simondlr #18 - Pandemic Astronauts & Infinite Stories In Blockchains
Hi friends.
For me, today is day 52, of living in isolation during this pandemic. It’s been an interesting period for many in the world. In some sense, I’ve felt that I’ve become an astronaut, with my mask as my helmet, roaming on space walks outside the capsule of my home. I wrote a short piece that deals with this topic. A pandemic in some sense, allows us to see the world through a new lens, and hopefully it teaches us to not take the life we have, for granted. Something, more lyrical:
https://blog.simondlr.com/posts/pandemic-astronauts
A few days later, CGP Grey also used this metaphor to explain what he called: Spaceship You. Worth a watch, for sure.
On Friday, I had the privilege to talk in VR, in CryptoVoxels at the WIP Meetup, that kicked off the Virtual Rare Art Festival. It was an amazing experience.
I touched upon Infinite Story Telling and how it relates to telling stories with blockchains projects.
https://blog.simondlr.com/posts/infinite-stories-in-blockchains
I left the event with a feeling of wonder. There’s a really great community, building all manner of interesting things. Listen to the TokenSmart Podcast and you will hear the pure passion and joy from the members of the community for this world.
Project Updates
Hope Runners of Gridlock
After getting BETA reader feedback, I’ve been busy with revisions. I know there are some of you that want to read the BETA, but I’m holding back on this at the moment. I’ve found that the changes are substantial enough that I don’t want you all to spend time reading that version of the book. Trying to ensure that it’s time meaningfully spent. That being said. Before going to the editor, I do plan on making a totally public BETA of the book: free for everyone to read, enjoy and provide feedback on.
I’m in the process of finding freelance editors that deal with sci-fi/cyberpunk/fantasy. If you know a good one, please forward me information!
This Artwork Is Always On Sale (update)
https://thisartworkisalwaysonsale.com/ has been on sale for more than a year. In getting back to more active coding, I’ve been catching up on developer tooling and using this opportunity to update the code, re-building it from scratch. There won’t be new features, but it should end up a bit neater and have some small bug fixes included.
Essays & Commentary On Blockchains, Economics, Art, and Some Of Life. (2013 - 2020)
For a while (since 2018 at least), I’ve been wanting to compile a list of essays I’ve written over the years into a condensed book along with updated commentary, opinions, and stories. I started with this, but it’s currently second fiddle to Hope Runners & TAIAOS. Slowly, however, it is coming together. I have a short list of 45 essays I’ve written that’s compiled into different categories.
Links!
Minecraft Parks
I played Minecraft extensively, back in 2011/2012. It’s still so amazing to see what people build, including theme parks. I enjoy theme parks, a lot, and wondered what a life as an imagineer must be like. And here we have people, doing it from their homes.
Unreal Engine 5
Speaking of world building, how incredible is this new demo from the new Unreal Engine? This will be amazing for film-making too.
https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/blog/a-first-look-at-unreal-engine-5
Zora + $TAPE
I love RAC, and I love Zora: using bonding curves to issue digital goods that can be redeemed for physical goods. Great combination.
Everest
Everest from the Graph team is a great example of a simple curation market. No extra token needed. Enjoy seeing these experiments play out. Worth playing with.
Building Institutions
In some sense, I’ve grown a bit despondent with holding technology at the forefront of change. It’s often done without understanding, and can lead to many being unintentionally left behind. Mark Lutter’s rally cry of “Building Institutions, Not Apps”, resonated with me.
