Note: This is essay 2 of 4 for the BanklessDAO Writers Cohort. This draft is a step in a process intended for gathering feedback and not intended to stand alone as a published work.

We are human BEings, not Human DOings. How many times have you heard this over the years? True as it sounds it also appears at odds with the reality of our day-to-day lives. My sense is that as a species, at least among those of us participating in the systems of what we call the civilized world, we are exhausted. Somehow we have been drawn into a steady state of “overdoing” just to survive. Assertions of our BEingness, therefore, most often sound to me like attempts to remind one another of something essential to our humanity, or even sound an alarm that “something’s wrong”.

My favorite metaphor for considering this condition is that of cars on a highway. In the United States we typically have 4 lanes, with 2 lanes on each side heading in opposite directions. In the right lane it is common for cars to travel at or near the speed limit. In the left lane cars travel faster, on average 10-to-20 mph over the speed limit.

My experience has been that in the right lane, the slow lane, I can drive at or a little below the speed limit without being pressured from someone behind me to drive faster.  There is a culture to the right lane, an unspoken code in which it is understood that I’m not in a hurry and am respected for asserting my right to maintain what is commonly regarded as a “safe speed”. If someone wants to travel faster than me it is on them to pull into the left lane and pass.

The left lane? There is a culture here too. It is one in which it is understood that people are in a hurry to reach their destination and want to drive as fast as the law will allow. Generally speaking that’s somewhere 10-to-15 mph over the posted speed limit. Personally speaking, if I pass a highway patrolman moving 5-to-10 mph over the limit I feel safe he will let me slide. 10-to-15 mph over? A gray area…a roll of the dice in which my luck could go either way. 15 or more over? I’m throwing caution to the wind, expecting to be pulled over but crossing my fingers the law is stalking faster prey.

The other big difference in the left lane is how drivers tend to treat each other. Drivers in the left lane seem to me to feel entitled to drive as fast as they are willing to risk. Very often while driving 10-15 mph over the limit in this “fast lane” I have experienced other cars flashing their lights and/or pulling up too close behind me. The clear signal they are sending here is that they expect me to pull into the right, slower lane at the earliest opportunity so they can pass. It doesn’t matter that I’m already driving well above the speed limit, and the maximum speed before it would be considered reckless driving. By the culture of the fast lane I am holding them up and it’s my job to get out of the way.

The Speed of Work

I believe there is a poignant comparison to be made between the culture of the highway and work life in much of the world. On one level the fast lane may be considered to be the one traveled by the upwardly mobile worker aspiring to get ahead professionally and maximize his/her earnings potential. The right lane, by comparison, is a slower lane traveled by persons content to work 40 hours/wk and largely motivated to provide the basics for themselves and their families.

Recognizing such comparisons as simplifications, another, related perspective I’d like to offer is this. The right lane, not just of work but of Life, is the BEing lane. It is a lane in which we are encouraged to slow down, bring our full presence, and listen attentively to each other. Here, at our best and symbolically speaking, we take family drives in the country and patiently make our way toward vacation destinations. We meet old friends for coffee. And, increasingly, whether on retreats, zoom calls, or casual discord meetups, we drop into conversations with nowhere to get to in which there is a felt sense of appreciation and respect for the common ground of our mutual humanity.

The left lane, by contrast, is all DOing. It is about working by ourselves and with others as hard and fast as possible to get shit DOne. This is the lane frequented by workaholics putting their intellectual pedals to the metal to build their wealth and, in the best case scenarios, change the world. This is where industry legends are defined and fortunes are won. Don’t you dare bring that Kumbaya stuff up in here.

I have no doubt that many of our civilization’s greatest innovations are the fruits of left-lane labors. I submit, too, however, that left-lane racing has resulted in accidents and burnouts adding up to vast human carnage. I believe further that among ambitious, upwardly mobile people wishing to maximize their earnings potential, there is only one lane available, and those wanting space in their lives to cool their engines, to prioritize care for themselves and others, will be honked at or run off the road.

Bitcoin fixes this.

Just kidding, and apologies for interrupting the flow. Couldn’t help myself. Perhaps Bitcoin will have something to do with this one day but for now I’m most interested in a Web3 claim I noted in “Slow Lane Week 1”, the claim that DAOs will “revolutionize the world of work”.

Let the Revolution Begin

Amidst all the difficulties encountered in the early years of this revolution, I remain long-term optimistic about the potential for DAOs to change the world of work for the better.  That said, I believe now is a time for this revolution to begin pointing with greater clarity toward the results it intends to produce and framing the conversations for how to get there. Along such lines I was encouraged by the context set and sentiments expressed in a recent Twitter AMA, Welfare at Work in Web3, hosted by GravityDAO. In particular I was inspired by Daniel Ospina who shared, “Web3 is the best opportunity to create systems that support human flourishing.”

Though burnout trends may appear at odds with movement aspirations, I perceive there is still a lot of conviction in the belief that DAO culture can, and must, evolve to favor well being. Toward this end, and with consideration for the highway metaphor I’ve shared here, I’ll submit that fast lanes and slow lanes, and DOing and BEing, need not be at odds with each other. To the contrary, as offered by authors Emily and Amelia Nagosoki in their book “Burnout: The Secret of Unlocking the Stress Cycle”, there is reason to believe they can flow together to support more people in realizing their aspirations. The sisters write, “To be well is not to live in a state of perpetual safety and calm, but to move fluidly from a state of adversity, risk, adventure and excitement, back to safety and calm, and out again.”

I like the sound of it.