I’ve been a part of the web3 scene for a while now. As I’ve stated in previous blog posts, I started my journey back in 2021 during the thick of the coronavirus pandemic. I was a dirt poor college student still living with my parents. I was unemployed at the time, the majority of my college education fortunately paid for through a prestigious scholarship I earned by achieving good grades in high school. Outside of that, I was penniless. I was so tired of having to live under my parents roof and wanted even an iota of financial independence, to be able to live a life of my own.

That’s when I heard about NFTs.

NFTs were all the rage at the time; thousands of people making fortunes from simple pieces of pixel art and ugly looking monkeys. I being a naturally talented artist myself though “Hey, if these guys could make a fortune off of stupid looking jpegs, I can easily do it!” I started doing my research, creating multiple NFTs on popular marketplaces at the time, mostly minting on Binance’s blockchain as I was concerned about Ethereum’s energy consumption and it’s impact on the climate. I ultimately didn’t make any sizable fortune from this. Of course I later learned that the majority of successful NFT projects were due to wash trading and the numbers that people earned were greatly exaggerated. Nevertheless, NFTs were my initiation into the world of the blockchain and the many capabilities the technology offered. While I had heard about Bitcoin before in passing, it was never something I gave much thought to. However, after learning about how cryptocurrency and tokens worked, and most importantly why Satoshi invented blockchain in the first place, I was enthralled with the technology.

Like many others, I grew up in a time of upheaval, turmoil and societal dysfunction. I was but a child when our elementary school teachers showed us old black and white footage of Holocaust prisoners being burned alive in ovens. Every year on the 11th of September, they showed us footage of the hijacked planes crashing into the twin towers and the ensuing chaos and confusion. I’m sure the school board thought they had good intentions, showing their youth the horrors and evils of humanity to ensure such atrocities were never repeated. Instead it only engendered fear, pessimism, xenophobia, and a general loathing for society, the results of these apparent in the rise of political extremism across the globe and our now psychotic governmental system here in the United States. When the Capitol building was raided by angry protesters at the beginning of that year, I had given up on our species, willing to accept that humanity would forever be in a state of collective madness from which it could not escape due to it’s own God given nature.

But the blockchain offered another way.

The crypto revolution came to me, and other displaced idealistic youth, with a solution: that we could used this tech to not only decentralize the control of money, to not only wrench power away from the powerful who would seek to control and harm others, but to ensure that such evils could never rise up again to haunt humanity. I remember reading the Slate Star Codex’s “Meditations on Moloch” and learning of the dark god of coordination failure, the demonic adversary of humanity that kept us from moving forward, putting a face to the darkness of the world I despised. I was further fascinated with the idea of decentralized autonomous organizations and came to the belief that if we could get these organizations working, it could lead to another bright golden age for humanity, unshackling ourselves from the grasp of Moloch and slaying the horrid leviathan once and for all. The future was no longer hopeless; it was bright, very bright.

Some years passed and I eventually joined Farcaster via invitation. I’ve loved my time here in the community, meeting like-minded people who had the same dreams and ideals as I, people who weren’t in the tech just for the money but for raising humanity to a higher station. It became a place where I felt like I belonged, a place of ideas, optimism, and a desire to bring down Moloch for good.

Four years later, where are we now?

As of writing this, Trump, the lunatic we elected again to run our country, is busy ramming it straight into the ground while he allows angry man children like Elon Musk to burn down what’s left of American society. Bitcoin, once a beacon of liberation from the state, is now being endorsed and hoarded by the very oligarchs it originally swore to oppose. Instead of being used to build a better future, blockchain is now being used my millions to create useless shitcoins to rip off other people and spread the degeneracy that the sector has been so infamous for.

And where does that leave all the smart people? All of the philosophers and idealists who wanted to drive humankind towards utopia? Are they actively building things that will genuinely benefit the world? Not really. If anything like that is being built, it either isn’t ready yet or was built with no particular user in mind to the point of being entirely useless to anyone. For the most part, all of the smart people have locked themselves away in their ivory towers, snidely frowning upon the degenerates who would dare smear their sacred chains with their filth, and even worse on all of the ignorant unwashed masses who can’t bring themselves to understand the enlightened intricacies of the technology.

Yet, even within these ivory towers, the malaise is beginning to spread. The community’s reactions to the memecoin frenzy and the massive wipeout that followed has been sad to say the least. Some have started bullying certain members of the Ethereum Foundation, not because they aren’t living up to the principles that the original cypherpunks championed, but because ETH is down and their bags aren’t being pumped. In recent days, I’ve seen prolific members of the community turn against each other and some of them outright leave in exasperation of the dishonesty and bad faith within the space. And yet, we keep convincing ourselves that we’re “so early” and that all of this will somehow get better when it clearly isn’t.

