01 Dangerous

The atmosphere suddenly became solemn. The pretty girl in front of her frowned inadvertently, staring at the screen of the phone my friend handed her, struggling with what to type.

10 seconds ago, we were sitting in this cafe chatting happily, the atmosphere was harmonious, until we proposed to add WeChat to each other.

Time stood still for a moment.

The girl who works for a foreign crypto exchange explained slightly embarrassedly, "I dare not keep my real name for fear of being arrested. I heard that someone was arrested before, even if the other party was a designer and did not participate in the transaction." From 2019 Since 2000, China has banned all business activities related to cryptocurrencies.

This is my first social in Dali. My friend got a fake ID note. Of course, what I got was also fake.

3 hours ago, I took a 4-hour flight from Beijing to Dali Airport. After getting in a taxi and repeating "Goodbye Jack" by the band 10 times, I arrived at the destination of this business trip - the ancient city of Dali, to participate in a 2-day conference with the theme of Web3.

A conference in the cutting-edge technology industry did not take place in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, or Hangzhou and Chengdu in the new first-tier cities, but in Dali, which has no technology industry foundation. This is very "Web3".

4 months ago, I was quite dismissive of this concept.

When asked at an event organized by a law firm why I became interested in this, I replied to the effect that it was just trying to figure out what the hell was going on with the people who were pushing the concept.

My first impression of Web3 is "rigorous". At that time, I communicated with an industry person about some phenomena I observed on the instant (a social platform): these people like to use some pictures called NFTs as avatars, add the ".eth" suffix after the name, and open their mouths. Shut up is builder, preaching, and decentralizing belief. I called the Web3 circle a unique "subculture", which led to the anger of this industry person, who scolded me "You don't respect innovation! You don't have independent thinking!", saying that this is the beginning of the birth of great things commonality.

Whether it is the commonality of innovation, I don't know, but judging from Baidu Encyclopedia, subculture is not a derogatory term, just like "two dimensions" is not a curse word. For some time now, my impression of Web3 has been superimposed with a big, hideous head.

Now, 4 months later, as a tech media practitioner, I am present at what may be the largest gathering of Web3 practitioners in China in 2022. It is said that a week before the event, 1,500 tickets priced at 500 yuan (400 yuan for early bird tickets) were sold out. Just in time for the peak tourist season in Dali, air tickets are not cheap. For example, a round-trip air ticket to Dali in Beijing and 4-day accommodation costs about 5,000 yuan. Everyone's enthusiasm is evident.

Web3 is still a vague term for most people. There are many second-hand explanations about it on the Internet. Everyone has a different understanding.

To me, Web3 is just a technical concept, a code name, and I'm more interested in what's behind it and who's driving it. Vocabulary is our door to the real world. Vocabulary can also lead you into many detours, but those who understand the people behind the creation of words may not be easily fooled.

Next, in the real world, I want to meet these people who like to use NFTs as avatars on the Internet.

02 Fake ID

The adventure begins.

I'm sitting on the edge of the field watching, it's a gamefi-themed sharing session. Next to me, a seemingly ordinary, even ruffled eldest brother sitting on the ground, a Bentley key accidentally slipped out of his trousers pocket. It seems that the people involved in this event have different backgrounds, and I began to pay attention to the lecture.

They are talking about the current predicament, future prospects, and solutions. I found that when the growth momentum of the Internet stopped, employees ran away early and began to sing; but the cryptocurrency field fell, and people talked about how to continue to build momentum and usher in the next wave of peaks.

This is a warm-up event two days before the official event, and more people than this small room can hold gathered at the event site.

Outside the door separated by a wall, the chatter and laughter gradually overshadowed the theme sharing in the room, and it was almost impossible to hear what the speaker was saying. Social attributes have outgrown content sharing.

Outside the door, everyone is generally talking about how to arbitrage and which projects are easy to make money. It's so down-to-earth, I thought everyone would talk about Web3 beliefs, the future of a decentralized society, and so on. However no.

On this day, the style of the meal appointment in the event group of the conference is as follows:

 "Whoever wants to have dinner can come to xx restaurant ~ one product, one VC and one development."
"Now there are two VCs, the location is enough, and the environment is not bad."

The adult world, so simple and direct.

I am familiar with this scene. At the moment of positioning as a "community of friends for young people", most people's social pages will indicate: from US dollar VC\RMB VC\co-founder/builder/employee of a large Internet factory, etc., label yourself. , quickly classify, and display your social value and business value as efficiently as possible. This is similar to the fact that some big Internet factory employees like to post their badges on Douyin and Xiaohongshu.

