Yancey Strickler
@ystrickler
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Cofounder @Metalabel_ @Kickstarter @TheCreativeIndp Author “This Could Be Our Future"
NYC
Joined February 2009
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Great seeing my heroes/friends
@VERBAL_AMBUSH
and
@YOON_AMBUSH
in Tokyo;
@ambushdesign
has a new piece debuting in MoMA (!!) in two weeks
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1. I wrote a book that might change how you see the world
It's called "This Could Be Our Future: A Manifesto for a More Generous World"
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Blindly dismissing any project that touches a blockchain is like missing the forest for the logging industry
There’s potential and utility beyond financialization
There’s life on-chain *after crypto*
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For the past two years I've been working with an amazing crew on a somewhat mysterious project called Metalabel
In 2024, our vision will become clear when we introduce a new space for releasing, selling, and exhibiting creative work
A model for a new creative era
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Kickstarter launched 10 years ago today (April 28, 2009). Since then, it's helped creators raise $4 billion in funding for creative projects, created hundreds of thousands of part- and full-time jobs, and ushered in new creative possibilities for all. Happy birthday, Kickstarter!
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Fifteen years ago today
@Kickstarter
first launched
Since then:
250,000+ projects funded
~100 million pledges
~$8 billion towards creative work
Happy birthday Kickstarter!
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How to measure value w/
@KateRaworth
:
Path
#1
: Convert everything to financial value: forests, oceans, etc all on the balance sheet in $$
Path
#2
: Elevate new values. Express forests and oceans in their natural metrics, not prices
Which will we choose?
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Mariana Mazzucato has changed how the world thinks about value.
After reading her work, you won't look at an iPhone, a prescription drug, or the moon landing the same way again.
Her work is bold, influential, and urgent. This interview explores why.
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Kurt Cobain played "MTV Unplugged" in a crappy office chair don't let anybody tell you what you can and can't do
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New essay:
💫 The internet culture era
- How cultural movements have historically been created
- How they're created now
- How culture evolves in the internet age
↓
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Don't worry what other people think. Nobody cares about you.
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After 24 hours:
- 500+ of the 777 Dark Forest Anthology books have been collected
- 100+ people paid more than required
- 10+ authors and squads will be paid via split
The Dark Forest Anthology of the Internet is a 208 page book that documents five tumultuous years on the internet. Authors:
@ystrickler
@vgr
@Mappletons
@peternlimberg
and Rebecca Fox, Joshua Citarella
@ArthurRoingBaer
and GVN908, Leith Benkhedda and
@newmodels_io
🔗
@metalabel_
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Big steps forward for
@Metalabel_
this week
In the coming days:
We'll pull back the curtain on how Metalabel works
Creators will be able to start labels and release work on their own for the first time
The world premieres of several amazing drops📘🎲🌏💿
[Y] [E] [S] [!]
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*What's behind Metalabel?*
Metalabel was inspired by specific theories about what the future-now holds: from post-individualism to world-building as self-care to the decline of the creator economy as we know it
Here are six core beliefs behind
@metalabel_xyz
🧵
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When the means justify the ends
A new essay and talk detailing Metalabel's origins, our exploration of blockchains, and the tech stack we will soon introduce
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Fortunate and grateful to launch Kickstarter in Japan today with exceptional people in Tokyo and NYC. A true honor. Otsukaresama desu!
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Absolutely stacked lineup of releases debuting on
@metalabel_
very very soon
A new creative era is almost here
:) :) :)
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Been a minute since I looked
These numbers are insane 👀
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This morning our four year old designed and wrote the home school schedule
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A powerful energy driving web3 is the feeling that this is a space where the future is unwritten
In most areas of life – politics, power relations, climate change – the world feels calcified and trapped
Web3 feels like a frontier in a world that’s running out of frontiers
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I’ve found it helpful to think of Metalabel as having a singular, 1-of-1 purpose:
To make joining and starting a release club so easy to understand and desirable that we inspire a new way to make creative work together
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“The national debt, which so exercises many politicians and citizens, is actually the historical accumulation of money spent by government, not taxed back, and now a privately held asset. Government red ink equals private-sector blank ink.” —
@MazzucatoM
in "Mission Economy"
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Sup y'all! New site for a new life: Don't be afraid to say hey —Y
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The Bento Society is my first startup since Kickstarter
It hasn’t been easy to describe what it is. It’s simultaneously:
A post-capitalist laboratory
A future-oriented community
‘Breakfast Club for adults’ (to quote a member)
Yet I’m convinced its work can change the world
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What I love about this drop:
— Supporting
@VitalikButerin
,
@glenweyl
,
@zhitzig
,
@owocki
,
@notscottmoore
,
@Gitcoin
, and public goods
— 1st time dropping work with an external metalabel
— 1st time onchain records are in someone else’s hands
— How *deep* the underlying product is
Gitcoin x Metalabel: The Quadratic Funding Record
Celebrate Quadratic Funding and raise funds for public goods with this open-edition record, containing work by
@VitalikButerin
,
@zhitzigig
,
@glenweyl
, as well as
@gitcoin
co-founders
@owocki
and
@notscottmoore
.
