The Digital Economy Canon - Section 5: 15 Must Read Web3 Essays

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It’s no secret that new digital communities are forming and innovating at an unprecedented pace. There is no article or book so far that can cover the depth and breadth of the space.

However, through different sections, the Forefront Writer’s Guild has curated a list of the canonical resources related to digital-native token communities. In this last section showcasing the most interesting and thoughtful Web3-related essays, you’ll find 15 high-quality articles covering (1) history, (2) technical foundations, and (3) operations of DAOs.

The articles included have been classified into four categories:

  • Journey: Articles about history, psychology, and mythos
  • Technical: Articles about logic, programming, and specific technical definitions
  • Practical: Articles about “How-to”, operations, and the day-to-day activities
  • Use-Case: Articles outlining examples of digital communities

We hope you will dive in and use this repository as a comprehensive guide covering the big picture, technical details, and practical operational guides.

Enjoy! 🔥



SECTION 1: A Whole New Digital World

“The world has changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it on the earth. I smell it in the air.” - Galadriel, Lord of the Rings. In January 2020, Ben Thompson proclaimed: “It is the end of the beginning”, referencing how the global internet infrastructure had matured and we were entering the main phase of adoption. And so, we might want to ask, how will this impact our organizations? In hindsight, it seems inevitable that a transformation is underway. These articles talk through our history of cooperation, the rise of the corporation, and most importantly - what comes next (at an individual level and at an enterprise level) now that we have installed a new revolutionary hardware system: the internet.



SECTION 2: The Cooperative Society

“The thing that people, I think, don’t appreciate right now is that they are already a cyborg. You’re already a different creature than you would have been twenty years ago, or even ten years ago. You’re already a different creature. You can see this when they do surveys of like, “how long do you want to be away from your phone?” and — particularly if you’re a teenager or in your 20s — even a day hurts. If you leave your phone behind, it’s like missing limb syndrome. I think people — they’re already kind of merged with their phone and their laptop and their applications and everything.” - Elon Musk The costs of cooperation continue to fall. We now have a magic jewel in our pocket with near instant communication, a virtual portal to almost anywhere in the world, and an endless well of human knowledge. What new economies will we build together? What type of new organizations will emerge?



SECTION 3: Technical Foundations of the Digital Economy

"Whereas most technologies tend to automate workers on the periphery doing menial tasks, blockchains automate away the center. Instead of putting the taxi driver out of a job, blockchain puts Uber out of a job and lets the taxi drivers work with the customer directly." - Vitalik Buterin, Co-Founder of Ethereum



SECTION 4: Joining the Digital Economy

"There's never been a better time to quit your job and work in Web3" - Mason Nystrom "I dropped out of school, quit my job, and moved to a new city to go all in crypto and it was the best decision i've ever made. The younger me would be proud." - Carter "I just quit the Apple Design Team to work on crypto full time..." - Dorian Dargan



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