker 1: we don't actually want you to have the equivalent amount 1308 01:10:42,360 --> 01:10:45,920 Speaker 1: of ownership to voting power, and so we actually agreed 1309 01:10:45,920 --> 01:10:48,920 Speaker 1: on a fifty percent decrease in their actual voting stake. 1310 01:10:49,080 --> 01:10:51,240 Speaker 1: So while they own ten percent of the network, their 1311 01:10:51,320 --> 01:10:54,519 Speaker 1: voting powers equivalently like five percent of the network. So 1312 01:10:54,560 --> 01:10:57,120 Speaker 1: that was an example of diminishing sort of their governance 1313 01:10:57,160 --> 01:11:00,599 Speaker 1: participation in terms of profitability. This is an early stage projects, 1314 01:11:00,600 --> 01:11:01,880 Speaker 1: so they're just betting on like, hey, this is the 1315 01:11:01,960 --> 01:11:05,000 Speaker 1: most interesting project we've seen of like Dow token usage, 1316 01:11:05,200 --> 01:11:07,280 Speaker 1: and if this is the next New York's Digital New 1317 01:11:07,360 --> 01:11:08,720 Speaker 1: York City. We just want to own a lot of 1318 01:11:08,720 --> 01:11:11,120 Speaker 1: real estate. So they bought about ten percent of that 1319 01:11:11,160 --> 01:11:14,120 Speaker 1: real estate. That allowed for the capital to go into 1320 01:11:14,120 --> 01:11:16,559 Speaker 1: the treasury to then fund all these various different community 1321 01:11:16,560 --> 01:11:18,680 Speaker 1: projects and endeavors and so I think their perspective of 1322 01:11:18,680 --> 01:11:22,720 Speaker 1: profitability is as FBB continues to expand, more people join, 1323 01:11:22,800 --> 01:11:25,439 Speaker 1: more people participate, more goods and services are being created. 1324 01:11:25,720 --> 01:11:28,240 Speaker 1: The Dow holds dozens of various different equities and various 1325 01:11:28,240 --> 01:11:30,840 Speaker 1: different companies that have emerged. It's them sort of owning 1326 01:11:30,840 --> 01:11:33,519 Speaker 1: a percentage in sort of that conglomerate or that holding 1327 01:11:33,520 --> 01:11:36,040 Speaker 1: of all these various different community owned assets. Thank you 1328 01:11:36,080 --> 01:11:39,240 Speaker 1: for that, Alex. We're moving on to ned hit. Your 1329 01:11:39,320 --> 01:11:44,440 Speaker 1: question did all right? I'm ned calling him from outside Madison, Wisconsin, 1330 01:11:44,840 --> 01:11:48,320 Speaker 1: ho Chup Nation territory. So I'd like to hear more 1331 01:11:48,479 --> 01:11:53,360 Speaker 1: about the mechanisms you have for ensuring I mean, kind 1332 01:11:53,360 --> 01:11:55,200 Speaker 1: of like what you were seeing with the venture capital thing, 1333 01:11:55,240 --> 01:11:59,000 Speaker 1: but more also to ensure that tokens do not equal 1334 01:11:59,080 --> 01:12:02,560 Speaker 1: gatekeeping into terms of who gets the sort of demographics 1335 01:12:02,600 --> 01:12:06,360 Speaker 1: that get to be full participants. You know, that question 1336 01:12:06,360 --> 01:12:09,080 Speaker 1: of we give tokens out to people who do earn 1337 01:12:09,160 --> 01:12:12,479 Speaker 1: them can very subtly and quickly shift to we give 1338 01:12:12,760 --> 01:12:15,720 Speaker 1: tokens out the people we believe deserve them and that 1339 01:12:15,840 --> 01:12:19,160 Speaker 1: we believe in becomes a really tricky thing. I'm curious 1340 01:12:19,160 --> 01:12:21,479 Speaker 1: to know how that's worked so far. I mean, I've 1341 01:12:21,520 --> 01:12:23,759 Speaker 1: got kind of maybe like a hot take in general 1342 01:12:23,840 --> 01:12:26,240 Speaker 1: that I you know, sort of in praise of exclusivity, 1343 01:12:26,240 --> 01:12:28,519 Speaker 1: and then I think like exclusivity actually plays a really 1344 01:12:28,520 --> 01:12:31,640 Speaker 1: important role in society. I don't believe in like explicitly. 