Collect today↓
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The ETH merge marked:
The end of the Crypto Era: a period driven by speculation on crypto's potential future value
The beginning of the Onchain Era: a period when better consumer experiences emerge as culture and info go onchain
Honored to publish w/ the onchain👑
@ourZORA
"Crypto is dead and few will mourn it. Now that the bubble has burst, the truly revolutionary work can begin"
—
@ystrickler
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My book “This Could Be Our Future” is about a force I call financial maximization (the belief that the only rational choice is whatever option makes the most money), where it came from, and what we should do instead. Preorder now:
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When I moved to NYC 20 years ago, my stepfather expressed his concern in a way that I've never forgotten:
"Be careful," he told me. "God feels small there."
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9. I called this idea "financial maximization." The belief that the rational choice in any decision was whichever option made the most money. This was the default setting that was running our world.
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The first drop on the new Metalabel saw all 777 editions collected in the first five days
Congrats to all who got a copy!
Congratulations to the co-authors and collectors of the Dark Forest Anthology (DFC 001)
All 777 of the available first editions have been collected
Physical editions will be sent out soon. Stay tuned for further releases from the label
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The most powerful expressions of world-building are forms of self-care
Because a person's values/desires are incompatible with the world around them, they create a new context where their existence is coherent, supported, safe
As the context draws others, the world comes alive
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How's your apocalypse going?
Yeah, mine too
I wrote 4000+ words about where we are and what comes next
It's called "Don't be scared, you're not the only one" ✌️❤️
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16. As a bookworm turned music critic turned entrepreneur turned author, this whole experience has been magical. I can't wait to share it with you.
If this sounds interesting please pre-order the book and share it with all your friends! 🙏
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The Post-Individual
An exploration of individuality before and after the internet
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A post about cultural criticism, post-prestige culture, and our current moment
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An exciting first: was just stopped IRL by someone reading “This Could Be Our Future”!
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Leaving NYC, writing a book, and why we might overestimate the importance of being smart and nice
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The most lucrative work in John Cage’s early career was winning $6k on an Italian game show for naming 24 varieties of white-spored mushrooms
From Louis Menand’s “The Free World”
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While talking to creative professionals, there's one phrase that keeps coming up:
"The old shit doesn't work anymore"
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90 minutes of conversation exploring
@metalabel_xyz
, post-individualism + early
@kickstarter
w/ my friends
@hollyherndon
+
@matdryhurst
on
@1nterdependence
. A dream come true!
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11. The book builds on these ideas. The first half explores how hidden defaults guide our choices: how the world was reshaped by financial maximization, how our best and brightest started believing money was all that matters, and why our economy is like the mullet
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Three thoughts on LA after living here two years:
1) The weather is *under*rated
2) The tax of movement (traffic) is extraordinarily high
3) Brian Wilson, Sly Stone, Dr Dre, et al spending years living as hermits making records here isn’t eccentric, it’s just LA (see above)
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Today I realized that I've been self-editing my writing and work from a place of critique and fear
Today I resolved to instead edit my work from a place of love: appreciating what it is and wanting to make it shine even more
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V excited to be building
@metalabel_xyz
w/ amazing people like
@rokali
@austinrobey_
@iljur_
@annabulbrook
We'll begin sharing our vision soon
I'm abstaining from the Seed Club vote today, because I'm part of one of the teams.
Squad currently includes
@ystrickler
@rokali
@annabulbrook
@iljur_
+ more soon
If you have at least 1 $CLUB token, you can learn more here:
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There are lots of reasons why I respect Austin so much and so highly value working with him on Metalabel
Everything about
@ampl3d
, including this thoughtful closing of its chapter, is one of them
Ampled is how Austin and I first met and where I first got to see his passion and
I was a co-founder of Ampled (
@ampl3d
) - a Patreon-like platform for musicians structured as an artist and worker-owned cooperative
It will finish shutting down at the end of the year
Here are the things I am proud of
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Before the internet, the key existential question was "Who am I?"
After the internet, it's "Who *all* am I?"
