At this moment, I just returned from Montenegro a day ago and I am very tired, lying flat on the sofa. The company sent a message asking for weekend work, and reluctantly, I opened the office software, then closed it, and opened xLog to escape from the impending duty of being a worker by writing.
The experience in Montenegro two weeks ago was like a dream with a large amount of information. The life that happened in just one week was like being on fast forward, with so many stories happening in parallel that I had to take a moment to digest all the information after waking up.
The trip to Montenegro was a spontaneous decision. Since I didn't have time to apply for a Schengen visa, a friend suggested going to Montenegro for Easter. I thought it was a good idea, so I agreed. The duration of the trip was determined based on flight prices. Since Easter prices were expensive, I decided to stay in Montenegro longer and return to London when the ticket prices dropped.
Two days before arriving in Montenegro, I heard from a friend that there was a pop-up city event called Zuzalu taking place there. The teacher participating in Zuzalu was a web3 friend I had met at a Twitter book club about six months ago, so we had some connection online. Because we were doing similar things, a sense of trust was established between us.
When K heard that I was in Montenegro, he invited me to experience Zuzalu. And so, by chance, I embarked on a unique journey at Zuzalu.
First experience at Zuzalu#
Before arriving at Zuzalu, I eagerly read several articles written by friends to get a general understanding of Zuzalu: Zuzalu is a two-month co-living experiment that provides accommodation for approximately 200 residents from around the world at a mysterious location. Every week, Zuzalu organizes workshops and talks around different themes, and the residents are very active, organizing various interesting activities spontaneously every day.
On my first day at Zuzalu, I met V. On the way to breakfast, my friend and I noticed someone walking behind us, and when we turned around, it was V. Suppressing my excitement, I casually asked, "Are you going to have breakfast too?" Although I didn't know what I was pretending at that time, I felt that there shouldn't be any idol worship behavior in such a casual setting.
In the subsequent community life, I met many talented individuals. However, the feeling everyone displayed was just being good companions in each other's lives. This special social relationship made me very happy: the community did not have a strong "networking" atmosphere, and even if people had their own social expectations, there was no overly utilitarian behavior. On the contrary, a sincere connection was established within the community, which diluted the existence of utilitarian purposes.
Reflection: Should we create our own narrative?#
In the process of familiarizing myself with the Zuzalu community ecosystem, I enjoyed the freedom here and gradually realized that I was demystifying authority figures and narratives. On the first day of arrival, I participated in a lecture titled "How to Start a Nation." The speaker used a very entrepreneurial approach, analyzing several cases of "successful businesses" and conducting some competitive analysis. Finally, an inspiring conclusion was drawn: "If you can make a cake, you can create a country." Listening to this lecture was like watching a sketch, it made me happy, but it was just a momentary amusement.
After attending some lectures, I slowly discovered that the previously incomprehensible, technically complex, and eloquent narratives did not have much practical effect when put into practice.
Understanding technical articles is not easy for us (some Chinese blockchain practitioners); but if understanding is difficult, then don't try to understand. Based on our own thinking and reasoning, we should create freely.
Blockchain is a technology, and we have the freedom to apply it to its fullest extent. The concept of a Network State itself is experimental; what a network state is and how to define it is in the hands of everyone interested in this concept.
Even in such an open setting, as different faces, I still occasionally feel a sense of alienation from those around me. Unfamiliar cultures, unfamiliar senses of humor, unfamiliar ways of life. But this unfamiliarity is not a cold barrier, it is just a sense of unfamiliarity from different worlds.
During breakfast, I heard about a self-organized activity called "Use Zen to Embrace Leadership." Although "Zen" has been popular in the West for many years and has been used in various narratives, it has lost its original meaning in the process of dissemination. However, when "Zen" and "leadership" are linked together, it feels a bit strange. How can the concept of Zen, which is so contemplative, be linked to the utilitarian purpose of "inspiring leadership"? But from an American perspective, I always feel that this activity theme is very popular.
Zen is a concept in my own culture, but when I heard it in this context, it felt particularly unfamiliar. If I were to describe my own understanding of Zen, it wouldn't be clear either. My culture is just a subconscious feeling that influences my every move, but it has not had good communication with the outside world.
It was at that moment that I realized once again that as someone with a completely different identity, background, and way of thinking, I really need to think, write, and have the courage to create and spread my own narrative. What I need to think about is not "whether to create our own narrative," but "how to create our own narrative," not "how to create our narrative," but what we want to express and create.
Accidental Hackathon at Zuzalu#
I thought coming to Zuzalu would only be an experience, but I didn't expect to participate in building it firsthand. On Zuzalu's official website, it is described as a pop-up city community. But under such a grand dream, the organizers still presented very practical problems that needed everyone's help to solve during the "Building Zuzalu" event: how to efficiently arrange accommodation for organizers, how to organize fragmented time at Zuzalu, how to secure funding, and so on.
When I saw a web product for organizing events, I had the idea to participate in a hackathon. Because there were many self-organized activities at Zuzalu, creating a timetable that could showcase all the activities became a top priority.
Although the official website is the place for officially announcing activities, community members still frequently use Telegram to organize activities. Zuzalu's "social hub" Telegram channel is the main place where Zuzalu announces activities, and each activity has its own sub-channel. One of the most active channels is the "cold plunge" that takes place twice a day, where organizers lead everyone to take a cold water bath in the sea at 8 am and 1 pm every day. There are also activity groups for pot dinners, board games, hiking, and many more. There are so many channels that it takes several pages to scroll through them all.
When I saw the online announcement of activities, I realized that a website for aggregating activities could not solve the problem of information overload in Telegram channels, and community members would not abandon their existing communication habits to switch to the official website. After realizing this pain point, an idea for a product emerged. My team and I created a Telegram bot that could store and display event information from Telegram on the blockchain. The bot not only stored Telegram event information and displayed it on the blockchain but also recorded the evolution and development of a real community. In the end, our project, zuzu.log, won third place at the Building Zuzalu hackathon.
I was really happy on the day of the presentation. Walking on the street, many unfamiliar people recognized me and praised, "Really nice presentation." The organizers praised us privately and sought collaboration.
To be honest, compared to many other projects, our project did not use any fancy technology or make any special promises to the judges. I think the main reason we won the hackathon, apart from the fact that our presentation was really well done (not being modest), was that we created a product that accurately solved pain points.
I want to explore more real needs#
I think I already know enough about web3. But after creating in web3 for so long, it seems that the most important role for designers has not been fully realized: finding practical use cases for blockchain technology.
I don't want to build castles in the air anymore, nor do I want to cheer for mirages. Blockchain is a fundamental technology with inherent value, but when we try to apply this technology to every scenario, it is the moment when creativity truly dies. Blockchain needs to break free, and I also need to break free from the confines of blockchain, to see the real world, understand the local context, have conversations with real users, and create useful products for real needs.
Final thoughts#
I met many interesting people at Zuzalu, and if I were to tell their stories, it would probably require another article. But the experience at Zuzalu was a process of dreaming and demystifying narratives: demystifying narratives and idol worship. As blockchain practitioners, we always carry the ambition to subvert the system, but we cannot derive a more beautiful future from repeatedly digesting other people's narratives. We need to become creators, thinkers, make our own observations, deduce our own conclusions, tell them to others, and use our own hands to change the world.
I started writing this article on the day I returned from Montenegro. It took me a few weeks, and now it's 3 am, I'm sitting at the airport waiting for my flight to Montenegro, and I'm finishing this article. My head is already spinning! Haha. Many friends I have collaborated with and those I have never met, let's meet in real life!
I am a talented designer looking for a team with ideas. If interested, please contact me!