My fellow retards,
Communities are built on trust.
Many individuals have become prominent members of the Phonon community have earned this deacon’s trust in the process. Building reputation early is important. It is something that cannot be purchased later on. Sure a big whale or VC could enter the Phonon ecosystem in six months and be the biggest swinging dick in the room, but they will never have the shared history this group shares.
This trust will be important as we grow. We know there are individuals who will not rug pull us. G-unit is happy to support these individuals with fast grants, even paid upfront, because they have put in the time to build their worthy reputation. Phon/ongod long hoped some reputation system would have taken hold in web3, but there is no replacement for the bonds of fellowship. There is no digital representation within some token balance that could replace or truly reflect the camaraderie formed through long conversations with these beautiful people.
One problem with trust arises as the size of the community grows. So long the DAO is smaller than Dunbar’s number, those shared experiences can be relied on to form the ingroup. What happens when the community balloons though? Or if you try to extrapolate those reputation systems to larger populations? What happens when you try to coordinate something, say, the size of the United States?
Essentially, the US economy is nothing more than a system of promises. The world functions with this as the fulcrum, but that creates a dangerous scenario for stability. Globally, we have built systems wherein workers contribute to a pool to take care of our needy and elderly. On the face systems such as Social Security seem like the *right* thing to do . Closer inspection reveals the jaws.
These systems are fucked because they are built on the presumption of a working class that grows constantly. Whoever designed them didn’t get the memo that as the education level of a population’s women rises, the birthrate inevitably declines. If the majority of a society’s womb-havers spend their prime birthing and child-raising years in pursuit of college degrees, it creates a domestic deficit that can only be made up by imports.
There’s an ever larger pool of money that the US government is obligated to pay to the geriatrics amongst us. Keeping old folks alive is tremendously expensive, and thus tremendously lucrative for the medical industry. Or maybe it’s the other way around, because they know the US government can’t go back on these promises without completely undermining its credibility. Either way the top 1% of health spenders in the US are responsible for 21% of health spending. 1/20th of the population accounts for 1/5th of the medical costs.
The younger world sees boomers with nice houses, stable portfolios with logical bond and dividend yielding stock expsosure, etc. The youngsters know the boomers worked 40 years, retired, and believe they’ve earned stability.
Those boomers trusted the system. They trusted that the US government would keep its word and continue to provide the social safety net that it promised in exchange for its share of their productivity. Boomer trust in the US government *may* have been well placed, but the younger generation knows for certain that they will not see anything in return for their taxes. The economics of the Social Security system simply do not work, which leaves the US government with a tough choice. Either they inflate the money supply massively over the next ~50 years in order to be able to meet these underfunded obligations, or break a promise to the group that voted all of their politicians into office.
The world has for the past 60 years trusted the US economy. This is why the USD is the reserve currency of the world. What happens to the global systems when that USD continues to inflate? Do some countries defect and begin transacting in alternative currencies? What does that mean to Amerimutts who believe a society based upon consumption with near 0 manufacturing prowess is long term sustainable?
A rude awakening is coming. It has been bubbling for some time, perhaps Occupy Wall Street was an early warning. A canary of sorts. Decisions from the US government will be viewed as class and generational favoritism. Promises must be broken. Winners and losers will be selected. Unsustainable systems cannot be propped up ad-infinitum. The younger classes are realizing that they can just opt out. Not play this game. Not wagecuck. Instead let the US have record job openings with tremendous slack in the workforce but nobody willing to step up for $12/hour shit jobs. Imagine working 40-60 hours a week to bring home less after-tax money than would be required to buy rent and food. Why bother?
If the US loses the youngsters, the geriatrics will fall too.
Their cushions were built with the trust that the next generations will contribute to the pools that sustain their lifestyles. Inevitably they will begin to deflate. Will the US government allow that to happen, or will they just print more liquidity and buy their way out with a currency that the world has already begun to shy away from?
The US for a long time has relied upon trust. Phonon for now relies upon trust. This is okay, but remain cognizant that as this grows the social dynamics will change. Foster your people—the phrens you make now will be around and capable for a long time to come.
Phonon DAO is still small enough for individuals to make meaningful contributions in all fields. This will not remain the case forever…
Tips to phonongod.eth will be invested in bounties that advance the Phonon project.
Hatemail to phonongod@protonmail.com will be scathingly considered.
Targets for the marketcap of PHONON DAO remain:
$1b by Q2 2022, $12b by EOY.
On the high end, $300b marketcap in 3 years.