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7. This directly contradicted the hype about this being The Startup Era. But all we had to do was look around to see the truth: entrepreneurship was being blocked by chains and gigantic monopolies that were too big and powerful for small businesses to compete with
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6. That same year a report came out: entrepreneurship rates in the US were half what they'd been, per capita, than in 1977. The same change as the smoking rate since then. Think about how many more people smoked in the '70s. That many more people used to be entrepreneurs too.
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Shoutout
@waqasali
@sidraqasim
@WearAtoms
for the dopest surprise mail ever, for being legit from the
@kickstarter
days to yr current Big Time Status, and for always sharing knowledge ✌️
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The internet feels small here
On escaping the internet by moving back to NYC
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Welcome to the world you precious thing I worked so hard on what feels like so long ago
Today is pub day for the softcover of my book, with a new afterword and cover
Hundreds of four-star ratings on Goodreads and Amazon
✌️❤️
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"This Could Be Our Future: A Manifesto for a More Generous World" is a not-depressing book about the future. And it's finally out TODAY!!
1. I wrote a book that might change how you see the world
It's called "This Could Be Our Future: A Manifesto for a More Generous World"
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The difference between only children and kids with siblings after this is going to be insane
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We're already in creative groups, they're just not yet self-aware
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The Doppler effect is what makes a siren change tones as it whooshes by
Because of the physics of sound waves, it’s only in the moments a sound is right next to us that it maintains the tone we expect
What if this is true of not just sound, but everything?
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Nervous/excited to share a new project tomorrow with a community I respect very much 🤞
SANDBOX✦ Culture labels and meta labels with
@ystrickler
Thu 20-21 CET
How are cultural ideals and aesthetics made and supported? One of the least understood structures is the concept of the "label," a form that will be reimagined in the Web3 era
Participate via discord ♡
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One day you think you're cool and the next you find yourself taking a picture with an iPad
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What's after capitalism?
New models of value creation and distribution
New concepts of growth
New concepts of work
Building on ideas by
@MazzucatoM
@KateRaworth
@StephanieKelton
@ExtinctionR
@DruckerInst
@AndrewYang
@albertwenger
+ many others
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This piece from
@water_and_music
on the state of web3 music products is phenomenal in its breadth, depth, and detail. Fantastic work W&M team!
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2. It all started as I watched my old neighborhood — the Lower East Side of NYC — change. The catalyzing moment was seeing Mars Bar, a legendary punk dive bar for 30 years, get torn down in 2012
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The default life path for most men is to find themselves alone late in life
This is the natural end state of the careerist, traditionally masculine path
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Is there a civic duty to engage on the internet? I don't know. But earlier this year I decided to re-learn how to be myself online, and to try venturing beyond my own dark forests. That's what this piece is about
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Looking fwd to the lineup of speakers + ideas
@Gitcoin
Schelling Point this week —
@ntnsndr
@keikreutler
@tracheopteryx
@JulzRoze
+
@tobyshorin
especially
I'll be there presenting
@Metalabel_xyz
IRL for the first time ever🤞😬🤞Come say what's up!
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Introducing the Future Us Grant and its first recipient, the Library of Economic Possibility
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14. My dream is for the book to be a stepping stone to a new way of thinking about rational value. That someone (maybe it's you!) connects with these ideas and builds on them. This is how a new way of thinking about rational value and self-interest can grow
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Worldbuilding is creative resilience
How to prioritize the figurative over the rational as a creative person
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12. The second half proposes a solution: a simple philosophy and framework for seeing what's rationally valuable and in our self-interest. Examples of this new kind of thinking include Adele, Patagonia, the three-pointer, Chick-Fil-A, and Bruce Willis' character in Pulp Fiction
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8. Soon after I spoke at a big tech event called Web Summit where I told the story of Mars Bar, TD Bank, and falling entrepreneurship rates. I argued that at the root of this and of a lot of other things was a powerful idea that had taken over the world
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10. I felt anxious sharing these ideas, but they hit a nerve. A transcript of the talk generated a 500-comment thread on Hacker News (). Talking about my neighborhood made something that's intentionally hard to see much more visible
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Change isn’t a sprint. It’s a marathon — and a relay. We each run a leg of a much larger race.
Change is contagious. Some people changing means more people will change. This is the compound interest of change.
A new book excerpt:
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5. It dawned on me that in every one of those bank branches there had once been something like Mars Bar. A business run by New Yorkers for their fellow New Yorkers. Now they were banks, Duane Reades, and other chains instead.
