Web3 nomads who claim to be equal stop at Xunxiandao

"Did you know? Some people in Web3 started to study immortality and metaphysics after making money." The author's friend said helplessly after experiencing an online debate about the freedom of going abroad.

This also aroused the author's interest.

Cultivating immortals and discussing Taoism and asking about longevity is like the pursuit of the ancient emperors. It is not uncommon in the circle of big bosses. After obtaining the wealth and status that only a few people can get by sharpening their heads, life span has become the only thing that cannot be grasped tightly. quicksand. In the Chinese Internet circle, Ma Yun, Huang Zheng, and Zhang Yiming all chose the life science track after retirement; in the Silicon Valley circle, this phenomenon is even more sensational, leeches, hunger strikes, drugs, all kinds of methods are used. Brian, a technology tycoon known for his dedication to longevity, even uses the blood plasma of his 17-year-old child to exchange blood regularly for himself.

However, it seems rather strange that this kind of trend has emerged in the nascent Web3 circle. Unlike Wall Street institutions that talk about luxury and money, everyone's impression of Web3 seems to be still in fraud and conspiracy, immersed in various aspects of small people getting rich. In a legend.

So, Web3 also has a wave of longevity cultivation?

Digital Nomad Explosion

**The answer is yes. **

**And all of this starts with digital nomads. **

In 1997, Tsugio Makimoto, manager of Hitachi's semiconductor and integrated circuit department, and David Manners, editor of the British "Electronic Weekly", published "Nomadic Office Workers", which first proposed the "digital The concept of "homeless" is described in the book, "In the future of human society, high-speed wireless networks and powerful mobile devices will break down the boundaries between occupations and geographic regions, and thousands of people will sell their houses. To embrace a whole new way of living around the world while relying on the Internet to generate income, these people make first-world incomes through the Internet, but choose to live in places where the prices are in those developing countries.” In the English translation, this group is more visual, Digital Nomad, Nomad refers specifically to nomads who live by water and grass.

Nomad in reality shows

I have to admire the foresight of the predecessors. This description is a prophecy. Today, digital nomads born with cafes and WIFI have become a special group of the Internet with a novel way of life. Although still rare in number, this group is growing rapidly. According to the 2021 Digital Nomad Report released by MBO Partners, in the United States alone, the number of workers who describe themselves as "digital nomads" is growing at an alarming rate, with 7.3 million, 10.9 million, and 15.5 million workers in 2019-2021 The year-on-year growth rate exceeds 40%. In 2022, due to the impact of the epidemic, the trend of digital nomads will spread, and telecommuting will further increase the number of this group. Statistics show that there are already 35 million digital nomads in the world in 2022. By 2035, this group will exceed 1 billion people .

** Wandering people bring new business opportunities. **

For homeless people who choose a place to live, the choice of location is very simple, the cost performance is high enough, the broadband network is convenient to use, and it is best to be accompanied by the most primitive fragrance of nature, which has also been seen by many small countries that were once on the edge Hopes for economic growth. Overseas, Barbados, Malta, Iceland, Greece, Estonia, Bali, and Sri Lanka have become gathering places for homeless people. In China, Dali in Yunnan and ancient villages in various places are the favorite places for homeless people. According to statistics, more than 20 countries around the world have provided visas for digital nomads to attract people. Even nomads don’t want to leave as they wish. Under this background, supporting services have also been matured, such as residence rating, visa acquisition, intermediary agencies, and mature industrial chains that reflect the complexity of nomadic life.

From the perspective of nature, digital nomads are undoubtedly an excellent endorsement of values for Web3, which is naturally distributed. Freedom, equality, non-sovereign jurisdiction, and the characteristics of decentralization are vividly reflected in the vagrants. Among them, the Chinese community is the most prominent. After China completely retired the encryption, the Web3 Chinese were forced to wander around the world, and even obtained the Web3 Jewish In the Bali Island case that shocked the whole country some time ago, the Web3 Chinese were once again brought to the forefront.

Controversial Longevity DAO*

Even homeless people need a sense of identity.