1345 01:12:32,439 --> 01:12:34,960 Speaker 1: I just don't think all gatekeeping is necessarily bad. I 1346 01:12:35,000 --> 01:12:36,920 Speaker 1: think if everything were inclusive, I don't think there will 1347 01:12:36,920 --> 01:12:39,559 Speaker 1: be anything sort of at all. I obviously believe in 1348 01:12:39,560 --> 01:12:42,640 Speaker 1: inclusivity inside of a community, but I believe if you 1349 01:12:42,680 --> 01:12:45,799 Speaker 1: can create an organization that has vision, values and mission 1350 01:12:45,840 --> 01:12:48,000 Speaker 1: and principles, it should turn certain people on and turn 1351 01:12:48,040 --> 01:12:50,559 Speaker 1: certain people off. That's how you actually create a culture. 1352 01:12:50,960 --> 01:12:54,520 Speaker 1: And so I think in terms of the token equaling gatekeeping, 1353 01:12:54,800 --> 01:12:56,840 Speaker 1: we've done as best as we cant of making that 1354 01:12:56,960 --> 01:12:59,519 Speaker 1: accessible to the people that we want to attract, which 1355 01:12:59,520 --> 01:13:03,200 Speaker 1: the people want to attract our creatives, artists, technologists. Because 1356 01:13:03,280 --> 01:13:05,760 Speaker 1: FTVB isn't for everybody, just like New York City isn't 1357 01:13:05,840 --> 01:13:08,439 Speaker 1: for everybody, or you know, various different towns that you 1358 01:13:08,520 --> 01:13:11,519 Speaker 1: choose to live in, and so our perspective has been, like, 1359 01:13:11,680 --> 01:13:14,360 Speaker 1: you know, ensure that price has various different entry points, 1360 01:13:14,600 --> 01:13:17,880 Speaker 1: ensure that there's always grant programs and scholarship programs where 1361 01:13:17,880 --> 01:13:19,920 Speaker 1: folks who are qualified and are a good fit but 1362 01:13:19,960 --> 01:13:22,800 Speaker 1: don't have the financial means can join and ensure you 1363 01:13:22,800 --> 01:13:24,920 Speaker 1: have transparency and where those token they're going to in 1364 01:13:25,000 --> 01:13:28,200 Speaker 1: terms of who's earned them and who hasn't, and sort 1365 01:13:28,200 --> 01:13:31,200 Speaker 1: of carry oneself with humility and knowing that like will 1366 01:13:31,240 --> 01:13:34,200 Speaker 1: continue to evolve it based on real time feedback of 1367 01:13:34,240 --> 01:13:35,920 Speaker 1: how things are going. So that's sort of been our 1368 01:13:35,920 --> 01:13:38,280 Speaker 1: approach to date. Like I said, we've modeled a lot 1369 01:13:38,320 --> 01:13:40,240 Speaker 1: of it after like club culture, and club culture definitely 1370 01:13:40,280 --> 01:13:43,639 Speaker 1: isn't perfect, but that's sort of been was a studio 1371 01:13:43,680 --> 01:13:46,320 Speaker 1: fifty four quota dictatorship at the door, democracy on the 1372 01:13:46,400 --> 01:13:48,080 Speaker 1: dance floor is the other thing that you know, we've 1373 01:13:48,120 --> 01:13:51,280 Speaker 1: always kind of resonated where thanks for that, Alex, I 1374 01:13:51,320 --> 01:13:54,960 Speaker 1: mean in praise of exclusivity. Definitely a hot take. I 1375 01:13:55,000 --> 01:13:57,760 Speaker 1: don't think you're advocating for illegal discrimination, of course, but 1376 01:13:57,880 --> 01:14:00,360 Speaker 1: what resonates with me is the idea that you yata 1377 01:14:00,400 --> 01:14:05,320 Speaker 1: culture by having a vision, values, mission, and principles real quick. 