(2021-09-13) Overcoming Web3 Bias

Nathan Baschez: Overcoming Web3 Bias. Some days I feel like the holy trinity of NFTs, DAOs, and DeFi might replace the very foundation that society rests on. Other days it feels like 90% vaporware and Ponzi schemes that collectively emit more CO2 than a medium-sized country. The challenge, as I see it, is to hold both of these ideas at once.

But this essay isn’t about web3. Instead, it’s about how to deal with things like web3: strange new paradigms that could change everything—unless they don’t.

Battles between new and old paradigms are like swamps where reason goes to die. They are the mind-killers.

All innovation is based on faith. The motivation to start building a new way has to come from somewhere, and as any inventor will gladly tell you, it ain’t reason. It comes from a hunch. People within the bubble of the paradigm rely on shared faith and social rewards to keep going even when things get hard. This might look annoying from outside of the bubble, but from a macro perspective, I’m glad it happens.

My only advice would be to focus on building (making), and keep the “collecting” / “investing” to what you can easily afford to lose.

When dealing with a new paradigm, reason has its limits. The best strategy is to embrace curiosity, and don’t worry too much.