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🫂 The State of People is a monthly show on Unlonely, the onchain live-streaming app. The first show was this past Thursday, 4/18 at 3pm ET!!

This week, we’re sending out airdrops of clips from the show and new artwork from awkquarian and plan to get a recap newsletter out from Po On.

Subscribe below to support us for only 0.003ETH/month (~$10) for regular drops, recaps, and rewards before and after each show.

Crypto The Game S2: Final Review

What happens during CTG, stays in CTG. Maybe? We’ll see about that.

I was eliminated last Monday in round 8, the same day I published my first recap of the game. I didn’t imagine making it into the finals, but as I mentioned last week, it was a very entertaining 10 days, and I’m so glad we got to do that together. Also didn’t imagine I’d get on a list to explicitly be voted out… Lesson learned, don’t make yourself a target.

Regardless of my opinions on winner Player #733, the outcome was a show of crypto solidarity and a testament to the power of coordination. I’m glad the winnings are going to an aligned cause. Around 700 jury players were given the opportunity to cast their final vote of the season for just one finalist.

After consideration, my favorite parts of the game were the subtle worldbuilding opportunities and the freedom this gave to creatives during the game.

I loved seeing all the memes and the ways tribes used imagery for coordination, signaling strength, or horrible AI-generated art. This game wasn’t just for the puzzle solvers, game theorists, or coordination experts, it was also for the creator, the podcaster, the jester in us all. Can’t survive stranded on an island without a bit of humor.

Some things I’d love to see in future seasons:

• progressively more onchain

• collectible web3 music in games/challenges to support artists

• reduce the likelihood of whales swaying results

• more encouragement for creators to put out content

• AI chatbot player

• explore a host of the game situation

• attestations post-elimination from tribe members

• ways for non-players to get involved

Don’t bother playing if you:

• are just going to abandon the game

• have less than at least an hour to play a day

• are only in it as an excuse to be mean to other players

• have vacation plans (okay, you can, but)…unless you transfer to another player in advance

Do play if you:

• have an open mind

• want to meet new people

• like solving puzzles

• enjoy making (or breaking) alliances

• are between jobs or have a lot of free time

• aren’t afraid to be consumed by 30 different side chats

• have deep knowledge of crypto, but it’s great for all levels

CTG put DAO coordination on steroids, making real, active players front and center in each tribe. Showing just how valuable and vital being a human player really is, at least until we get fully customizable self-aware AI agents.

Using this season as a learning opportunity, I know I’m ready to bring more chaos to Season 3 and I’m not alone. Good luck to all who inflict this glorious torture on themselves in the future.

The State of People: Building in Public

What a fun experiment to look back on an accomplishment. So in case you are considering supporting the show or not, maybe you’ll learn something through this story.

The idea for The State of People bubbled up the day after the most recent State of the Union address on March 8. This was while I was, at the same time, digging deeper into sources of identity and my own philosophical or metaphysical beliefs. I didn’t even watch the State of the Union address, it was just a shower thought of the title that struck me as something the emerging tech space needs at least once a month, if not more frequently.

It was also around this time I revisited the idea of recreating the vibe of Public Access Television for a new internet-native audience to shake up the streaming space a little. And what better way to do that than onchain, where I can have all manner of ways to connect with folks?

From conception to the first show, it was six weeks of near-constant iteration, planning, strategy, and connecting ideas. In trying not to overthink it; just got it together well enough to ship the first show.

Thankfully, I’d chosen the /community channel co-hosts wisely in that Awkquarian and Po On are both such lovely people to work with, and I am doubly grateful they believed in the vision, or at least trusted I’m not completely insane. Especially since I consider Farcaster channels to be a starting point one can choose to begin launching something into the new internet and talked at length about this here.

I knew what I wanted to have guests discuss. It was a clear story to tell: I wanted them to bring their thinking to life on one of three extremely broad topics. Less constraints, more curiosity. So here’s what we did and learned:

To put it all together we started with an existing channel and a growing list of supporters following said channel. We now had a mission and people capable of delivering value in various roles. Next, we needed to figure out how to make it happen.

Awkquarian and I settled on a visual identity for this psychedelic digital rave style, which includes flyers for each show and unique affirmation posts we’ll be minting soon. Po On took on the role of writing the newsletter and getting the word out.

I hadn’t hosted a stream previously, so in my initial research, I found an open-source program called vdo.ninja that would allow us to stream using OBS and P2P connection for ultra-customizability. Check it out if you’re into streaming. Well, turns out that level of customizability didn’t lend itself well to tight timelines.

After testing, we realized that StreamYard is the better solution for us. You may already know that, but there are a ton of options out there!

I wanted to interact with people watching, so I asked Cameron from seemore.tv if they’d spend a weekend building a frame for me based on my vision for the Onchain Oracle of Delphi, a segment I put in the show. This was put together in four days, just in time for the show, and it worked flawlessly. This again shows just how collaborative builders on Farcaster are and how we support each other. We plan on adding even more ways for you to interact with guests in coming shows.

As I explained during the show, the idea for the Oracle is to have a recurring Q&A session. Since Farcaster culture has an affinity for AMAs, this is the first paid AMA within a frame accepting both Base ETH and Degen tokens. Ancient Greeks traveled to Delphi with an offering in hand to have their prophecy told by many Oracles over the span of nearly 2,000 years. Now she’s back and onchain.

I think we did well in the first show. Our guests worked so well together, their stories and topics flowing alongside each other in harmony. Next time, I won’t be so ashamed or averse to fixing my camera angle. Aside from that, given additional time for future shows, there are a few things I’ll be able to plan more for.

If you already have experience with community building and event planning, this kind of stuff is table stakes, so let go of the fear and let your experiments go free. If you have any questions I’m happy to answer anytime.

I’m excited to continue building The State of People into the thinking club it’s meant to become. And if you want to get involved, don’t hesitate to reach out, especially if you’re a Cloud Scouts member! I’d love to chat!

Stray Thoughts of the Week

I feel the relative stillness, met with occasional shakeups, is most certainly pointing to major changes. We’re all so intently focused on what’s next.

One thing I learned from our guests on the show last week was that this next evolution of humanity is quite near so long as we continue talking about it. With so many creatives discovering or re-discovering their connection to the self through a very specific collective lens, this is a very energizing development.

My hope is that you take the time necessary for stillness and reflection as you move through the days. It’s definitely going to get rocky, so putting in the work now builds lasting resilience.

Hunting and Gathering 🔗 

Watch This

• An interesting take on left-brain dominance in the modern world by the Academy of Ideas channel

• I appreciated this long-form interview with Sam Harris this weekend. It’s long. Here’s the Spotify version 

Read This

• The last time this happened, we got plants. Read about the once-in-a-billion-year discovery as two lifeforms merge in the latest evolutionary event.