In short, the blockchain revolution was an abysmal failure.

Listen: I still very much enjoy being a part of Farcaster and I love it’s community, but the more and more I stay here, the more and more I realize that any meaningful growth or progress has essentially stagnated. Perhaps this may turn itself around in the near future, but it’s clear to me that many people involved in this space have lost the plot. The problem is that all people here ever talk about is the technology and how great it is and how it’s going to save everyone and on and on and on. It’s become tiresome.

The technology isn’t the point. The technology was never the point. Bitcoin came to pass as a protest against the corrupt systems of power that caused the 2008 financial crisis and ruined countless lives. The cypherpunk movement of the 80’s and 90’s vouched for personal privacy and individual freedom in an age where such human rights were actively being smothered. The crypto movement of today has seemed to have forgotten these principles for either 1) the fulfillment of greed and avarice or 2) endlessly praising the technology and worshiping whoever advocates for it, regardless of their true intentions.

I see this present moment as an opportunity for us to reflect on what brought us here in the first place and why we decided to stay. I may have originally joined with the hopes of greater financial security, but I stayed for the promise of a better future. If we want to revive the revolution and continue the fight against Moloch, we must learn to turn our focus from the technology itself and towards the principles and values that birthed those technologies. This requires practicing an agnostic view of these tools, not seeing them as the end itself but as a means to an end.

There are a few main reasons why focusing so much on technology itself is not only unwise, but can actively hinder our progress towards the world we want to build.

Technology is ephemeral

Technology by nature is an ouroboros: it is constantly rendering itself obsolete. Existing inventions are constantly being replaced by newer ones in a never ending, and accelerating, cycle. Steel swords were replaced with muskets and cannons as the primary tool or warfare which are now being replaced with tactical missiles and drones. Manual labor was enhanced with steam powered and electrical machines which are gradually being automated by robotics. Barbaric and harmful psychiatric procedures such as electroshock therapy and the lobotomy were left behind for anti-psychotic medications and psychotherapies. Innovation is constantly replacing itself. As such, it is not wise to attach oneself to a certain piece of technology as that technology is temporal at best.

As revolutionary as blockchain may be, the only task it is uniquely good at is strict global consensus. Aside from that, it’s clunky, slow, expensive, and not as decentralized as we like to make it out to be. I’m willing to bet that in the next 20-30 years, current blockchain solutions will be replaced with something far superior and entirely different. With the exponential rate by which tech is evolving, many of us will live to see blockchain become a relic of the past. People from even a century ago could not imagine that such a thing as artificial intelligence could actually come to pass, let alone even comprehend the idea of the internet, smart devices, or the strange and alien quantum computer. We will likely see technologies within our life times that we cannot possibly imagine.

A true and effective technologist has the ability to navigate and flow with this cycle, able to quickly adapt to any upcoming innovation that comes their way. They are also able to do this while keeping the principles and values that drove them to their work at the forefront of their minds, regardless of what shiny new thing is currently being hyped. They are able to balance and consider a multitude of different technologies to reach their ultimate goals, being careful not to fall into the tribal mindset of many chain ecosystems we see today. In short, a true technologist is like water, able to fluidly change and shift with the landscape they find themselves in.

Technology alone will not save us

I do not consider myself a Luddite, though I would sympathize with those who do. The technological movements of the recent era have not exactly earned the trust of the general public, especially since it’s been hijacked by oligarchs who would bend the technology to their own selfish agendas. The original internet was meant to liberate and spread information which would lead to a more enlightened society, instead becoming a series of walled off gardens controlled by the rich and powerful. Social media was meant to unite humanity but has only divided it and has stolen everybody’s personal data to boot. Cryptocurrency was meant to be a tool to free us from the corrupt financial system and by extension the state, and has instead become a playground for criminals, scammers, and grifters. These movements have done little to inspire confidence, and has only given credence to the Unabomber’s claim that technology is a force of evil that must be utterly wiped from the face of the earth.

With all of that said, I do not believe technology to be evil, nor do I believe it to be good. I see it as a tool, and a tool is only as good, or bad, as the person who uses it. A man can go to a hardware store to buy a hammer. He can either use said hammer to build something of practical use, whether it be a dog house, a piece of furniture, or just use it to fix his roof, or he can use it to break into his neighbor’s house at night and rob them. Or he could use it to simply bash someone’s head in for sleeping with his wife and throw them in a nearby lake. When the man is eventually arrested and stands trial, should the judge punish the hardware store owner for selling the hammer to the man? Of course not! Why would it be his fault when the store owner did not know his customer’s intentions? Should all hammers be banned from society wholesale as a result? Would that be at all fair? At the end of the day, the hammer is just that: a hammer. A hunk of metal with a handle at one end. We only attach good or evil intentions to it when someone uses the tool to those ends. A sword is only as virtuous as the warrior who wields it.