Different from the well-known impression of escaping from the world, as socially prominent human beings, digital nomads still need communities and links between people. DAOs like interest groups have begun to play a key role in them. Not surprisingly, There exists a DAO for any conceivable event attribute. The road to immortality is long, but life extension is very practical. For ease of operation, the author searched for DAO with Longevity as the keyword. Sure enough, I found a community that is really engaged in related research——VitaDAO.

**According to the description on the official website, VitaDAO was established in 2021, initiated by Tyler Golato of Molecule, a decentralized biotechnology protocol, to fund longevity research. At present, there are more than 9,000 community members, all of whom are "enthusiasts and researchers" in this field. People and Contributors” In 2022, VitaDAO invested more than $3.5 million in projects researching diseases of aging, cell biology, and repairing age-related physical damage. **

VitaDAO, which is both futuristic and cult, has a strong lineup of participants. In the new round of financing of US$4.1 million completed at the beginning of the year, investors included pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Ventures, venture capital fund Shine Capital, and investment group L1 Digital. In the previous investment, V God, the founder of Ethereum, was impressively listed.

**At this point, Zuzalu, which is most closely related to the topic of this article, finally surfaced. **

Zuzalu is the first pop-up urban community launched in Montenegro this year by V God, Frens and Vita DAO. It lasted for two months, from March 25th to May 25th. In this experiment, Zuzalu, as a town integrating cryptocurrency, life science and philosophy, attracted 200 residents from all over the world to participate, and about 700 people came to visit. In Zuzalu, residents can register through ZuPass to receive electronic "passports" generated by zero-knowledge proofs, and temporarily stop from digital nomads to Zuzalu people with real-world household registration, and discuss issues such as immortality, public governance, zero-knowledge proofs, and artificial intelligence. Let's talk about it, so as to build a more real encrypted city.

The description of Zuzalu on VitaDAO official website, source: VitaDAO official website

Due to the lack of money, it is difficult for the author to participate in the experiment on the spot, but a part of the urban experiment was glimpsed remotely in the community. In the description of supporters, Zuzalu has become a symbol of freedom of soul, and has the ability to change the career and life choices of many Web3 people.

In the morning, go to the beach to meditate, go to the mountains to pick wild flowers, listen to the bells of the church in Montenegro, and practice Vajra Kung Fu on the seaside under the moonlight. Here, you can completely escape from your personal trivial life and stay away from secular pressures such as mortgages and car loans. Immersed in the utopia gifted by nature, surrounded by mountains and rivers, it is a joy. In the thousands of words written by the visitors, Zuzalu seems to have risen to the level of discussion of nomadic civilization and network order, which is beyond the reach of ordinary people.

V God discussed with everyone in Zuzalu, source: Coindesk

**Peaceful and serene, but cut off from the world. Looking at the event, there is a sense of longing and weirdness. In Web3, this sense of tearing is even stronger. **

The Web3 world is made up of the most complicated group of people, where Wall Street elites and original OGs, low-level figures and big speculators are entangled here, and the chain of contempt is layered one after another in a casino full of hostility. Here, outlook on life and values are unavoidable. fierce confrontation.

Some people dismissed Zuzalu as a game for the elite. "Yes, before you go to participate, you must first have the money to buy your round-trip air ticket to Montenegro and arrange board and lodging, and then you have to be free, so you don't have to devote yourself to work to participate in the discussion. In summary, this has already benefited the participants. After screening, what are you talking about about equality and freedom of thought.” Said Cynic, a retail investor with multiple jobs.

Some people are also slightly curious, "Sincerely ask, so can Zuzalu solve real problems such as high housing prices and children's education?"

For the supporters of the project, Zuzalu is a simulated experiment of the overflow of Internet culture, and it is a kind of spiritual release, which has a strong philosophical meaning, rather than simply being carried by the word rich. ** "It is not a network of rich people, but it may become a network of ideological elites, or a network of "scholars"." Tang Han, founder of SeeDAO, wrote in his post-participation testimonials. **

Some people think this is a reasonable interpretation of Web3. "Escape is shameful but useful. Although it does not involve solving real-life problems, it is more like a utopian paradise experience, which can form a parallel space for escaping from the existing social structure through multiple roles."