And my social page reads: The focus of my life recently is to eat literately and exercise happily. In comparison, it's a bit unprofessional.

I decided to make changes and integrate them as soon as possible.

First of all, I changed the WeChat name to xx.eth, and downloaded a pirated picture of "Boring Ape" on Baidu as a WeChat avatar. I checked it, and its price in the NFT market should be around 2 million yuan.

In the second step, I intend to give myself a sufficiently powerful second identity. A fake in the end.

It's not stressful.

From my observation, in the field of Web3, almost everyone is a founder. In addition to financial freedom, identity freedom also belongs to Web3. They know how to pack themselves very well.

Some time ago, I met a friend who claimed to be a Web3 investor in Beijing. I asked him what he invested in, and he said that he bought a few NFTs and tokens (I prefer to call it wealth management). There is also a self-proclaimed core co-builder and early core promoter of a certain NFT. I asked two more questions. It turned out that I just retweeted the emoji package of that NFT on Twitter.

Although I used to be a programmer, after a few years of writing, the skills are rusty. After thinking about it for a long time, I couldn't compile a decent Web3 project. The way of the project founder, I gave up.

Investors can try. At this conference, there are scholars, project initiators, engineers, community operators, investors and so on. Investors should be the ones with the lowest technical content. They don't need to have some whimsy and deep insight into the world like entrepreneurs or academics.

So, I designed the title of a certain capital partner for myself. I told my partner, please call me by the title of an investor for the next two days.

Getting into the character was easier than I thought.

I did not speak in any WeChat event groups related to the conference, but in the next 24 hours, more than a dozen friends in the group added me on WeChat and took the initiative to introduce themselves. Most of the reasons given were “there are similar NFT Avatar".

Among the people who took the initiative to add me, there are also some beautiful sisters who are practicing "freedom to dress" from their avatars. Beautiful sisters always have a magic power that can perfectly combine work and entertainment at the same time. Through their circle of friends, I can see the natural scenery of Dali that I neglected in those days.

Some people say that the concentration of beautiful girls can often reflect the rise and fall of an industry. In this way, Web3 is quite promising.

And just 24 hours ago, I, who had not changed my avatar and name, took the initiative to add more than ten people's WeChat in the same WeChat group, but only 2 people finally passed, and the chatting attitude was cold.

I instantly understood the social value of NFTs. This thing works better than a Bentley car key! The WeChat avatar worth 2 million yuan shows my wealth in the most direct way. If this NFT also represents a certain concept and proposition, it also directly shows my values.

Although I replaced myself with a symbol/picture, I lost my subjectivity, and I became a shell attached to some foreign object, but it did improve the efficiency of my social interaction in the secular society. Web3's avatars almost take the culture of "judging people by their appearance" to the extreme.

Next, I'm going to make new friends in Web3 with my new identity.

03 Decentralized Practice

Changes always come so suddenly.

In the early hours of the night the night before, I was lying in bed with my new identity in my bed, shuttling through different WeChat groups. In the past two days, I have added 50 WeChat groups for conferences and events of various themes. Information explosion.

Just one day before the official start of the event, due to epidemic prevention and control reasons, the official announcement was made that the event was cancelled.

On the contrary, people didn't feel much depression. After losing the organizer and the main venue, more than a hundred events began to be organized spontaneously, and those who came to Dali to participate in the event began to practice "decentralization" in real life.

The main venue was cancelled, and the entire ancient city of Dali became the main venue. Temporary posters spewed out, and the event took place in the form of small-scale pop-ups in bars, restaurants, lawns, and inn lobbies. Walking on the streets of the ancient city of Dali, you can hear conversations about Web3 everywhere.

I searched for the wine parties, dinner parties, and theme sharing I was interested in in various groups, and arranged the schedule.

Next, the first self-organized event I will go to is an unthemed wine party.

My first appearance in my new identity was very successful.

At the reception, when I was looking around with a glass of wine and I was at a loss, a big brother approached me, introduced a game project they were working on, and showed me their project ppt. I heard that my eldest brother opened a bar and a restaurant before, and I expressed my interest.

We added WeChat and asked him to send it to me, so I can discuss it with the team when I go back.

