In many ways, we're all just fucking around and finding out about our place in this vast knowledge-sharing economy. Our relationship with technology is ever evolving, as is our collective knowledge around the state of the art. In some ways, as we evolve to integrate new technology, there's a crawl, walk, run paradigm, but today you need to crawl with turbo boosters on. Standards and best practices are not yet codified and IEEE or ISO equivalent for LLMs doesn't exist yet.

Let’s explore FAFO further →

So, what does it mean to "FAFO"? We live in a post-modern world where one facet of cultural literacy is appropriated and imbued with an entirely different meaning in an entirely new context.

Ironically, the ontological origins of the term had historically negative connotations, but in the Farcaster meta, they are neither negative nor positive, but commonly used by builders who are intellectually vulnerable, curious with a bias for experimentation over pontification. Two sides, one coin.

Grin is an OG on Farcaster who just joined the Neynar team. He's also got that low-key sage wisdom. This quote captures the inversion of the anxiety of perpetually feeling like you're missing all of the fun in the sandbox and an invitation to get in there and start getting dirty.

It's a buzzworthy phrase that beautifully captures our modern experiences. We're all navigating through life, testing theories, and learning what works.

We often stumble upon valuable insights while wading through the muck of misguided attempts and honest mistakes. In other words, iteration can be thought of as making fewer bad decisions faster based on evidence of what didn't work before. The scientific method or whatever. Empericism is part intuition, part perspiration, part experimentation… and part giving zero fucks.

Simply put, trial and error on repeat to the point where evidence is objective.

The Lean Startup is a canon of Web 2.0 reading, written by Eric Ries where he articulately explains:

I’ve come to believe that learning is the essential unit of progress for startups. The effort that is not absolutely necessary for learning what customers want can be eliminated. I call this validated learning because it is always demonstrated by positive improvements in the startup’s core metrics.

But sometimes people lack the imagination to know what they want until it's right in front of them. You don't know what you don't know. Blind spots are, by definition, just that.

When building products and services, you can hear a ton of people want a feature, but if 0% of them actually use it, there's a pretty big disconnect between stated and revealed preference. Hence, FAFO.

This isn't just theoretical; it's the very essence of creating and sharing ideas. Each cast, paragraph post, mini app interaction, and every shared link contributes to this intricate web of information, where we can both teach and learn from one another. Embracing the chaos invites creativity and promotes growth.

It reminds us to remain humble, as every expert was once a beginner, and every successful idea was once just an idea that started as a small spark.

As I reflect on my journey approaching greater understanding, I see it as a series of FAFO moments.

Each experiment has forged new and unexpected connections, sparked discussions and lots of joy, and broadened my perspectives… with the occasional shit post every now and then.

Engage with content you love, tip the creators who make it handsomely, and freely share your thoughts without fear of judgment. Don't overthink it. You've got this. FAFO.