Worldview of Web3*

**The discussion of the issue extends far beyond Zuzalu itself. **

At the beginning of the discussion that the author’s friends participated in, the issue of whether going abroad means freedom caused irreconcilable contradictions. Zhengfang netizens believed that going abroad means freedom of speech and welfare protection, and one does not have to be rich in the traditional sense to enjoy freedom. Therefore, it is suggested that young people who have no burden should go overseas for development; while the opposing side emphasizes that there is no freedom to talk about without economic foundation, and this situation does not distinguish between the mainland and overseas. **The debate gradually shifted from whether to go abroad to whether or not the Chinese suffered racial discrimination overseas, which aroused individual feedback in the group, and finally stopped in dead silence after discussing their respective growth environments. **

Behind this war of words, the author feels more deeply that even if the free and easy buff of digital nomads is superimposed on Web3, which claims to be equal for everyone, the world has never been flat, and the heart that wants to be free will inevitably be suppressed by the bottleneck of reality. Restraints, the class limits the ceiling of participation, just like the longevity DAO, which seems to have no threshold, also contains countless bargaining chips that are difficult to explain.

The beauty of Montenegro does not belong to everyone, source: google picture

In the debate, I have been living in a relatively wealthy family, and I have enjoyed friendly neighbors and a harmonious community atmosphere even overseas. The argument I support is the direct feeling given by the living environment, but for ordinary people, it is obvious that The opposing argument is more down-to-earth and easier to accept. After all, even the move of going abroad implies a certain price tag, let alone survival overseas.

**In the final analysis, the gap is reflected in any circle and will not change because of Web3. On the other hand, the emergence of Web3 is precisely due to the deceleration of mobility and the solidification of class. This industry, which carries the dream factor of small people, rises because of ordinary people eager to make a leap, accelerates because of the influx of elites, and also because of diversity. increase and ebb. So far, the gap between it and other industries is gradually being filled, the chances of getting rich are rapidly decreasing with the entry of institutions, and the chain of contempt is gradually spreading. But fortunately, Web3 still gives individuals more opportunities to choose. At the moment when there are not many opportunities, choice is already a hard-won hope. **

**Back to Lun Dao itself, the model has already encountered practical problems. The lifestyle of digital nomads does not mean low cost, low overhead and eternal harmony. The basic expenses of food, clothing, housing and transportation are not enough. dissatisfied. **A few days ago, arguments about the neo-colonialism of digital nomads emerged. Digital nomads who earned high incomes in the first world and then went to live in the third world inevitably eroded the lives of aborigines. The ecology has been transformed, and the forced relocation of aborigines is not uncommon. Taking Mexico City as an example, the influx of people drives up the price of infrastructure. In the past three years, rents in local digital nomad settlements have increased by 60%, making it difficult for the original residents to afford to leave their homes.

The same situation is more acute in Bali, where the aborigines believe that vagrants enjoy foreign privileges and demand that the government do something about it. “Even with an expired tourist passport, you won’t be deported, and you can even enjoy life without paying taxes, while locals are struggling to live on $177 a month,” a netizen wrote on Twitter.

Conclusion

From the current point of view, Web3’s journey of cultivating immortality has already begun, and the most influential people have already joined it. Others’ false accusations are useless, and more ordinary people are just complaining in their busy lives. . What's more, compared with the rich people who are fighting at the forefront of longevity, Web3er's immortality is still on the verge of breathing fresh air and doing aerobic exercises, far from blood transfusion, cloning, and gene rewriting.

Intriguingly, life expectancy has not risen significantly, despite all the fuss. According to the latest report data released by the National Center for Health Statistics in the United States, the average life expectancy in the United States has dropped from 77 years in 2020 to 76.4 years in 2021, falling back to the level in 1996. Of course, it must be admitted that the efforts of the big bosses are not useless. Compared with their poor peers, the life expectancy of the rich has increased by about ten years.

**Whether it is the Silicon Valley bosses or the upper-level people of Web3, if they try their best, they can live up to ten years longer than the conscientious workers. This may be the good news in misfortune. After all, death is equal to everyone. **