I highly suggest consuming the full piece here (16 min. read time)

“Since the design of machines is one of these intellectual activities, an ultraintelligent machine could design even better machines; there would then unquestionably be an ‘intelligence explosion,’ and the intelligence of man would be left far behind. Thus the first ultraintelligent machine is the last invention that man need ever make, provided that the machine is docile enough to tell us how to keep it under control.” — Irving John Good, 1965 (Mathematician)

The origin of the singularity: “The idea of an intelligence explosion was revived in 1993, by the author and computer scientist Vernor Vinge, who called it ‘the singularity,’ and the idea has since achieved some popularity among technologists and philosophers.” — Ted Chiang 

Interesting argument: “Some proponents of an intelligence explosion argue that it’s possible to increase a system’s intelligence without fully understanding how the system works. They imply that intelligent systems, such as the human brain or an A.I. program, have one or more hidden ‘intelligence knobs,’ and that we only need to be smart enough to find the knobs. I’m not sure that we currently have many good candidates for these knobs, so it’s hard to evaluate the reasonableness of this idea.” — Ted Chiang 

Recursive self-improvement: “…if we want to compare individuals’ intelligence, they have to be equipped with the same tools…even though we aren’t more intelligent than we used to be, we have at our disposal a wider range of cognitive tools, which, in turn, enable us to invent even more powerful tools…This is how recursive self-improvement takes place—not at the level of individuals but at the level of human civilization as a whole.” — Ted Chiang

I highly suggest consuming the full piece here (13 min. read time)

Focus on creator market fit: “Creators are their own mini startups. They’re responsible for focusing on a niche, understanding what customers want, creating something that people love, and finding sustainable ways to grow…Once a creator gets to creator market fit, then it may make sense to start experimenting with crypto to accelerate grow” — Patrick Rivera

Start off using crypto as a monetization tool: Crypto helps creators in 4 main ways — (1) Financing, (2) Acquisition, (3) Engagement, (4) Monetization.

NFTs and beyond: “NFTs will evolve to provide many other benefits beyond just ownership. Eventually, creators will come up with crypto-native business models like programmable subscriptions, prediction markets, token reward programs, investing in other creators, etc.” — Patrick Rivera

Co-creation and community: “…cryptonetworks will usher in a new era of co-creation. Creators will involve their communities in key decisions like how to allocate funds, who to onboard, what types of projects they should work on, etc. This type of co-creation increases community and retention which can lead to stronger communities over the long-term.” — Patrick Rivera

Designing a token rewards program: “Identify your community’s goal, choose a reward mechanism, [and] choose a positive sum reward that benefits the network: this can include votes in decentralized governance, access to exclusive experiences, or even financial rewards.” — Patrick Rivera

I highly suggest consuming the full piece here (10 min. read time)

“…how one views oneself and acts heavily depends on what the individual believes other people think of the individual. This process is theorized to develop one’s sense of identity. Therefore identity, or self, is the result of learning to see ourselves through what we perceive to be the perceptions of others.” — Yeung, King-To; Martin, John Levi 

Looking glass explained: “… social interaction acts as a ‘mirror’ or a ‘looking-glass,’ since one’s sense of self and self esteem is built off of others. We imagine how we must appear to others in a social situation. We imagine and react to what we feel their judgment of that appearance must be. We develop our sense of self and respond through this perceived judgments of others.” — Shaffer, Leigh S

Cyber self: “…social media has created a concept named the ‘cyber self,’ a version one wishes to portray online and to the public to others and based on the judgements of others. Unlike the real self, different forms of media allow judgements to be clearly posted, so in many cases, judgements may not even need to be imagined.” — Mary Aiken, PhD (cyberpsychologist)

Positives and negatives of social media and self: Positive —  “A social media study also uncovered a host of positive effects of the use of social media and in developing oneself, with dozens of creators citing that producing content gave them a sense of self-confidence and self-worth, enhanced their creativity, increased their sense of professionality, and their platforms offered a positive space to interact with others. Negative — “The feeling of shame and insufficient self-worth comes from traumatic experiences such as abuse, neglect, abandonment, shaming family situations, and harsh upbringing.The looking-glass self can cause feelings of insufficient self-worth and mental health issues.” — Zsolt Unoka and Gabriella Vizin