LilPing
@pingfeng
1749 Following
2377 Followers
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Over the past few years, I've noticed that the English-speaking Web3 space talks about "culture" constantly, launching organizations, hosting events, all under the banner of "culture." As a newcomer, I often felt overwhelmed, like a country bumpkin walking into a fancy mansion.
My journey went like this: first I was excited and fascinated, even got swept up in the hype and became one of those people shouting cultural slogans. But gradually, I started feeling something was off. I realized that even though everyone was using the same word, the "culture" in each person's head wasn't the same thing.
I once asked in my podcast group: what exactly IS culture?
If it's just a broad definition that everyone interprets differently, that might be okay. But gradually, I started to taste what wylin was getting at. I believe many people have these doubts, but speaking up is like being the kid pointing out the emperor has no clothes - in that environment, people tend to keep the truth to themselves. Until the surface harmony and self-deceptive bubble bursts, the "kids" start dropping hints, and more people begin to wake up.
Trying to connect bubble-bursting with culture feels like trying to patch up bubbles. Honestly, I've been torn between patching bubbles and trusting the kid's observations for over a year now. I'm terrified of killing beautiful things and their potential, because I know how hard it is to build anything.
I've always deeply respected builders. But diving into "building something," "public goods," and "cultural engineering" these past few years, I've realized that "building" exists on a spectrum - there's trend-chasing building, solid building, and building that's just a scam disguised as building. I can't make value judgments yet, just like that book "Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned" shows - lots of accidental successes happen. But the obviously fake stuff? I'm starting to filter that out first. Both "building" and "culture" have this noise problem. 0 reply
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This analogy is brilliant - it adds a new category to my "people radar." Usually when I discover a new type like this, it explains some uncomfortable feeling I couldn't quite put my finger on before. But once I know what it is, that discomfort goes away.
Turns out I've met tons of these lizard people and "chum" before, but I couldn't tell if they were real crypto believers or not. So I treated them all with the same friendliness and goodwill. These types were everywhere in early DAOs, among KOLs, and wannabe influencer crowds. Later, when they showed their true clown colors, that inconsistency - the before and after - that's what made me uncomfortable. My brain couldn't process that kind of conflicting behavior.
What's fascinating is that chum gets devoured, right? So why would anyone want to be the chum that gets eaten? Maybe it's because early on, being "chum" actually paid well. But when the real big sharks showed up, they became the ones getting harvested. Everyone thinks they're using others, but re... 1 reply
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I have a journey that I'm not sure fits this content. I've always believed in crypto ideals, thinking that crypto technology could bring some changes to the world, and I expressed my idealism on social media. But in the past 2-3 years, the crypto market has had so many disgusting scandals - KOLs doing awful things for traffic, lots of absurd and ridiculous farces, people disregarding everything for money. I feel the crypto space has become utterly rotten.
But within all this, I really wanted to find exceptions. However, these so-called exceptions - EF, projects like OP, idealistic DAOs like Nouns - as more truth gets uncovered, I realize they're actually quite boring too. It's all just networking, bureaucracy, losing crypto's original ideals. I feel very ashamed of what I expressed on social media before. Every day I'm tormented and consumed by this shameful energy, making me physically exhausted, unable to find a way out.
AI responsed to me:
Your experience completely fits what we're discussing and is a particularly typical example.
**The conflict you're experiencing:**
- **"Who I thought I was":** An idealistic, visionary crypto believer who could see technology's potential to change the world
- **"What I actually discovered":** You found yourself attracted to an industry full of speculation, deception, and mediocrity
This shame is so intense because it's not just disappointment in the crypto industry, but questioning of **your own judgment and values**.
**Why is it particularly painful?**
1. **Publicly expressed ideals** - Your social media posts became "evidence" reminding you how certain you once were
2. **Continuously seeking exceptions** - Shows your heart was still desperately defending original beliefs
3. **Finding exceptions weren't exceptional** - Your last hope was also shattered
This is much more painful than simple "investment failure" because it threatens your **identity**.
**This shame is normal.** Many people experience similar awakenings - former environmentalists discovering NGO scandals, former startup believers finding business world hypocrisy, former academic idealists uncovering ivory tower corruption.
**This isn't your fault, nor does it mean you were wrong initially.**
**Possible ways forward:**
- **Don't rush to negate your past self** - Your original ideals may have been real, technology's potential may be real, just the actual development path differed from your imagination
- **Separate ideals from vehicles** - Maybe the problem isn't your ideals, but completely entrusting them to one specific industry
- **Accept complexity** - The world rarely has black-and-white answers. Crypto technology might both have world-changing potential and be full of human ugliness
- **Redefine success** - Perhaps your value lies not in choosing the right track, but in maintaining critical thinking ability and moral sensitivity 4 replies
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