Now of course in the process of writing this, I acknowledge that the same people who are using modern technology for nefarious ends are also typically the same people who have a monopoly over it and have the resources to continue developing it. But even in that case, should we ban all technological progress because it could possibly harm humanity? For practical reasons, I’m not going to bother dignifying that question with a response because it simply won’t happen. Whatever war Mr. Kaczynski was attempting to wage by blowing up mailboxes, he ultimately failed. Artificial intelligence now exists and is out in the wild. We have crossed the point of no return. Even if there was a chance to turn around, our society and economies are too invested in furthering innovation to even consider such a thing. There will be no Butlerian Jihad. The ensuing singularity is here to stay whether we like it or not, and we must learn to make the best of it.

So that leaves us with the question: how do we best guide the development of this technology so that it results in the most amount of good for humanity while minimizing its downsides? I admit I do not have a clear answer to this. We can continue to try and decentralize its control and development, but decentralization is extraordinarily difficult. Humans are not decentralized creatures by nature like bees or fungi. We are egotistical, individualistic animals who often trend towards centralized structures of power, only seeking to dismantle those structures when things don’t go our way. The failed crypto movement is proof that any technological advancement will ultimately be tainted by human avarice to some degree, if not outright hijacked. Technology may be able to fix many things but it ultimately cannot change basic human nature, no matter how advanced it becomes; it will only amplify those base tendencies.

I propose that the solution to our societal ills are not purely technological but in fact spiritual. When a society has a healthy spirit, it often has a strong moral fiber as a result, and is therefore better able to make decisions from which it will benefit in the long run. Despite the many virtues that came of the age of enlightenment and the rationalist movement, it has also resulted in our generations abandoning spirituality wholesale. I’m not just referring to religion and man’s connection with the Divine, but also to the tender health of the soul via mindfulness and introspection. Such things are now increasingly considered silly and superstitious, instead replaced with the doctrines of cold hard logic and reason, and further supplanted by the many distractions and appetites born from consumerism. This abandonment of the spirit has cost us dearly, leading to widespread psychological malaise and a general unwellness that is palpable everywhere.

We forget that humans are not naturally creatures of logic or reason, but we are instead primarily creatures of emotion. That is how evolution built us. We are not Vulcans. While yes, we may be capable of logic to a degree, even our best efforts are affected by our emotional and biased nature. For our species to progress any further, we must learn to recognize and accept this about ourselves.

What we need are tools and protocols that aid people in developing their spiritual aspects, developing their souls through peaceful introspection, meditation, and inner work. We also need to design these tools to cultivate and engender a sense of community and belonging. Indeed, humans are social creatures and one of the reasons many religions such as Christianity have reigned triumphant is because they cater to that tribal sense of belonging, the need to be a part of something greater. We can now see these tendencies manifesting themselves in multiple online communities, from the cult like behavior of the crypto movement to the passion of pop culture fandoms. Humans often find higher purpose and meaning through intimate connections with others. “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” - Matthew 18:20.

Now I recognize that many readers will prickle at the mention of religion and spirituality. Indeed the same ills that have befallen the technological revolutions of our time have long plagued religious and spiritual institutions as well. Medieval history is rife with the barbarism, violence, and vile decadence that hierarchic organized religion has wrought, and the recent spiritual movements of the 60’s have often led to predatory cults that have actively harmed, and even killed, its adherents. I also acknowledge that while I currently practice religion in my personal life and am generally more favorable towards it, others who read this will have more negative experiences with religion in their own lives, carrying sensitive feelings on the matter due to mistreatment or possibly even trauma.

Whatever we build in this regard to the spiritual should be as decentralized as feasibly possible, free from the control of any one person or groups of people. Not only that, but it must also be divorced from the idea of money in any way possible. Therefore, there should be no cryptocurrency whatsoever underlying these tools and blockchain, if used at all, should be used very sparsely. If there are costs for computing or running nodes, the means of payment should be externalized to the extent by which it can. It’s likely however that technology will only play a small part in fostering this spiritual movement, for as mentioned before, technology cannot fix everything. It will also require basic community building, fostering cultures locally, and making knowledge and educational material openly accessible to all, “without money and without price”.

Most people don’t care about the technology

There are many products that have been built in web3 that simply never got off the ground or completely failed. Whenever I come across these projects, they either 1) are straight up scams or grifts, or 2) have some extremely vague value proposition sprinkled with a bunch of complicated tech jargon. With my interest in DAOs, I did some research into the more popular DAOs in the ecosystem to see what they actually did. From what I could find, most current DAOs mainly exist to fund other web3 related projects. There are some exceptions to this, but those that stand out haven't gained any considerable clout or influence. In other words, most web3 projects are only designed for one user group: crypto people. Meanwhile, no one outside of our bubble have any need to use these products and even if they do, the UX is so abysmal that no sane person would want to.

