What if you had space to be yourself online?
To express the raw and messy thinking that’s actually in your head, rather than the polished thoughts we all see on public square like this?
@davey_morse
had the chance to talk with
@neuranne
about a more intimate internet
Want to connect through mutual thoughts, not mutual friends? We talked to
@davey_morse
, founder of
@plexusearth
, about:
• Building a radically inclusive online community
• Shifting from attention to intention
• Exploring raw and unresolved thoughts
👇
@davey_morse
We designed Plexus to represent real life.
At its core: a more authentic way to share than to Tweet.
Next up: a more authentic way to appreciate than to like.
We're looking for an extraordinary Head of Community to help us make the first one-million-person community that's as meaningful to members as a small group chat :)
Grateful for leads
No followers, no likes, no broadcasting, and no public profiles; just the feeling that is in your body or on your mind, a space to express it, and technology that pulls, to you, the people who get it.
we're inspired by the 99% of people's thinking that never makes it out of their heads. absolutely raw mischief.
and we're asking: what would it take to help people connect through it? not through the superfice they share on Twitter,
but through that much much deeper
Distributing content to followers doesn’t make “global sense-making” easy. Makes echo chambers easy.
excited to share our new distribution mechanism soon
at plexus, we often talk about thoughts that "resonate."
but text thoughts don't literally resonate. it's been figurative, not literal.
that will change.
Random thoughts:
- It’s bizarre that none of the major social platforms encourage you to clean up your social graph.
- Instead, you are left with an outdated and stale social graph.
- Facebook (& LinkedIn) would be 100x better if my “friends list” wasn’t made a decade ago.
we haven't yet found words to capture what it's like to Walk, in Plexus.
at times, the lack of words gave us doubt.
but now: the lack of words gives us awe.
making an ineffable world, where people explore not-yet-described things together, is simply what we're after
Writing helps you think. But in a space when writing gets shot to everyone you know, you learn to be either silent or quippy, and either way, use writing to think less.
In our work to make online space for messy thinking, we've been inspired by several pieces of great art.
Consider this thread an ode to messy thinking...
going to bring more people onto our thought network very soon.
funny how unique it is to make a social network where sharing is not broadcasting. every platform should be like this, except places for news/announcements.
when you're new to , you'll find an empty text box that asks you what you're thinking.
after you express a thought, Plexus will compare it to every active discussion in the community to let you know, instantly, whether you'll find connection here.
@visakanv
The Creative Act by Rick Rubin
"When clues present themselves, it can sometimes feel like the delicate mechanism of a clock at work. As if the universe is nudging you with little reminders that it's on your side...."
Whatever you do on your phone on the subway, whatever podcast you listen to on your walk, whatever work you knock out at your desk… maybe that isn’t the entire world. Maybe, beyond the freneticism of what is digital and specialized, a deep patient world is waiting for you.
scarce things we all pay attention to are important. relationships, politics, money, food, songs... help people connect
when things aren't scarce, connection is harder.
generative ai + infinite feeds + streaming services make things less scarce...
ChatGPT can now see, hear, and speak. Rolling out over next two weeks, Plus users will be able to have voice conversations with ChatGPT (iOS & Android) and to include images in conversations (all platforms).
Plexus is in the business of helping the universe wink at you. Of giving you a chorus of perfect stranger’s voices, speaking about the thing you're thinking about, all as a way to say:
There is more to the world than you know.
we haven't yet found words to capture what it's like to Walk, in Plexus.
at times, the lack of words gave us doubt.
but now: the lack of words gives us awe.
making an ineffable world, where people explore not-yet-described things together, is simply what we're after
The right stranger’s Voice can be a wink from the universe. A little pinch. Waking you from the dream that was your life, to tell you—hey, there is so soo much more. More than you were thinking about. And that the more is beautiful and inspiring and intriguing. And that the
a book helps readers imitate the author, following a predetermined, maybe mile-long, sequence of words.
where's the "choose your own adventure" energy?
Excited to share this interview with
@davey_morse
, founder of
@plexusearth
. Plexus is the first online space where we’ve seen people share, not just finished thoughts, but unresolved thinking.
