These pages are intended to become a guided tour of the working practices and working concepts touched on in the Invisible Economy. For a current map of the terrain see the Start here readme for an overview list of where to find things.
DADA is an online platform where people around the world create spontaneous visual conversations together, in spite of language, distance, nationality, or other artificial boundaries. On DADA, art is a means of communication, and its creative and collaborative nature fosters strong bonds between people. It’s a free and liberating experience. Trolling and bullying are organically neutralized. It is a place where strangers make art together without expecting remuneration, motivated not by extrinsic rewards like money or status but by intrinsic rewards such as the joy of making art, and a sense of autonomy, validation, self-development, belonging and a higher purpose.
The Invisible Economy is the radical separation of art and the market. Blockchain technology allows the economy to be both invisible and transparent. It is invisible because it separates artmaking, code writing, art collecting, and general contributions from market transactions through different mechanisms. And it is transparent because all the transactions take place on the Ethereum blockchain where everyone can track them.
Blockchain allows peer-to-peer networks to launch their own currency, and to control and self-manage the value they create collectively without a central authority. The Invisible Economy organizes economic activity based on interdependence, creativity, and altruism. It leverages the wisdom of the crowd without the pernicious effects of the market. Ultimately, people are rewarded for their contributions with a basic income.
You can also watch this video about the Invisible Economy.
Creating the Invisible Economy was kicked off by the presenting the Whitepaper at the Radical X Change 2020 Conference.
Initially we began with a series of three working groups running in parallel: Governance, Contribution Metrics, & Value Flows. Later a more general Crypto Art working group was added as well.
What we learned in the working groups about process is:
Depth of conversation is what led to insights and ‘A-ha’ moments, which led to breakthroughs in thinking and making connections that otherwise may have never been made. We found this to be incredibly valuable.
Having perhaps a general theme, but not an agenda, allowed for an open and often wide-ranging conversation to develop which allowed for those participating in the discussion to meaningfully contribute from their areas of experience or expertise.
The process takes as long as it takes. We often found that the conversation shifted about 50 minutes in and that was when the magic began to happen. If the meeting “had” to end after 1 hour, many of the great insights and breakthroughs we’ve made just wouldn’t have happened - or would have take much longer to get to. Allowing meetings to take as long as they take to complete the conversation has become a key working practice of the working groups.
The rest of these pages will be an attempt to both summarise and go deeper into the Invisible Economy.
Start Your Journey here.