After a while, the eldest brother introduced me as the CEO of XX Capital to a partner of another game project. He was inspired by the potential of Web3 and switched from the financial industry to be responsible for the design of the gameplay. I chatted with this brother about the future vision of the project, discussed the potential of PPT, and finally added WeChat, expressing that we will do some great cooperation together in the future.

It seems that the anonymity of the Web3 world makes all the absurdities justified. It could also be that my hair, which has been thinning due to frequent overtime work, seems to be more senior and trustworthy. Just like the jokes circulating on the Internet, a 28-year-old programmer can have the face of an 82-year-old in advance.

This new identity, I can continue to play, if not too tired. Forget it, I was tired enough to write the manuscript. After a day of experience, I changed back to my real identity.

04 Spokesperson

The next step is to get to the point.

At a small gathering of almost all project sponsors, someone inadvertently raised the topic of "Web3 spokesperson". It's also the informal chatter I've heard people talk about on different occasions these days.

Who is more suitable to be the spokesperson of Web3?

Everyone, you and I pieced together the ideal look:

It is best to live in the Erhai Sea, Hainan, Chiang Mai, Miami in Dali, where there are enough beautiful scenery, sunshine and green plants; it is best to work only a few hours a day, go surfing after work, and have a good figure and bronze color. Clear skin, abs; preferably on a globetrotting trip.

It’s better not to live in a bustling and noisy first-tier city, let alone a crowded rental house; you must be a rebel against traditional business rules; and, it’s your job that makes you play, not the job that makes you play. To put it simply: a young, handsome, free rebellious boy who looks sunny. "This kind of image will help Web3 break the circle." A sister who is developing a Web3 project said firmly.

I moved the phone on the table and looked at my face quietly. No more play. It is a face that has lived in a first-tier city for a long time after graduation, and has been squeezed by the pressure of the metropolis for a long time, hesitating, and even if you don't frown, others will think that you are too serious.

I was a little frustrated - as a migrant worker who has almost lived on the job, my old face of premature aging reappeared in my mind, and I thought, I haven't started yet, how can this new field shut me out ?

On second thought, what exactly is Web3?

A brief review of the background proposed by Web3: In June 2013, a young man named Snowden exposed the "Prism Program" of the United States' mass surveillance of its own citizens and foreign governments, and a large number of American technology and Internet giants participated in it , the Western world's distrust of Internet giants and centralization has reached its peak.

Inspired by "Prism Gate", in early 2014, Gavin Wood, co-founder of Ethereum, proposed the concept of Web 3.0. He hoped that the next-generation Internet based on blockchain technology would allow people to protect their privacy and data. Control your digital assets without being abused by Web2's internet giants. This was the original vision for Web 3.0.

Now, it is not just a technical concept. In addition to the decentralized governance vision, what we can’t get in our current life, what we imagine, what we are looking forward to, but what we can touch by jumping or breaking the rules, are all placed on Web3 on this concept.

Based on the imagination of blockchain technology, everyone has formed their own understanding of Web3. For example, the promotional copy of a public account described something as "in line with the freedom and coolness of Web3".

If it was in the era of mass entrepreneurship and mass innovation in 2015, the Web3 track would not necessarily attract so much attention. At the moment when the capital is cold and the economy is stagnant, the Internet and other tracks are shut down one after another, and when the hard technology tracks such as commercial aerospace and chips are far away from most people, everyone flocks to the Web3 track. The narrative that should not belong to it and the overly idealistic aspirations pinned on it.

Those are not problems that technology can solve. At this point, it doesn't matter what Web3 is called. Just like behind every concept and outlet, people are chasing new opportunities and new wealth. What Web3 represents is a kind of emotion and spirit that can resonate strongly.

According to a recent report released by Evernote, only 5.7% of respondents did not feel involution. In recent years, "inward roll", rotten, and flat have become hot words. After the dividends of the previous era have subsided, the next opportunity that ordinary people can seize seems to be far away.

When you work overtime and lose your life, and the money you make is just enough to see a doctor and make up for the wear and tear of your body, life is shaky.

How many of those people who are very longing for the Web3 track are trying to escape such an exploitative system.

Most people are used to this kind of life. Just like when we present ourselves on interest-themed social platforms, the first thing that emerges is our work and utilitarian identity. He lives in that work identity first, and then himself.

A friend who left Beijing and settled in Dali to work on Web3 development told me that in Dali, everyone pays more attention to you as a person rather than your workplace status; here, you are not a tool, you do not need to work hard to play a business screw , you can have a little vitality. It's much more comfortable.

