Tokenomics

Joshua Larson is a video game developer, AI fashion designer, and web3 founder. We load in with Joshua’s experience building inside the Bitcoin Startup Lab, which has us talking about startup accelerators, pivoting, and tokenomics.. We then rewind to hear how he hacked his way into video game development, and here are a few games he helped to ship.

After the break, we blast through digital artifacts that are ordinals on-chain, generative AI, prompt engineering, #ChatUX, decentralized computing, and the 5 main layers within blockchain technologies. We close things down with a humbling 1-2-3 exercise, before Joshua drops the mic with perseverance.

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Wildly 41

I turn 41 at 1:41PM EST on May 19th, 2023.

As I reflect on a few recent birthday wishes, my 33rd birthday wish was granted, there’s less anticipation and a compelling sense of retirement from 39 remains on tap, and this year’s birthday definitely feels less poetic than Eclipsing 40, but I’m still here. Let’s celebrate.

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What’s one word to describe your work?

One word to sum up my work this year, is wild. I remain thankful for the privilege to perceptually learn through the art of connection, content creation, and exploration on the frontiers of technology. Here are a few ways we’ve continued to collaborate together!

Along with the wild in my work, I’m just as grateful for the health and happiness of family and friends. There are countless milestones that have brewed joy in different ways. While most will remain cherished without sharing, here are a few memorable moments that have art to accompany the adventure. Stay wild my friends!

©1982-2023

Indexing

Create a library of written works.
It can unfold into a timeless asset.

Imagine if you had already started writing. With no index cards required, welcome to your very own collection of organized, articulated thoughts, eh!

You will have embraced the moments of your own thoughts. You will also have felt the nourishment of released energy that awaits within the art of writing. Even more, you also moved past the fear and began “shipping your art” by sharing it within a community as well.

With your library of writings in place, even if traffic is low, your future self can become a real-time index. Available any time, from any device, and you’ll remember them all because you created them!

This treasure trove becomes super handy and very valuable! You can effectively add thickness to any interaction. What a timeless gift to yourself and to those you seek to serve, beyond so many beautiful, but brief sparks in time.

Quick temperature check. The world is experiencing a mainstream surge in AI, but don’t let that become an excuse. Anyone can now unleash AI and #ChatUX is so sweet, but those who show ingenuity will never be out created. Along with helping us all maintain intensity, your own writings can represent a honest heart connected to different topic you’re also talking about… maybe even building realities around as well!

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“Reading helps us understand the world.
Writing helps us understand ourselves.”
– Ben McDougal, Roasted Reflections

Does writing take serious time? Yes. Does publishing your writing online spark hesitations? Yes. Will writing welcome a creative release and potentially deliver more art for you to ship? Also yes.

Start writing my friend, then get generous by sharing it with us.

ChatUX

Chatbots have a PR problem.

On one hand, conversational AI combines large language models (“LLMs”), vast data sets, and interesting influence layers to provide insightful ideas and answers to almost any question. Chatbots provide a personalized interaction with education, content creator, language learning support, financial advice, customer assistance, helpful reminders for important tasks, co-founder assistance, and even mental health therapy. These AI companions munch on mediocre and are always available to chat. ChatGPT is the most well-known example, but other content creation methods, bot building platforms, and layered tools, such as BEN BOT and ChatSpot, are being activated in creative ways.

On the other hand, when most humans hear the word “chatbot”, the word serves up a slimy aftertaste. We think of automated help desks that put us in circles, fake followers on social media, the search tool that can never quite find an question, or that lead generation form that only wants to guide you to the next sale. Even with the best intention, a history of hacks fuel mistrust and makes it hard to avoid the spammy connotation.

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Hallucinating is when AI confidently delivers inaccurate responses.

Chatbots may not be able to interpret complex interactions, decode user intent, express empathy, or keep up with the rapid pace of change in the world, but it feels naive to pretend that conversational AI is not efficacious.