1378 01:14:05,360 --> 01:14:07,240 Speaker 1: I mean, that's what we're trying to do here with 1379 01:14:07,240 --> 01:14:10,840 Speaker 1: how to citizen to create a culture of democracy. Now 1380 01:14:10,960 --> 01:14:13,200 Speaker 1: ned in terms of your question about who gets rewarded 1381 01:14:13,240 --> 01:14:16,000 Speaker 1: for contributions and the fairness of that. It sounds like 1382 01:14:16,040 --> 01:14:18,600 Speaker 1: the ability to abuse that system is going to be 1383 01:14:18,640 --> 01:14:22,000 Speaker 1: limited by how transparent the system is. So thanks for 1384 01:14:22,040 --> 01:14:26,600 Speaker 1: your question. Ned. Okay, now we have Sarah Hughes. Hello, 1385 01:14:27,040 --> 01:14:30,280 Speaker 1: Sarah Hughes here in Rochester, New York, part of the 1386 01:14:30,400 --> 01:14:35,880 Speaker 1: unseated Adona shown a territory. I am curious just because 1387 01:14:35,880 --> 01:14:39,080 Speaker 1: there's been a lot of information coming out recently about 1388 01:14:39,120 --> 01:14:42,840 Speaker 1: the environmental impacts of data mining, of crypto mining, of 1389 01:14:42,920 --> 01:14:46,839 Speaker 1: data farms, just all of the infrastructure required to maintain 1390 01:14:46,920 --> 01:14:50,400 Speaker 1: blockchain and all of these other technologies online. And I'm 1391 01:14:50,479 --> 01:14:52,599 Speaker 1: kind of an oldie. I'm trying to keep up with 1392 01:14:52,600 --> 01:14:55,960 Speaker 1: the tech. But I would like to ask you if 1393 01:14:56,040 --> 01:14:58,479 Speaker 1: you are others in the DOW world that you are 1394 01:14:58,520 --> 01:15:01,320 Speaker 1: aware of are taking that in to account in terms 1395 01:15:01,360 --> 01:15:05,360 Speaker 1: of scaling and also what the potential environmental impacts are 1396 01:15:06,000 --> 01:15:09,320 Speaker 1: of this kind of community. Yeah, so I can't speak 1397 01:15:09,320 --> 01:15:12,920 Speaker 1: to like bitcoin, there's tons of environmental issues with Bitcoin 1398 01:15:13,640 --> 01:15:16,760 Speaker 1: or the dozens of other chains, but in terms of Ethereum, 1399 01:15:17,040 --> 01:15:18,960 Speaker 1: the main currency that ours is built on top of, 1400 01:15:19,520 --> 01:15:23,639 Speaker 1: has made it a top priority to address the environmental issues, 1401 01:15:23,720 --> 01:15:26,880 Speaker 1: and the Ethereum community actually put up it's called the 1402 01:15:26,960 --> 01:15:29,320 Speaker 1: merge and it was actually the biggest system upgrade that 1403 01:15:29,360 --> 01:15:32,120 Speaker 1: was run by decentralized group of developers that is now 1404 01:15:32,280 --> 01:15:36,880 Speaker 1: reduced by like ninety four percent the environmental efficiency of Ethereum, 1405 01:15:37,080 --> 01:15:40,719 Speaker 1: which is really exciting for that community. Yeah, Ethereum's system upgrade, 1406 01:15:40,960 --> 01:15:44,599 Speaker 1: it's changed the way they validate transactions in the merch. 1407 01:15:44,720 --> 01:15:47,840 Speaker 1: Back in September twenty twenty two, actually reports said that 1408 01:15:47,880 --> 01:15:51,439 Speaker 1: the switch reduced its energy usage by over ninety nine 1409 01:15:52,080 --> 01:15:55,320 Speaker 1: which is amazing. So thank you for the questions. Sarah, 1410 01:15:55,400 --> 01:15:57,840 Speaker 1: all right, We've got one last question, and I'm going 1411 01:15:57,920 --> 01:16:00,040 Speaker 1: to ask on behalf of this person who's in a 1412 01:16:00,160 --> 01:16:05,040 Speaker 1: very loudspace. Janine didn't a vice repeat contributor here, University 1413 01:16:05,080 --> 01:16:08,760 Speaker 1: of Delaware professor, and it was circling back to the 1414 01:16:08,920 --> 01:16:13,200 Speaker 1: questions about inclusivity. Janine wrote specifically, what does the mayor 1415 01:16:13,280 --> 01:16:16,000 Speaker 1: think about issues of inclusion and diversity? What are the 1416 01:16:16,040 --> 01:16:19,320 Speaker 1: demographics do you worry about that? Why or why not? 1417 01:16:19,600 --> 01:16:21,960 Speaker 1: I just want to tag on. I know the way 1418 01:16:22,040 --> 01:16:26,599 Speaker 1: FWB grew initially was through networks, right, friends of friends, 1419 01:16:26,600 --> 01:16:30,320 Speaker 1: it was friends with benefits and those can be exclusive 1420 01:16:30,400 --> 01:16:34,320 Speaker 1: in a way that is biased against people who've been 1421 01:16:34,360 --> 01:16:36,320 Speaker 1: excluded already, Like if you're not in the network, you 1422 01:16:36,360 --> 01:16:37,600 Speaker 1: can never be in the network because no one in 1423 01:16:37,600 --> 01:16:40,720 Speaker 1: the networks knows you, and vice versa. And so I'm 1424 01:16:40,840 --> 01:16:43,639 Speaker 1: very curious in terms of that access point, how you're 1425 01:16:43,680 --> 01:16:46,519 Speaker 1: trying to get beyond the inherent bias of that kind 1426 01:16:46,520 --> 01:16:49,400 Speaker 1: of seed community. In addition to just tacking onto a 1427 01:16:49,479 --> 01:16:53,360 Speaker 1: Janine's question about demographics overall and your own thoughts on 1428 01:16:53,680 --> 01:16:57,599 Speaker 1: the diversity level and inclusion and diversity from a conceptual level, 1429 01:16:57,680 --> 01:17:02,160 Speaker 1: we care deeply about inclusion and diversity. It's one of 1430 01:17:02,160 --> 01:17:05,800 Speaker 1: our core values. I agree that network growth tends to 1431 01:17:05,800 --> 01:17:10,400 Speaker 1: be relatively homogeneous. However, we started in an artistic community, 1432 01:17:10,439 --> 01:17:13,920 Speaker 1: which tends to be much more heterogeneous. Trevor's a black founder. 1433 01:17:14,080 --> 01:17:17,599 Speaker 1: I'm an Asian American co founder. Like our team from 1434 01:17:17,600 --> 01:17:21,640 Speaker 1: the outset was very focused on creating a network that 1435 01:17:21,760 --> 01:17:26,200 Speaker 1: started with diversity built into the fundamental core of it. Unfortunately, 1436 01:17:26,400 --> 01:17:30,400 Speaker 1: crypto and technology skew heavily mail. So I would say 1437 01:17:30,520 --> 01:17:32,519 Speaker 1: the crypto industry at large, I would say, is like 1438 01:17:32,520 --> 01:17:36,120 Speaker 1: eighty percent mail FWB sits probably close to like sixty 1439 01:17:36,240 --> 01:17:40,439 Speaker 1: forty seventy thirty, and we're constantly putting out initiatives to 1440 01:17:40,479 --> 01:17:45,400 Speaker 1: attract and create safety and onboarding for more diverse backgrounds 1441 01:17:45,400 --> 01:17:47,840 Speaker 1: that aren't our traditional sort of main mix. But I 1442 01:17:47,880 --> 01:17:50,360 Speaker 1: would say, like just at its core, we just started 1443 01:17:50,360 --> 01:17:53,000 Speaker 1: from a really diverse community, just from the onset. So 1444 01:17:53,080 --> 01:17:55,320 Speaker 1: many people who join FWB it was their first ever 1445 01:17:55,400 --> 01:17:59,000 Speaker 1: cryptocurrency asset. In terms of diversity inclusion, you know, you 1446 01:17:59,040 --> 01:18:02,679 Speaker 1: can make a ton of arguments. Diversity spans obviously beyond 1447 01:18:02,720 --> 01:18:06,400 Speaker 1: just race, from gender, to age, to socioeconomic