Perhaps, what we need is not Web3, but the desire to live a good life, without involution, without being laid off, getting decent pay, enjoying the sun, not being overdrawn by meaningless work, and unleashing creativity.

It doesn't matter if it's called Web3, Web5, or Web8. If people start waking up with Web3, that's a good thing.

05 "Untimely"

The meeting was interrupted again. Jay slumped on the table, moved the computer aside, and tried to get a quick rest in less than a minute or so.

Working up late for several days in a row made him too tired. But he was excited. In the past 4 or 5 days, in addition to participating in some wine parties and sharing, he also completed a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) plan from scratch.

The dozen or so people sitting next to each other in front of his desk came for his DAO project. I am one of them.

Jay spreads his recruitment articles in the event groups related to the conference, and I was attracted by the copywriting he wrote - in various Web3-related promotional articles, he can speak human words, and can put words in a simple and concise way, There really isn't much.

In addition, it is also unusual to be able to sing a little contrarian in the Web3 circle. For example, he commented on this conference:

 Did the Dali Web3 conference surpass the centralized conference? No.
Diversity brings the variety and richness of the collision of ideas. This is more than a centralized conference.
But add a bunch of groups, add a hundred people, go to a bunch of games, and some have a good chat. and then? No, then, after the live chat, the avatars in the WeChat did not match.
Next, look for their mothers, pat their butts and leave Dali. Groups of dozens of laborious groups gradually become silent or become spam groups.
It's no different from other conferences. This is the ending now visible. But not as it should have ended. Come, let's change the ending together.

I still remember that the person in charge of a theme event called in the group, "Ignore all negative information and focus on building Web3."

Similarly, Afri Schoedon, a core developer of Ethereum, once tweeted a message, saying that Polkadot provides the functions that the upgraded version of Ethereum should have. This quickly sparked outrage, and members of the Ethereum community began besieging him. The Ethereum community felt that Afri Schoedon had betrayed them, believing that he had "two boats on his feet" and that some people threatened to kill him. Under pressure, he quit the Ethereum community.

The crypto community is like a religion, with common goals and interests, and even intolerance.

Therefore, I am very curious about a person like Jay who dares to be "out of place". Later, I learned that Jay used to work in a large Internet factory, and later became a senior executive of a Bitcoin mining group. Jay was convinced that the financial revolution brought by blockchain and that Web3 was the future, decided to go all in, and quickly launched a DAO during the conference. His passion and action amaze me.

Before I came to Dali, I asked a colleague who has been concerned about blockchain for a long time, what is the difference between the blockchain industry this year and the blockchain industry in 2018?

At the beginning of 2018, the enthusiasm for blockchain venture capital was detonated. There are more than 100 large and medium-sized industry conferences and forums related to blockchain every month, and now they are almost extinct.

A colleague told me, “It’s a lot of fun, everyone thinks that it’s not just about cheating money by ICO.”

Although Web3 is still mainly synonymous with virtual currency today, it is not the same. It has shown more potential and practice in social experimentation, such as this Dali Web3 Summit, there are many discussions on DAO, desoc (decentralized society), and public affairs.

At the sharing session on desoc and DAO-related topics, I saw people discussing how to use Web3 technology to achieve a bottom-up organizational structure, promote fairer, equal, and efficient production operations; how to build new wealth distribution Mechanisms; how to get individuals to do what they love and get paid fairly, and even how to use technology to price ideas and ideas.

You'll be infected by the sheerness, by people's chasing after a little bit of a good possibility.

Today's solutions to Web3, to a better society, may not be right, but history doesn't stop because moving forward brings new problems.

A few years from now, this conference may be an iconic industry event when people recall the twists and turns of the industry along the way. It will become a common memory of a large number of people, or participants, or witnesses.

And what I have seen and heard in fragments in the past few days is only one-sided, a historical aspect of this incident.

Walking in the alleys of the ancient city of Dali, I glanced at my mobile phone and found that only advertisements were active in various conference activity groups. I knew that my trip to Dali Web3 was coming to an end.

Stepping on the stone road, the texture of the stone comes from the sole of the foot, that is the life that can be touched. The sole of the foot is the present moment, the mobile phone is held in the hand, and the mobile phone contains the distance.

Maybe the field is currently 10% geeks and 90% liars. After all, life is your own, whether you play Web3 or be played by Web3, you have to be sure.