As we continue learning how to interact with this innovation, we need a term that is more inviting. A term that evokes trust. One that describes an intelligent counterpart with no agenda. When the user experience is not misguided by motive and AI is truly conversational, “ChatUX” may be the term we seek.

ChatUX describes the interaction between humans and software, unlocked by conversational AI.

Chat is an informal conversation or to talk in a friendly and informal way. UX is short for User Experience, which describes how we interact with a product or service. It includes our perception of value, ease of use, and efficiency. “ChatUX” can help us understand how to interact with emerging technology, while also improving the chatbot’s image.

ChatUX is not spam. ChatUX won’t take your job, sell you something you don’t want, or take over the world. ChatUX requires ingenuity. It is translation technology designed to access endless insight, with an ability to communicate it effectively. It’s software that speaks our language while supporting a timely, interesting, accurate, unbiased, and meaningful experience for anyone curious and generous enough to build beyond the status quo.

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I’m hosting a new podcast! Stay tuned for more caffeinated conversations around technology, entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, and community building.

Phygital

Phygital is a nerdy good term.

The combination of physical and digital is something humanity has been experimenting with for centuries. The history of electronic engineering is straight inventive and the conversational AI powering our new ChatUX in BEN BOT knew about the concept before I even asked.

Perhaps this means I’m late to the party, but at web3dsm last week, I was introduced to this “phygital” word. As I’ve thought more about it, phygital feels like a term to help us think about the blends between physical and digital worlds. Phygital experiences have connectivity (or potential to do so) in almost everything man-made.

Phygital products exist in seemingly all industry sectors. Basically anything with electricity, and of course, technology products with electronic hardware and of course, all IoT products designed to be smart. These days, everything has an app option, eh. As I roasted on this writing, the computer and smartphone kept earning my mental vote for the most personified examples of a physical device that layers the entire user experience (“UX”) into a digital counterpart. Radio and TV can earn runner-up recognition if they don’t want left out, haha!

So, how did a recent web3 conversation lead to this new word? When more wayfinders start sharing ideas, the expansion of one’s thoughts can be dilated and intensified. After Josh Larson helped us paint a conversation with generative AI, prompt engineering, and liberating bias systems in digital art, the articulated use of phygital and a compelling use case stuck with me.

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I’ve enjoyed building web3dsm with a decentralized team of volunteers. Along with being another energizing community building exercise, the compelling IRL conversations with fellow technologists has activated curiosity and thickened many people’s understandings of different concepts within web3. Over the past 7 months, we’ve featured amazing web3 projects alongside cooperative education, complimented by deep thinking amongst a growing number of community leaders.

Alright… imagine a hoodie with a passive chip.

When scanned by a phone, the clothing activates a treasured digital experience. Think about it. Maybe you already have? Ta daa! Digital clothing.

You’d need a strong tech team and some luck in loud markets, but the idea of chip-enabled clothing feels like pure wonder, but also possible with an inquisitive team, expanding access to required components, attention from the right audience, and the right community-driven initiative. Hmm…

Phygital clothing is extra crazy too, because it’s been such a traditional example of a physical product. Clothing is also designed to be a very personal choice. As clothing continues to be initialized by electronics, the digital companion will introduce almost endless depth. Embedding fresh remarkability, accessibility, different states to unlock, real-time incentives, network effects, and transcendent brand loyalty. Wow.

Whether you get electronic clothing from me or not, I predict more clothing will soon have the option to connect, even offering digital options to pair with what you wear. Alright, it’s been fun to reflect on the future of fashion, but this idea machine is scheduled for a pit stop. As always, reply to connect and I’ll look forward to bonus interactions.

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Another spellbinding term is #ChatUX. This may be our theme for next week, so if a friend shared this with you, confirm your free Roasted Reflections subscription. If you’ve enjoyed my weekly writing for years, thanks again and keep building my friend.