background. We 1448 01:18:06,520 --> 01:18:09,280 Speaker 1: probably haven't been great at age. We're all relatively young, 1449 01:18:09,360 --> 01:18:12,439 Speaker 1: and we're learning really quickly, and we mostly skewed towards 1450 01:18:12,479 --> 01:18:16,799 Speaker 1: late twenties, early thirties, mid thirties. Geographic regions pretty global, 1451 01:18:17,000 --> 01:18:19,960 Speaker 1: huge on sen in Asia and Europe. But obviously being 1452 01:18:20,320 --> 01:18:23,400 Speaker 1: a LA New York scene in community, fifty percent of 1453 01:18:23,400 --> 01:18:25,320 Speaker 1: our network, forty percent of our network are in those 1454 01:18:25,360 --> 01:18:28,920 Speaker 1: key cities. We believe deeply in diversity. We're constantly improving it. 1455 01:18:29,000 --> 01:18:31,200 Speaker 1: But I would say it's about sort of putting in 1456 01:18:31,240 --> 01:18:33,080 Speaker 1: those mechanisms in place and making sure that your core 1457 01:18:33,160 --> 01:18:36,040 Speaker 1: leadership team is diverse, which I'm really proud that ours is. 1458 01:18:36,360 --> 01:18:39,639 Speaker 1: Thank you, mister Mayor, Thank you Janine, thank you Sarah, 1459 01:18:39,680 --> 01:18:43,080 Speaker 1: thank you Med and thank you Tanya for your contributions. 1460 01:18:43,360 --> 01:18:45,840 Speaker 1: I don't have any tokens for you, but I got 1461 01:18:45,880 --> 01:18:47,800 Speaker 1: a lot of love for you. Alex. Thanks for taking 1462 01:18:47,800 --> 01:18:50,160 Speaker 1: the time with us. It was really really what I 1463 01:18:50,240 --> 01:18:59,360 Speaker 1: was hoping for. Appreciate you, bro. Thanks everybody. As promised, 1464 01:18:59,640 --> 01:19:02,680 Speaker 1: I didn't pitch you on any crypto tokens in this episode, 1465 01:19:03,120 --> 01:19:06,640 Speaker 1: and honestly, I really appreciate what Alex shared about the 1466 01:19:06,680 --> 01:19:09,960 Speaker 1: possibilities in this space. But I want to be clear, 1467 01:19:10,880 --> 01:19:15,120 Speaker 1: I'm not selling you anything. This is not a call 1468 01:19:15,479 --> 01:19:18,760 Speaker 1: to DOW or to blockchain or to crypto. This is 1469 01:19:18,800 --> 01:19:23,360 Speaker 1: a call to innovate and update our practice of citizening. 1470 01:19:24,280 --> 01:19:27,360 Speaker 1: In the case of Alex and participation dows like friends 1471 01:19:27,360 --> 01:19:32,320 Speaker 1: with Benefits, The questions they're asking apply well beyond blockchain 1472 01:19:32,360 --> 01:19:35,920 Speaker 1: based communities. They're the same questions we should be asking, 1473 01:19:36,280 --> 01:19:41,200 Speaker 1: whether we're talking about online communities or those offline. Are 1474 01:19:41,280 --> 01:19:46,480 Speaker 1: we valuing people's contributions, are we fostering a collective economy? 1475 01:19:47,200 --> 01:19:52,080 Speaker 1: And are we making decisions about the spaces we care about. 1476 01:19:53,360 --> 01:19:57,360 Speaker 1: We spend so much of our lives existing through online platforms, 1477 01:19:57,800 --> 01:19:59,760 Speaker 1: and just like we care about how we show up 1478 01:19:59,760 --> 01:20:03,360 Speaker 1: in physical communities and the systems that run them, our 1479 01:20:03,439 --> 01:20:13,040 Speaker 1: digital common spaces demand our citizen in two and now 1480 01:20:13,400 --> 01:20:17,200 Speaker 1: it's time for some actions. Starting with an internal reflection, 1481 01:20:17,880 --> 01:20:21,320 Speaker 1: Take a moment and think about your relationship to the 1482 01:20:21,400 --> 01:20:24,679 Speaker 1: digital spaces you spend time in. This could be social media, 1483 01:20:25,040 --> 01:20:28,880 Speaker 1: gaming or a group chat. Where do you feel like 1484 01:20:28,920 --> 01:20:32,320 Speaker 1: an active participant, where you set the terms and the 1485 01:20:32,360 --> 01:20:35,640 Speaker 1: tone of the environment. Where do you feel passive like 1486 01:20:35,720 --> 01:20:39,520 Speaker 1: someone else is in charge? How might you change that relationship? 