Onchain Hypercultures: Catch and Release

We arrive at the end of this essay series, having covered three dimensions thus far.

The basis for creating improved cultural centers with the advent of blockchains:

https://mirror.xyz/lght.eth/pTG74wlS43LGBzP7ZYCBTGEcWJ9uZdC3lUa2JJUXtQA

An analysis of the three prominent proofs of concept in the space (2023):

https://mirror.xyz/lght.eth/Av_4Vx1U9jDYgDzdrfWQD3FKuXUbMpQ9h5n-KlFz3KQ

Speculation on the foundational mechanics needed for global adoption of this concept:

https://mirror.xyz/lght.eth/k7DG6-EmElQky0qx-O3C_5Iln3iXf6yfqdq77tOz8oA

Now I will share the current blueprint I’ve arrived at in regard to turning an independent ‘art career’ into an onchain hyperculture.

We need to understand what an independent creative is ‘traditionally’ trying to build.

1. They are trying to figure out what truly matters to them on an existential level

2. They’re trying to figure out how to express it beyond internal recognition

3. Then they’re trying to commercialize it

Many of my contemporaries seem to hold distain for the ‘commercial’ aspect of art. It seems that the idea of treating priceless material as anything other than precious can be regarded as sacrilegious… That is until enough economic fuel is flowing.

Onchain hypercultures provide an alternative, all-encompassing enough, to welcome both ends of this disagreement-spectrum. If you have read essay three then you are familiar with the hyperstack

Here we have a realization that an art career can now be sandwiched between capital incentives and common incentives. I will use myself as an example for more insight.

The global reach and coordination of blockchains allow a creative (me) to build multiple funnels for step 3. If step 1 & 2 are to foster meme-context that one believes to be beneficial to themself and others, then it seems obvious that the more entry points to that context the better (at least at this stage).

This means welcoming resonant meme-recipients with bias toward capital incentives AND common incentives. It can not be overstated how significant of a paradigm shift this tech brings.

Offchain art careers are very much bottlenecked into singular funnels. The choice is to pursue status or capital markets for most. A hyperculture accesses both. And it is now, when we hover around 250k daily active users on Ethereum, that we should be preparing.

After understanding the fundamentals of an independent art career, and the paradigm shift we’re headed towards, it’s time for a creative to consider their own hyperstack.

Here are my own career thoughts for creatives to gain insight from.

Thanks to Mismatch by Kat Holmes I’ve found a new way to use the Bell Curve. Instead of viewing the chart as a linear progression, I’m using it as a calculator.

On the right end we have nuanced:

• incentives

• narratives

• checkpoints

• vision

On the left we have their broad counterparts.

In the center we have an axis. The height of this axis deals with the market majority for whichever ‘calculation’ we’re focused on (incentives, narratives, etc). The vertices, in this stage of my planning, deal with:

1. Memes

2. Goals

Art is a language of memes. And memes are the byproduct of context-fermentation. The resonant meme in my artistic expression is beauty.

When calculating the incentives I most resonate with for the commercial dimension, I arrive at - beauty is better. This gets additional context for whichever meme-recipients bias I deal with (nuanced or broad).

Calculating the narrative range results in the market meme - disrupt monotony. Again, the flexibility of this model allows me to meet potential hyperculture adopters at the level they most resonate with (broad or nuanced).

The second vertex of interest is the ‘commercial-creative’ goal. In essay three we examined the three layers in the hyperstack (commons, cultures, structures).

The biggest takeaway, for me, is that each had a tangible expression of their meme in the marketplace.

For hyperstructures it was a better company model.

For hypercultures it was a better creator economy.

For hypercommons it was a better planet.

Each layer had a measurable goal to test the progression of its inherent meme. I see no reason a hyperstack for an independent artist would be different.

For me, the goal is creative sovereignty. The model works the same as before, but we’re dealing with vision and checkpoints instead of incentives and narratives.

Quickly, for creative sovereignty’s vision:

• nuanced - life improvements of using creativity as a vertex

• broad - more creativity = more creativity

• market majority - a world with creativity influencing IRL

the checkpoints are:

• nuanced - the birth of the hyperstack model

• broad - 1000 true collectors/curators

• market majority - an onchain brand with an IRL ecosystem

As I have reiterated numerous times, we are in the early days of onchain hypercultures. The fact that there are only one consumer-facing DAO (Nouns), Creative protocol (Zora), and independent art project (Opepen) speaks to this truth. All the opportunity is in front of us. And the trials and errors will be undeniable.

Personally, an offchain art career is terribly drab. The condescension toward artists by their patrons and broader collective is unimaginative. Much of this ‘tradition’ I believe can be alleviated through hypercultures.

The questions are innumerable though:

• why would people mint art?

• why would people build a dao?

• why should we care?

• who is in charge?

• what happens if we fail?

• what happens if we succeed?

I can’t be bothered with answering all of those. In fact, I was reading a fascinating article (here) that puts into perspective why I’ve tried to articulate this concept and decided to build my own.

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