01 // An ongoing webscrapbook
Dimensino is an ongoing webscrapbook series begun in 2020: a running set of notes on the AI, crypto, Web3 and robotics ecosystem, and its relationship to the coming ‘Metaverse’.
Not a product review column. Dimensino watches infrastructure; protocols, rights and rails that will decide what future worlds can be made of, and who is allowed to build in them.
It is a parallel thinking track to my ongoing professional participation in the emerging discipline of World Running.
It is important to think in public. Some ideas and threads get developed elsewhere. Others are cut and left as frayed ideas at the edge of my thinking. Some entries are essays, others commentary, or just quick notes.
02 // The hard things
Dimensino is about ‘hard’ things. The protocols running on the machines we will build new worlds in, and run them on.
Worlds & Protocols
Autonomous worlds, DAOs, intellectual property and the governance layers that decide who gets to build inside a world once it exists.
Agents & Intelligence
AI assistants, agentic commerce, crypto payment rails, and what happens to an interface once the software starts acting on its own behalf.
Bodies & Brands
AR/VR, synthetic identity, V-Tubers and the corporations trying to become characters — who gets to be someone else online, and on whose platform.
03 // Season one
In 2020 I made a pile of predictions.
In 2023 I reviewed them.
The first run of Dimensino, written across 2020 and early 2021, was a sustained argument about where crypto, Web3 and the ‘Metaverse’ were actually heading.
Two years later I went back through the whole thing in public, in two parts, and scored it. Some of it aged well. Some of it very much did not.
04 // Selected entries
PERMISSIVE IPs
Community owned and governed story worlds, found by splitting the difference between ‘Internet Protocol’ and ‘Intellectual Property’.
Unstoppable, Infinitely Moddable, Autonomous Worlds
What it means to build a world nobody can switch off, and what everyone else is then free to do inside it.
Making Friends with AI
Could a Tamagotchi-style lifecycle keep us at a healthy emotional distance from the assistants we are being encouraged to love?
The Near Future of AI Agents
A primer on agentic AI, and the governance layer that is quietly becoming the most important product space of the year.
05 // The Archive
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EPISODE #2134Power Fandoms | 2134
With Web3 enabled Permissive IP frameworks, Power Fandoms will own, produce and share the value created by their worlds. They are coming soon
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EPISODE #2133A Napster Moment For Collective Storytelling | 2133
Experienced Future shock this week with the launch of three NFT projects: LOOT, The Logged Universe, and Lifeforms. Permissive IPs are coming. If I…
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WEEKNOTE #210Mark’s IE6 Metaverse
I can’t belive Facebook showed off the wonders of VR by using a bland cartoon meeting room. Utterly ridiculous. The IE6 of the Metaverse.
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ShowBrands Are VInfluencers Now? | 2117
If you think brands twitter accounts bantering online is insufferable and weird, just wait till you see what’s coming next.
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EPISODE #2108Will it Fit? But Is It News? | 2108
The new COD game is over 500GBs and may not fit on a base model PS4. Shouldn’t this be like … news or something?
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PostSteps Toward a DAOWO VInfluencer in 2021?
What tools and technologies need to be built this year for a DAO to co-create and manage an autopoietic VInfluencer in 2021?
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PostNPC Djs + Co-Creating Virtual Worlds
NPC ‘Muzak’ DJs, Russian billionaires, cutting edge entertainment venues and my hopes for future of architectural virtual hybrid environments.
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PostDiscord, DAOs and the Dweb
This post proposes three areas Discord and Dweb Developers should explore in 2021. Web3 Logins, Multisig Wallets, Discord DAO’s.
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PostEarly Access Artists
Early Access Artists are emboldened by Web3 technologies. Their artistic practice will look very different from existing models present today.
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PostSynthespian Escalation
Due to converging technology & software, 2020 was a breakout year for the VTuber. What can we learn about the future of entertainment?
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PostRoblox Corporation – IPO Filing (Notes)
I didn’t have anything to do on Friday. So I read the whole Roblox IPO filing and took some notes.
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PostPERMISSIVE IPs
Exploring the potential for community owned/governed story worlds by splitting the difference between ‘Internet Protocol vs Intellectual Property’.
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PostSources of Value vs Organising Value
How we organise value is of fundamental concern to the Dweb and coming Metaverse.
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PostVerticals of One
A Vertical of One is an individual with access to a complete ensemble of discrete, modular plug and play technologies.
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EPISODE #1918Fortnite World Cup Explained (For Boomers) | 1918
This week I try to explain the 2019 Fortnite World Cup and its significance (for Boomers).
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Postmoolah over marin – space programs, drug cartels & bitcoins
do you know how cheap it is to put a satellite in space? This post is about space programs, drug cartels & bitcoins
06 // Follow the series
New entries land irregularly, whenever something in the stack shifts enough to be worth a note.
Follow the series on its own dedicated RSS feed, or my general newsletter below.
If you work in a related space and would like to work together, please reach out.