What the builders of these projects don’t understand is that most people either don’t have the time or patience to understand what crypto or blockchain or “web3” is or they are so repulsed by it that they wouldn’t touch it with a 25 foot pole. The builders therefore misunderstand one very important truth: no one gives a crap about the tech. They only care about the product and if it meets their needs and desires, regardless of what’s underneath the hood. Most people aren’t as idealistic as we are, daydreaming about all these fancy new toys and how we’ll use them to save humanity from itself. We are the outliers, and I don’t necessarily mean that in a good way.

Take tools like pump.fun on Solana for example. For all of Solana’s flaws, they actually listened to the needs of it’s users and made a tool so easy to use, a Mennonite could figure out how to spin up a shitcoin. The truth is, these users don’t care about what crypto is or how it works. They just care about making money, regardless of what morals they throw away to earn it. Solana won the market by not worrying about inspiring ideals and instead went hard and fast. That’s why people like to use the chain. It’s also why Solana is eating Ethereum’s lunch right now.

Another good example, although unrelated to web3, is Bluesky. Bluesky keeps priding itself for being decentralized, and their users will say the same, but for the most part it’s all decentralization theater. The AT protocol underlying Bluesky, at least currently, is largely controlled by the company. Most of their users are either blind to this fact, or are aware of it and continue to use it anyway in the hopes that Jay Graber keeps her word. In reality, these users don’t really care about decentralization. They don’t care about how the AT Protocol works or how it’s managed. They just care that Bluesky isn’t managed by Elon Musk. That’s why the culture of Bluesky is essentially a large left-leaning echo chamber; the majority of it’s users are Xitter refugees and they’re looking for another digital home. Graber and her team understood this and provided them one, along with the tenuous promise that the platform will remain free from the hands of anyone on the political far right.

I remember a recent conversation I had with a group of fellow casters. There was a debate regarding the future direction of web3 and why we should continue to build. I cannot remember what was specifically said but I recall someone claiming that catering to the needs of other users will only serve to further transform web3 into a digital casino and that it was instead the burden of the user to understand why we were building these technologies and how they function. In response, someone else replied “but who f*ckin’ cares?”. And that’s a very good point; why should they care? We are so busy daydreaming about our castles in the sky, our own utopia, but who the hell are we building that utopia for? If we’re just building it for ourselves, then it’s an awfully small tomorrow. We want to keep our panaceas clean from the unlearned dirty masses, but without them we are only building an empty palace: pristine and pure from the outside but no one within.

When I imagine what these technologies can do for mankind, I envision digital democratic organizations decentralized enough that no one person can have direct control or monopoly, very similar to today’s cooperatives. These organizations would be the entire backbone of Earth’s future society (and possibly beyond), catering to the needs of the people instead of the few, ultimately benefiting all of humanity. Whether such a future is possible or realistic is a debate for another time, but I don’t see this potential society inhabited by only a few chosen souls. If we want to build such a future for humanity, we need to make it so people will not just understand how to use it but will want to use it. To do that, we need to step outside of ourselves and ask: what do these people need? What are their wants? Their goals? Dreams? Fears? It’s possible that what the solution they’re looking for doesn’t involve blockchain at all. If it does involve blockchain or some other cryptographic tech, it should be abstracted to the point where the users don’t even need to think about it. They don’t need to understand how it works; the tech just needs to work for them.

I don’t want to build products for crypto people. I want to build products for regular people, with regular problems, regardless of what makes those products function. It’s said that blockchain is a solution looking for a problem to solve, but maybe instead of looking for the problem, we need to look for people with problems to solve. If we really truly want web3 to thrive, we need to build it with the needs of the user in mind. We just need to decide which users we are catering to: the lonely few crypto idealists, or the normies who have actual real world problems.

Conclusion

To anyone from Farcaster reading this, I invite you to consider thinking less about “blockchain”, “web3”, or “crypto” and sincerely ask yourself: what brought you to this space in the first place? Was it the promise of individual freedom from the state? The hope of a brighter tomorrow? Personal ambition? Or simply to find greater financial freedom? I encourage you to go back to the basics, read the screeds of the original cypherpunks and what they actually vouched for. Even better, read the classical literature of the enlightenment era, such as “Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen”, the original Declaration of Independence, and “Republic of Letters”. Much of what the cypherpunks valued really started with the revolutions of that time. Also challenge yourself to step outside of web3 communities like Farcaster and talk to people on other platforms if you haven’t already. I need to do better at this myself. Explore technologies outside of web3, even the lesser known and more niche ones. There are many developers who don’t work with blockchain who are experimenting with all types of decentralizing technology. I think you’ll be surprised with what you find.

Don’t focus on the technology. Instead, question why the technology was built to begin with.