In emergent technology, you’re not just building a product. You’re building a social protocol or network, and networks and protocols are inherently social. They thrive on community and culture. Your role isn’t just to create the tools for the future, but to construct the world around those tools—a world built on mental models, language, frameworks, and experiences that others can adopt and propagate. This is the essence of cultural engineering. It’s not passive. It’s intentional and requires strategic, iterative world-building.

The most successful networks, like Ethereum, didn’t just create a product—they built a culture, a belief system that shapes how people see the future. To build a thriving network, you need to do the same. You need to engineer culture, not just technology. Metaphors, language, visuals, beliefs matter—they shape how people understand your world. This is about more than branding. It’s about futuring. The future you create isn’t just sold to people—it’s inhabited by them.

Building a network isn’t just about creating technology—it’s about creating a world where people can see how your tools fit into a broader future. Ethereum didn’t just succeed because it was a blockchain—it succeeded because it introduced a new way of organizing trust, contracts, and decentralization. It gave people the framework to imagine decentralized futures where they had control over their digital assets and applications. Ethereum’s mission defined the arena, and its smart contract system became the edge that allowed others to build within its world.

Building networks means creating an ecosystem where your mission, your vision, and the people using it are deeply interconnected. It’s about making your network a core building block for the future, where others can see how their participation will shape and strengthen the whole.

Provocations:

• If your network vanished tomorrow, would anyone care enough to rebuild it with you?

• Does your mission invite people to be co-creators, or are they just passive users?

• Are the systems in place to ensure that your network grows stronger the more people contribute?

Language doesn’t just describe—it creates. In world-building, language frames how people think about your vision and their role in it. Ethereum introduced or reintroduced terms like "smart contracts," "decentralization," and "Web3." These words didn’t just explain the technology—they created the mental models for people to understand and believe in the future the Ethereum community was building. As Metaphors We Live By explains, metaphors are the tools we use to shape the world.

To build your network, you need to arm your community with the language that frames their participation. The right metaphors and terminology are critical—they don’t just clarify your network’s value, they make it irreplaceable in how people think about the future.

Provocations:

• What metaphors will make people spread your vision like a belief system?

• Are you giving your community the language that sparks action and participation?

• Does your language make people feel like they’re not just using a tool, but shaping the future?

Building networks is about creating flywheels, not funnels. Funnels are linear—they push people toward a goal. Flywheels are dynamic systems, where each action reinforces the next, creating momentum that builds over time. For example Ethereum’s network operates like a flywheel: every new developer, application, and community member strengthens the system, accelerating growth and reinforcing the decentralized vision. Each participant doesn’t just use Ethereum—they add various forms of value, making the network more powerful.

Your network needs to create the same effect. The more people engage, the stronger your flywheel spins, building something that’s not just sustainable but self-expanding. It’s not about acquiring users—it’s about creating believers who see themselves as part of something bigger, where their participation fuels the entire system.

Provocations:

• How does your network create a flywheel where engagement leads to more engagement?

• Are you designing systems that let your network reinforce itself?

• How do your participants actively add value to the network, making it stronger?

Building a network isn’t just about attracting users; it’s about competing for attention in a world flooded with distractions. People are bombarded with content, social media, entertainment, and endless scrolls fighting relentlessly for their time. Ethereum didn’t just sell blockchain technology—it sold the idea of a decentralized, trustless internet—a vision so compelling that people felt they couldn’t ignore it.

In today’s attention-scarce world, you aren’t just competing against other networks or services—you’re competing against everything trying to steal a moment of individual focus. Your narrative needs to be irresistible, not just useful. It needs to offer a world that people want to invest in, because it promises something more than just utility—it promises meaning.

Provocations:

• What makes your network irresistible in a sea of distractions?

• Are people eager to invest their time, energy, and belief in your network over all the alternatives?

• Does your network offer something deeper than just a tool—does it offer purpose?

Cultural engineering is about positioning your network’s future against the status quo. In our example Ethereum wasn’t just about decentralization—it was about offering a clear alternative to centralized control, positioning itself as the foundation of a future internet that’s free from gatekeepers. It didn’t just propose a solution—it challenged the existing system, showing why the old way was broken and why a decentralized future was not only better but necessary.

To build a future for your network, you need to position it as not just an alternative but the next step—the only step forward. You’re not just offering a new idea; you’re creating a movement that leaves outdated systems behind.

Provocations:

• How are you positioning your network’s future as inevitable, not just possible?

• What part of the existing system are you disrupting and leaving behind?

• Does your network make the status quo feel obsolete, forcing people to question it?

At its core, building a network is about cultural engineering. It’s not just about technology or infrastructure; it’s about creating a belief system that people can buy into. Ethereum didn’t just offer decentralized technology—it engineered a cultural shift, a new way of thinking about trust, ownership, and governance. Building networks means creating a culture where people not only believe in your vision but see themselves as co-creators of that future.

Your role is to create the cultural framework that people align with. This isn’t about branding or worse marketing; it’s about giving people the mental, social, and cultural tools to build the world with you. The stronger your cultural foundation, the stronger your network becomes because people don’t just use it—they live it.

Provocations:

• How are you giving people the cultural tools to help build your network?

• Are you engineering a belief system that others want to join and grow?

• How are you empowering your community to feel like co-creators of your vision?

World-building isn’t just marketing. It’s long-term engagement engineering. While memes and trends can capture quick attention, worlds can be inhabited, co-created, and evolved by those who live within them. Memes are fleeting, but well-built worlds sustain attention. A strong world can be lived in, shaped, and grown over time.

Your success in emergent tech isn’t just about creating a product—it’s about constructing a world that people want to inhabit. Network effects don’t just create growth—they create belief. Your job is to build a blueprint for the future, one that provides people with the tools, the belief systems, and the cultural foundations to create that future alongside you.

In our exploitative attention economy, the networks that survive aren’t the ones that shout just the loudest—they’re the ones that build worlds worth inhabiting. Build the world, give people the power to co-create, and your network will grow stronger, not because it’s trending, but because it’s designed to evolve with its builders.

Provocations:

• How will your network endure in the face of competition for attention?

• What part of your cultural vision will people want to propagate and grow?

• How are you creating a network that feels inevitable, not just possible?

TLDR

In a world obsessed with short-term hype—where memes, coins, and fleeting trends dominate the spotlight—it’s easy to get distracted by what burns bright but quickly fades. Worlds persist. Fads may seize attention, but protocols endure. Building a network or protocol is more than chasing attention; it’s about world-building through cultural engineering, creating deep, lasting structures that thrive on network effects. Memes may capture a moment, but worlds create the future. The real battle is not for fleeting attention, but for lasting belief—building a world where people aren’t just users, but co-creators, shaping and evolving the future with you. To build protocols is to build worlds that command attention, compound engagement, and grow stronger long after the noise has faded. This is how you create networks that endure.

co-written with ChatGPT-4o