The concept of a successful blockchain ecosystem can be likened to that of an "Onchain Nation State." Just like a flourishing nation state, a thriving blockchain ecosystem rests upon 4 fundamental pillars, each crucial for its growth and longevity. These pillars are:
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Economy
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Governance
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Technology
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Culture
In order for a nation state to prosper, it must foster an environment where these 4 pillars not only exist but also interact in a way that is both complementary and catalytic, enhancing each other's effectiveness. While each nation state’s individual 4 pillars might have their own unique characteristics, their synergistic integration is essential for sustained success.
Mode is an emerging "Onchain Nation State" in this regard. At the heart of our ecosystem is Coop City, a dynamic central hub where the inhabitants actively contribute to nurturing Mode's version of these four pillars. We have laid a robust foundation, preparing Mode to extend our Solar Garden to a broader community of passionate enthusiasts.
Culture
In future posts, we will delve deeper into each of the four pillars. Today our focus is on the pillar of Culture. Compared to the other three, Culture stands out as the most qualitative. Economies can be quantified by their size and growth, Governance evaluated by participation and efficiency, and Technology's impact measured by its contribution to productivity. Unlike these 3 pillars, Culture is a bit of an anomaly in terms of measurement, so today we’d like to put forth our chosen methodology for measuring it.
Memes as Building Blocks of Culture
The concept of the "Meme" was first introduced by Richard Dawkins in 1976 in his book “The Selfish Gene”. Dawkins used this term to describe how memories and ideas replicate among groups. He defined a meme as “one unit of cultural transmission.”
In the context of a nation state, the strength of culture can therefore be measured by the number of these shared units of cultural transmission; memes that become memories that everyone can relate to. This means that a strong culture is defined by an abundance of collective memories shared between community members. The more memes that everyone knows, the stronger the community. The stronger your community, the stronger your onchain nation state or blockchain ecosystem.
"The Memes of Production" refers to these fundamental elements that form the basis of a cultural economy, whether in an organization, community, or nation state. Mode is leveraging the knowledge that memes are the building blocks of culture in order to build The Onchain Cooperative. We intimately understand that Memes Enable Mode’s Evolution (MEME).
Contributing to Mode Culture
Mode’s mission is simple; to build an onchain cooperative that rewards the developers, users and protocols that grow the network.
Not everyone has the resources to contribute to Mode’s growth economically, nor the technical know-how to contribute to its evolving technology, but everyone in web3 has access to a phone or computer and can seize the opportunity to create memes.
Today we launch what is to be an ongoing cultural initiative; “Memes Enable Mode’s Evolution”.
Every 2 weeks we’ll pick the best memes that proliferate through our community.
Each meme will be rewarded with $200.
There are no limits to the amount of memes we pick each week. You can also submit multiple memes.
The selection will be made by Mode’s Grand Council of Culture and published in our community every Wednesday.
Whether you are a seasoned memooor or a complete noob, we are eager to see what you’re capable of creating. If you don’t know how to create memes, swing by our Discord server and someone from the community will gladly help you get going. Meme creation is an art form and free, open source software permits anyone eager to the new skills necessary to create original meme masterpieces.
Please submit your entries in the “😂 Memes” channel in our Discord.
For more information, including guidelines and judging criteria, please check out the Memes Enable Mode’s Evolution section of our newly launched Mode Community Portal. Here you will also find Mode brand and meme kits to help get you started. As Mode grows, so too will our library of community memes.