1487 01:20:40,800 --> 01:20:44,480 Speaker 1: Our next action is in the category of becoming more informed. 1488 01:20:45,360 --> 01:20:48,519 Speaker 1: We can create a healthier culture of democracy through Web 1489 01:20:48,600 --> 01:20:52,840 Speaker 1: three beyond starting and joining doubt. If you're new to 1490 01:20:52,880 --> 01:20:55,479 Speaker 1: this world, the New York Times has a great primer 1491 01:20:55,560 --> 01:20:58,519 Speaker 1: on what Web three even is, and we've linked to 1492 01:20:58,560 --> 01:21:01,280 Speaker 1: it in the show notes. You read that take a 1493 01:21:01,320 --> 01:21:04,320 Speaker 1: deep dive into the history of squads, a form of 1494 01:21:04,360 --> 01:21:08,960 Speaker 1: social and economic organizing that shifting power and social dynamics 1495 01:21:09,000 --> 01:21:13,680 Speaker 1: away from an individualistic society. And if our conversation with 1496 01:21:13,720 --> 01:21:17,000 Speaker 1: Alex made you curious, check out our season three conversation 1497 01:21:17,280 --> 01:21:20,400 Speaker 1: with Eli Pariser from New Public. We go deep on 1498 01:21:20,439 --> 01:21:24,160 Speaker 1: how to better design digital public spaces, and, last, but 1499 01:21:24,280 --> 01:21:27,080 Speaker 1: not least, here's what I want us to try. In 1500 01:21:27,200 --> 01:21:31,479 Speaker 1: terms of public participation. You're likely part of a decision 1501 01:21:31,479 --> 01:21:35,880 Speaker 1: making group, a tenants or homeowners association, a parents group, 1502 01:21:36,360 --> 01:21:39,919 Speaker 1: a committee at work. I'm so sorry, I'm a committee 1503 01:21:39,920 --> 01:21:42,400 Speaker 1: at work. By the way. Now, the next time you're 1504 01:21:42,400 --> 01:21:44,760 Speaker 1: at one of your meetings, take note of how the 1505 01:21:44,840 --> 01:21:49,720 Speaker 1: group makes decisions, who speaks, who's silent, what areas are 1506 01:21:49,760 --> 01:21:52,840 Speaker 1: open to input, and what's considered off the table? Is 1507 01:21:52,880 --> 01:21:56,559 Speaker 1: there even an agenda? See if you can identify the 1508 01:21:56,680 --> 01:22:01,840 Speaker 1: kind of culture the group has chaotic, deferential, something else. 1509 01:22:02,439 --> 01:22:05,760 Speaker 1: Can you find any opportunities for the group to make 1510 01:22:05,800 --> 01:22:10,200 Speaker 1: that culture more small d democratic by rotating speaking or 1511 01:22:10,280 --> 01:22:15,200 Speaker 1: leadership roles, or even just openly acknowledging how decisions are 1512 01:22:15,240 --> 01:22:19,040 Speaker 1: made and how that might shift. We don't always need 1513 01:22:19,080 --> 01:22:22,639 Speaker 1: to find or start new groups and spaces to practice 1514 01:22:22,720 --> 01:22:27,000 Speaker 1: this democracy thing, so let's start where we are. If 1515 01:22:27,040 --> 01:22:30,040 Speaker 1: you take any of these actions, please brag about it 1516 01:22:30,120 --> 01:22:34,120 Speaker 1: online and use the hashtag how to citizen. Also tag 1517 01:22:34,160 --> 01:22:37,760 Speaker 1: our Instagram how to citizen. I am always online and 1518 01:22:37,800 --> 01:22:40,759 Speaker 1: I really do see your messages, so send them finally. 