Ever since falling down the web3 rabbit hole in December 2021, I’ve maintained an observer’s perspective. A perspective of learning and theorizing. Along this journey, it has been fascinating to witness the strength of the NFT artist community, the experimentation of the DAO community, and most delightfully- the amount of fellow people of color & queer representation building in these communities. The conversations I’m blessed to be a part of with these communities are constantly watchful of how to avoid the pitfalls of a monopolized capitalistic web2, as we build web3.
My initial intention with learning web3 remains the desire to be able to explain it to my personal communities whenever they are ready to dive into what will be the new internet. Recognizing it’s a privilege for me to have so much time to dedicate to learning, I want to make sure what I learn can be passed on to people in my sphere - from my immigrant parents to queer friends to neighbors. Knowing how significant this technology will be in 5 years, making it as inclusive and accessible to newcomers is all I think about. Also, being this early feels empowering in that we can use our voices to set new standards.
Striving for accessibility in web3 has been a practice of findinig simpler ways to define web3 terminology, free of jargon or overly technical terms. Scrutinizing language has always been a part of my decolonial practice, and it’s been refreshing to see other thinkers and builders in the web3 community also call into question language that feels limited to colonial frameworks. Because why build a better future with the language of an oppressed past/present?
This is the often invisible work that requires radical imagination, and I want to document some of the turning points along my journey that have awakened my radical imagination and pushed me to examine how I am talking about web3, NFTs, and DAOs. Please note that I am still in learning mode, open minded, and flexible to changing my mind. The beauty of this process is accepting that my perspective will change with the more information and discourse I open myself up to.
For example, one of my earliest eye-openers was reading st3ph aliinsug’s mirror article on web3’s language problem. In this piece, st3ph rightfully points out that “It's time web3 divests from stale colonialist words like frontier, jungle, and pioneer.”
Reading this, I immediately felt seen in the tension I feel about web3: absolute excitement over all the limitless possibilities, and a primal urge to learn from our mistakes in the past with web2 and previous systems. Maybe that started when I immigrated to America and got my green card. As a kid I felt so dehumanized knowing my status was “Legal Alien”...and it made me question from a young age who comes up with this language? Why do I have to respect it and recognize it? How can we change it? Is it too late?
To me, there are two ways of perceiving the world: limited (oppressed, victim mentality), and expansive (radical imagination, solidarity). Grinding through the Bush and Trump administrations, I was almost brainwashed into having a very limited view of possibility for change. It felt so easy to give up all hope and pray for the best. But through years of deep personal healing and enlightening myself to writers like adrienne marie brown, Octavia Butler, bell hooks, Tara Brach, and Elizabeth Gilbert, I’ve been able to rewire my mind to opt out of doomerism and rather embody a limitless, imaginative, joyful, and even playful outlook when it comes to building the future.
Last week I co-hosted a Twitter Space with CeCe on the topic of mutual aid in web3. Because as much of the narrative around web3 is how much money there is to make, I know Cece and I were not alone in seeing ways decentralization and the blockchain can enable community care & mutual aid. This space was full of extremely smart thinkers and the conversation turned to how frustrating it’s been to bring on other leftists and radicals to the space due to the fact that the language of web3 is inherently colonialist and capitalistic.
In my pursuits to distill simpler language, I have been describing NFTs as “proof of ownership” in an effort to counteract the false public perception that NFTs are just JPEGs or limited to art. “Proof of ownership” felt like a more broad and utilitarian definition, plus it’s simple to understand. But this Twitter space Friday changed my thinking because the brilliant En reminded all of us that the concept of “ownership” is rooted in colonialism. En beautifully reframed NFTs & crypto as PORTALS that offer access to funds, community, voting rights, etc. MIND BLOWN.
This reframe de-centers the NFT holder as “owner” and inspires all the possibilities that happen when people in community work together for care, or rather, mutual aid. This reminds me of a Tiktok live I did with the brilliant Nicole Hay, who defined decentralization as “de-centering yourself.” These reframes liberate us to think beyond capital gain when building in web3, and I am simply beyond grateful to have my own bias held to account as I relay to friends and social media what web3 is.
My new web3 friend Miga summarized our Twitter space conversation in a beautifully written mirror post (check it out):
Of course, NFTs as portals can absolutely be perceived as “social clubs” or a web3 equivalent of country clubs (see BAYC). And as idealistic as it is to reimagine mutual aid and a better society via web3, another vital reminder I received recently is that radical imagination won’t work in practice without critical thought.
Just this past weekend, a tech ethics friend of mine shared Time’s profile of Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin. In this profile, Vitalik laments the outcomes of his utopian ideals given the rise of unmitigated greed rampant with NFTs and crypto in 2022. He fears a dystopian future manifesting from his Ethereum ecosystem. Without much context I read the profile and was heartened to hear someone who is in web3 finally say it. I felt empathy for him, and wanted to boost it on social media to the web3 haters like “HEY SEE, HE DOESN’T LIKE THE GREED EITHER”.
Once again, my mind expanded as I received a sobering & humbling perspective from my tech ethics friend who pointed out Vitalik’s current worries reflect an unprepared founder building a utopian idea without recognizing the nefarious ways in which it can be manipulated. This gave me a huge pause. While I felt so seen in Vitalik’s words - my confirmation bias clouded my vision. But my friend was right - it’s extremely important to build with radical imagination AND a very real understanding of how it might manifest in the wrong hands.
It’s been overwhelming not to fall into nihilism, but I’m doubling down on normalizing expansive & inclusive language over colonialist terminology.
All of this examination has left me feeling extremely grateful to be amongst a collective of thinkers who are highly intentional about the language around web3 and thinking about the implications of how this will all shape up in the next 5-10 years - but flexible minded enough to allow that language to keep evolving to more expansive frameworks.
I will continue to document my learnings and observations here, because as web3 evolves - so will policy. And I want to be prepared to align myself with policy makers that understand the risks of capitalism at scale due to web3 (much like we see today with the web2 tech giants). At the same time, I will continue to radically imagine the realms of possibility when it comes to de-centering colonialist terminology in web3.