Farcaster as a digital nation
Lessons farcaster can learn from Singapore
I consider myself a novice when it comes to Farcaster, as I mainly use the Warpcast app and do not have a technical background. However, I do consider myself an enthusiast on nation-building, having studied intently the history and success of Singapore as a nation.
I view Farcaster as having the potential to become a well-connected, vibrant digital nation, similar to how a Singapore as a tiny island can contribute to the world economy and play on the world stage.
First and foremost, Farcaster is young and new. Unlike established protocols, Farcaster aims to challenge the status quo through innovation and a better way of doing things.
What made Singapore, which started with nothing, achieve greatness? How did a nation with a GDP lower than Zimbabwe become one of the wealthiest nations in less than 50 years? The same conditions that contributed to Singapore's success can be applied to Farcaster to create a vibrant digital nation: safety, leadership, opportunity, and ease of use.
Singapore’s GDP from independence (1965) to today -
Source: World Bank
I postulate that the same conditions that made Singapore prosper could be the same conditions for Farcaster to create a vibrant digital nation - safety, leadership, opportunity and ease of use.
The same way a citizen wants to sleep peacefully at night and feel comforted to be in the company of friendly, non-hostile neighbours, a new user on Farcaster seeks for psychological security.
As an alien on Farcaster, my experience on warpcast (which I see as a neighbourhood, hub, or town, within Farcaster) should leave me with a sense of community, friendliness and safety.
I should feel like staying and hanging around more. I do not feel that *yet*- though i do get a sense that the farcastoors hanging around are generally good and smart people (just missing the friendly part!). I would love to be in the community, but as a newbie, I’m still learning how to fit in.
I see farcaster taking baby steps towards this. In Singapore, there are community centers for people in engaged shared interests and hobbies. In farcaster, there is chesscasters for those who play chess.
Next, Singapore was notorious for its leadership. critics said our founding father, LKY, ruled with an iron fist, but it is my personal belief that at the early stages of any organism - a project, a family, a protocol or a nation - there needs to be ONE CLEAR LEADER with ONE CLEAR VISION.
Farcaster may need to balance between the utopian values of decentralization with guidance from the visionaries (the founderss) at least at the beginning. Too many protocols end up in a dilemma because of “true governance”. IMHO, true governance cannot happen without compromising growth until a certain scale.
Opportunity - Singapore positioned herself as a hub of opportunity. She was a safe haven for assets, a hub for entrepreneurs, a passage into southeast asia for MNC, a foundation for manufacturing, a place of investment for R&D companies.. amongst many others. To attract buildoors, farcaster should create a safety net for projects to build upon. Providing infrastructure support, financial support, marketing support, free public goods and protocol compatibilities are some examples.
Finally, ease of use. Singapore was made up of 3 native races - Chinese, Malay and Indians - yet adopted English as its national language. She made herself easy for the world to understand and communicate it, and visitors and tourists alike found it easy to navigate around Singapore, with a universally known language. For now, as a newbie, Farcaster does seem to have some unique terminology that seem complex, and will need to find a way to break down the Farcaster dictionary to the layman, so that Farcaster can open its doors to the moar cryptopians and gain new citizens.
I can hardly call myself a Farcastoor, but hope to be one some day. You can find me at @Epicsuperstar, and this is my entry for the SayMore + Purple essay contest 😎