Learn more:
@fchollet
I’m not sure how to claim AGI is a pipe-dream, at this point. The moment LLM chatbots are equipped to live-tune (reinforcement learning), seems like we’ll be able to give them hard problems and sit back as they tackle them
@yoheinakajima
our social network does only this: connecting people’s experience vectors (Inter and intra personally)
you might be interested to try, yohei
It took me literally decades to become comfortable talking online - I only started my twitter a year ago after it was required to grow a business
Finding the psychological safety otherwise to speak online is hard. That's why I love what
@davey_morse
is building
@plexusearth
@enigmasnextdoor
@davey_morse
in a world where you can say, in advance, what kinds of things you want to see... you might never see personalized hate speech
hearing someone else's voice, talking about something you care about makes you curious about them.
we're trying to figure out the best way to get to know someone whose Voice resonates.
what do you think?
Episode
#14
of the future founder podcast is live.
In this week's episode, I speak with Davey Morse, Founder of Plexus.
Plexus is a social network built on mutual thoughts, not mutual friends.
Check out the full episode on YouTube.
When nothing is working, explore and make a lot of small bets.
After something starts working, double down on what works best.
When that stops working, explore and make a lot of small bets again.
How would intention economies look?
Economies where literally each person creates. Where people connect through what they make, not what they intake?
Are intention economics possible?Are there examples?
How would a religion for independent thinkers look?
For folks who would never compromise their beliefs, but who still seek ritual and connection and unity
@davey_morse
It’s hard to authentically “like” stuff you don’t relate to.
And IG/BeReal/Twitter show you a constant stream of unrelated stuff. Stuff that’s posted by your “friends,” sure, but stuff that’s usually irrelevant to you and your life!
a space that honors your mind, and your thinking, must give space for you to be chaotic, to try and gather lots of things, then also simple tools for distilling the keys from the chaos—finding order—and presenting them as narrative.
In good hands
There is a feeling I search for: being in good hands. It is the feeling I look to give and the feeling I look to receive.
I know I am in good hands when I sense a cohesive point of view expressed with attention to detail.
I can feel it almost instantly. In any
NYT article got me pondering moderation…
On platforms where sharing is as drastic as broadcasting, moderating what can be shared is key.
In a platform where you only see content you care about...
the best time to write is when you have the seed of an idea but don't know what you want to say yet, or you're moved by a feeling but don't know how to express it, bc writing is a process of discovery & crystallization
@davey_morse
“…I genuinely don't think we as people were made to see, let alone want to see, what other people are doing when they aren't with us, friends included.”
On why BeReal is wearing off,
“Most haunting was a sense that I had no substance, and that the physical world, with all its minute fluctuations and gradual changes, was somehow losing its color and texture.”
a few Voices have begun to make their way into Plexus lore, but maybe none more than Landon's extraordinary parallel parking job on the 24th of Oct 2023.
Listen at your own risk... don't sue use if your day gets better. (link below)
a few more people than expected joined Voices after
@davey_morse
announced it here
since then, we've fixed too many bugs, enabled replies, and had a couple dozen conversations
our biggest finding...
modern social networks make people more depressed than happy.
today
@plexusearth
we released Voices, a social network designed to make you happy.
the secret:
Voices has no feed...
@mathewlowry
@davey_morse
@gordonbrander
two thoughts "pinned" to each other when you indicate they're connected (by clicking the checkmark). the aim: help people connect thoughts directly.
Stands in contrast to reference-based linking, where thoughts are connected through [[concepts]] they both reference.
@JuliaAngwin
@JuliaAngwin
rather than choose from available bluesky alg options, you may enjoy constructing your own feed from scratch
we'll be curious to hear what you think
For those considering putting their work on the X platform, consider that Tucker Carlson’s show when he was on TV, had single digit million viewers.
Strong by legacy news standards.
Views for his episodes on X now exceed the population of the United States.
Talk to Earth via
imagine loading up a thousand essays from wild-thinking people, chunking them into paragraphs, and riding through them in the perfect order for you.
you’ll start to question why we ever read books or even essays all written by the same author, or why we scroll through feeds