1519 01:22:41,240 --> 01:22:44,400 Speaker 1: See this episode show notes for more on these actions 1520 01:22:44,439 --> 01:22:47,040 Speaker 1: and a link to our bookshop dot org account where 1521 01:22:47,080 --> 01:22:50,120 Speaker 1: you can find all the books Alex mentioned and any 1522 01:22:50,200 --> 01:22:53,000 Speaker 1: others you've heard about while listening to the show. How 1523 01:22:53,040 --> 01:22:56,120 Speaker 1: to Citizen with baritun Day as a production of iHeartRadio 1524 01:22:56,200 --> 01:23:00,439 Speaker 1: Podcasts and Row Home Productions. Our executive producers are me 1525 01:23:00,840 --> 01:23:05,040 Speaker 1: barrettun Day, Thurston and Elizabeth Stewart. Our lead producer is 1526 01:23:05,040 --> 01:23:09,679 Speaker 1: Ali Graham. Our associate producer is Donia abdel Hamid. Alex 1527 01:23:09,800 --> 01:23:12,840 Speaker 1: Lewis is our managing producer, and John Myers is our 1528 01:23:12,880 --> 01:23:17,559 Speaker 1: executive editor. Our mix engineer is Justin Berger. Original music 1529 01:23:17,600 --> 01:23:21,240 Speaker 1: by Andrew Eapen with additional music by Blue Dot Sessions, 1530 01:23:21,280 --> 01:23:25,560 Speaker 1: and our audience engagement fellows are Jasmine Lewis and Gabbie Rodriguez. 1531 01:23:26,000 --> 01:23:29,559 Speaker 1: Special thanks to Joel Smith from iHeartRadio and Lay Labina. 1532 01:23:37,760 --> 01:23:42,160 Speaker 1: Next time on How the Citizen, Alex believes that a 1533 01:23:42,200 --> 01:23:46,320 Speaker 1: community to be whole must also be an economy, but 1534 01:23:46,439 --> 01:23:49,479 Speaker 1: he doesn't mean they need to increase wealth, inequality or 1535 01:23:49,600 --> 01:23:53,200 Speaker 1: drive profits at the expense of our humanity. A community 1536 01:23:53,240 --> 01:23:56,519 Speaker 1: economy is just a system that acknowledges the exchange of 1537 01:23:56,600 --> 01:23:59,760 Speaker 1: value and it can work for all of us. No 1538 01:24:00,000 --> 01:24:03,280 Speaker 1: one believes that more than economist Kate Rayworth. What do 1539 01:24:03,280 --> 01:24:05,800 Speaker 1: you think is the shape of economic progress? Because if 1540 01:24:05,840 --> 01:24:08,840 Speaker 1: you listen to an economist, if you listen to a politician, 1541 01:24:09,800 --> 01:24:14,800 Speaker 1: the shape apparently is growth, endlessly, right, always, always more. 1542 01:24:15,000 --> 01:24:17,320 Speaker 1: Because no amotter how rich nation already is. I'm in 1543 01:24:17,360 --> 01:24:18,960 Speaker 1: the UK or in the US. We live in two 1544 01:24:19,000 --> 01:24:22,160 Speaker 1: of the richest countries in the history of humanity, and 1545 01:24:22,280 --> 01:24:25,760 Speaker 1: yet our economists are politicians think that the solution to 1546 01:24:25,800 --> 01:24:28,400 Speaker 1: all of our problems lie in yet more growth, endlessly. 1547 01:24:28,479 --> 01:24:31,160 Speaker 1: There's no end in sight. Now, there's something utterly absurd 1548 01:24:31,160 --> 01:24:33,240 Speaker 1: about that, and I think we really need to take 1549 01:24:33,280 --> 01:24:36,519 Speaker 1: seriously what is the shape of progress? Kate Rayworth, author 1550 01:24:36,600 --> 01:24:39,679 Speaker 1: of Donut Economics, Seven Ways to Think like a twenty 1551 01:24:39,680 --> 01:24:43,320 Speaker 1: first century economist, shares how we can create an economy 1552 01:24:43,320 --> 01:24:47,120 Speaker 1: that works for all of us, including our planet. Yay Earth, 1553 01:24:55,280 --> 01:24:56,600 Speaker 1: grow home productions,