Hey there!

We're back with the 7th edition of our weekly digest, highlighting a few hand-selected pieces of writing over the past month or so.

Check them out below & let us know which was your favorite!

Taste, Time, and Attention: On Making Contact with the World

What happens to the concept of "taste" when there's an overwhelming abundance of choices in consumption and creation?

@jackson emphasizes that true taste arises from prolonged attention, skill, and personal expression, suggesting that slowing down and immersing yourself deeply into your interests leads to richer experiences and better quality in both consumption and creation.

Things We’re Excited About in Crypto

The Variant team takes stock of what the rest of 2024 will hold and what we might see heading into 2025, highlighting the trends and ideas that will shape the next wave of crypto development.

Rewilding Civilization: David Graeber's Radical Vision in "The Dawn of Everything"

@patwater reviews The Dawn of Everything, using it as a canvas to explore the potential to pioneer new modes of living, working, and playing with the third wave of the web.

Graeber and Wengrow show over and over again how many aspects of human societies weren’t structurally determined but instead reflected conscious choices of the participants. 

The book shows how today, like every day before and every day thereafter, we as humans have that same choice, if we have courage to look upon the world with wonder once again and see the dawn with new eyes. 

Untitled: growing a brand account from scratch

@samanthamarin outlines tips & tactics for overcoming the daunting challenge of growing a brand on social media from scratch. She uses the new platform Untitled and other apps to walk through ratio-ing, leveraging founder accounts, adopting a spicy brand voice, and various other tactics aimed at growing an audience on social platforms.

Distant Mountains

@brg explores how the future of entertainment will shift from the passive consumption model of traditional Hollywood toward formats that enable fan participation. He points out that fan-created media and ownership through technologies like NFTs can create dynamic, engaging story universes that retain loyal audiences and continually generate new IP.

Consumer Crypto by the Numbers Q2 2024

@blockchainbrett and @jg provide a data-driven update on leading consumer crypto protocols and apps through the end of July 2024. They highlight increased adoption and continued growth across various consumer crypto apps despite a market pullback from Q1 highs.

That's all we have this week — what did we miss?

Let us know what you think!

See you next week,
Paragraph team