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Experimenting with a new way to release a piece of writing I've spent years on:
A limited edition ZIP file with research notes, audio, and video
Limited to 250 editions | Pay what you want
Half of all editions collected after 24 hours 🤌
NEW ON METALABEL: "The Post Individual"
A new release by
@ystrickler
of The Dark Forest Collective exploring individuality after the internet
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Getting an iPad totally changed the way I work for about three days
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My three year old: What will be left after everything dies?
Me: After everything dies? You mean if people, plants, and animals all die?
Him: Yes. What will be left?
Me: Nothing. Rocks, I guess? What do you think there will be?
Him: Nothing. Except cars driving themselves.
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Yesterday I supported five nonprofits working on causes important to me:
Bold Alliance
Bronx Defenders
Fractured Atlas
The McShin Foundation
Pen America
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Two excellent + provocative pieces on governance and ownership:
🎆"Ways to improve the ownership economy" by
@austinrobey_
🌍"Positive Sum Worlds: Rethinking public goods" by
@otherinternet__
@tobyshorin
@lottiland
@hxrts
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My favorite genre is '90s artists intentionally not giving a shit on live TV to show their disrespect for mainstream culture/careerism
Some examples...
Pavement -- "Cut Your Hair" on "The Tonight Show"
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The values we prioritize decide the world we live in
In a world where traffic flow is the value to be maximized, the option on the left is optimal
In a world where social values are to be maximized, the other options have more merit
Expanding "value" expands what's possible
How Traffic Alters the Social Life of Streets
In his 1972 study, Donald Appleyard showed how traffic rates influence social interactions & friendships.
Heavy Traffic St. 🚗🚗🚗🚗
0.9 Friends😀
3.1 acquaintances
Light Traffic St. 🚗
3.0 friends 😀😀😀
6.3 acquaintances
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*2) Distributing ownership and influence beyond the org*
Creators and audiences create virtually all value of web2 platforms but rarely have direct ownership or influence
Blockchain-based services can share ownership + influence with creators, audiences + contributors
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Metalabel's latest drop operates on multiple levels:
— A deeply researched publication constructively exploring what's "After the Creator Economy"
— A beautiful physical and digital zine
— A new onchain format
Supplies are limited
Don't sleep!
R.06
💿📖 AFTER THE CREATOR ECONOMY 📖 💿
A limited edition zine exploring constructive alternatives for the ways we produce, distribute, and monetize creative work online.
Produced in collaboration with
@co_matter
1/
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Skepticism of big tech and VC is well founded
Calling out scams and their promoters is important!
Extreme financialization of culture is gross
@Metalabel_xyz
is fully on-board with all these critiques
But what if there's utility *after crypto*?
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Wrote about metablogging, a practice that’s helped
@metalabel_xyz
:
⁃ collaborate asynchronously
⁃ be internally transparent
- create a collective brain of our decisions and learnings
- have fewer meetings
Here’s how we do it:
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This talk was so good I haven't stopped thinking about it four days later
Chia's work and way of presenting are incredible✨💖🌟
i spoke on the ILOVEYOU virus, dreams of the third-world internet, and kaka-kompyuter mo yan! for NEWINC's DEMO2024 this past thursday ~ i have been told it is "almost poetic"
🎤
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*1) The decline of platform lock-in*
Because most actions on blockchain-native services result in recognition in cross-platform wallets, data portability transforms from a web2 dream to a practical reality
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*3) Permanent agnostic storage*
We rely on corporate servers to tell + preserve our creations
But our digital lives are more fragile than we think
Try looking for old Vines or MySpace pages — long gone
On-chain storage turns stories into history
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Excited for this new project from
@hollyherndon
@matdryhurst
@newmodels_io
Exploring similar vibespace with
@metalabel_xyz
Expecting resonance
We have been working for a year to build
@channel
.
It is an attempt to bundle our
@1nterdependence
podcast with friends we love
@newmodels_io
&
@JoshuaCitarella
into a channel, and soon share the tools for others to do the same.
I'm excited about interdependent media alliances!
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Today is Bentoism's first birthday 🎂
The idea was introduced in my book published one year ago
There's a deeper history to the idea — including a totally different approach to the book — that I've never shared
Until today
Thread:
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Incredible that one company could ruin both Web2 *and* Web3
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Highly recommend this piece going deep into the book-writing experience. Includes:
— How to write visually (paragraphs five lines or less, sentences 12 words or less)
— Using digital and physical tools to spark ideas
— Writing software recs (
@ScrivenerApp
)
— Studio/process pix
New Superorganizers! Kickstarter co-founder
@ystrickler
shows us his physical process for synthesizing and distilling the ideas in his book
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Over the last three decades, the number of movie sequels, prequels, and remakes skyrocketed as Hollywood realized they could make more money retelling a story they'd already told than by making something new
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