Island Dreams

What’s a dweb and why should I?

Jonny Ostrem, Artist, Z-Space, Vancouver

A couple weekends ago I put the mouse down and forced myself to go for a walk (for my mental health) to an island full of faeries, magic, falling apples, and loving people that care so much they’re willing to stand, sit, talk, eat through the varied and sometimes uncomfortable process of building new things.

I run a studio space with a friend who happens to work on decentralized web stuff. I didn’t know much about dweb before, but have come to know a bunch of people through being nearby. If I’m honest, I find many of the subjects a bit dense for me - why should I learn about PDSs, or a private public key pairs, or who’s got my data. Turns out they’re all very important and interesting. I’ve had to grow to be able to understand the conversations a bit - which is the way of tech. I’m not inherently into this stuff - I’m an Artist (I declared at 10), and I’m mostly interested in pretty pictures and make eyes feel nice. Art was a way that I could communicate with others bypassing the world of concepts and words, which in my growing mind - was a place ruled by the smart kids at school, and my sister. See no matter how right I thought I was, someone else could say the opposite better. I chose visual art because that was the language my mind spoke - it was an escape but also recognizing my nuero profile. The decision to move through the world like an artist meant some very important and big things some of which I’ve only recently come to understand.

• I would pursue little things that seem pointless or unimportant to the world, because I would trust the tiny beauty I saw. That began with drawing but expanded into painting, 3D and now building software (kinda? with ai) - but also encompasses things like building meaning, framing, writing and bringing people together.
• I would trust that inner voice to guide me. This is something like investing in the process of creativity. In the beginning I saw it as study but now I see it as making space for the subconscious, or creating conditions for your own success, or doing drugs if you need to strip away all the words you’ve accumulated to see what’s underneath.
• Last, and most important. I would believe unceasingly in new. See, why make art if you don’t believe there are new things? New images, new feelings - that might be new to the world, your viewer or you. Believing that things can be NEW, is controversial in some circles, I’ve learned. You’ll hear things like ‘everything has been done’ or ‘the creative process is plagiarism disguised as inspiration’, or now people telling you that you can be algorithmically or mathematically modelled to an extent that free will no longer exists.

Ya, I don’t believe that. Not yet at least. I know there is new. I see it everywhere. In-fact, my personal position is that there is so much new that we’d all be embarrassed if we could see it right now. That there are so many solutions waiting for us out there in the ‘realm of possibilities’ that we’d be be astonished and dismayed to know that - despite our insistence that our problems are unsolvable, you just needed to be sillier and make more jokes to dissolve the argumentative tension with your friend - who really sees the world different than you. Or that applied to society.

See believing in newness means believing in choices and in the cascading infinites of combinatorics. It also means believing in quantum mystery (for me at least).

BUT ANYWAYS - DWEB.

People on an island making… New whats? New things! Is it a protocol? Or an app… or a co-op, or maybe it’s a structure. Maybe it’s a new space! Or a web of varied new spaces expanding out through your neighborhood with enough social room for everyone to tap into their inner creativity.

A dweb organizer I look up to might talk about patterns, or norms. Boids use behavioral logic. Stay together, leave room for others, do your own thing, be kind. What are the rules that rule the flock? If I don’t follow the rules, will I be abandoned in a field? (That’s what my childmind asks). Are the rules strict or soft? Will the rules comes to rule my life, my happiness, make it so I can’t see the apple for the trees? What if playing with norms was low-stakes?

I don’t know - but I know some people that are fun to be around and willing to do the work to imagine and talk and think about these things. My belief is these new things we dream up will help me feel closer to myself and my communities.

I put down my mouse and stopped vibe-coding for one dang minute and came and sat under the apple trees and came back with more thoughts and threads and friends and allies, than I have the time to maintain healthy, active conversations with. So to start, here are some of the thoughts that have bloomed in me since:

• What is Scuttlebutt and why is it so fun to say!
• What is Nostr and why does it remind me of noses.
• Should everything be co-ops? And how do they even work - or more: Could one make a co-op version of rollercoaster tycoon where everyone helps take care of the rides? Could the internet and our communities feel like that? What kind of world does RCT assume, and what would a co-op version imply?
• How come I’m constantly thinking about social dynamics? Could I simulate the feeling of bouncing around a space with a bunch of people to optimize it? Should I? What happens when people get bored, or echoed too much? What new forces or rules could you create in a festival setting that would help people jive more?
• What’s a dweeb, really?
• Where does infinity hide? Does Minecraft limit our imagination and collapse our possibility space? How do all these pieces fit together?

I have lots of ideas and questions and energy to make things - and now I need to share them. So here I am, sharing some with you. As a note, I’ve been making things my entire life but stopped sharing them naturally at some point in my life because of social dynamics and ultimately fear of judgement.

See, I think that our new world is waiting for us, but that we need some new models and ways of thinking to enter. I’m searching for ways of being that allow the hierarchies of the past to melt a bit, and for individuals of all types to still love themselves. It’s kind of like, hey let’s work together but appreciate and understand our infinitely varied individual effort. Let’s support each-other and respect each-other’s time. Let’s … let’s… let’s… We’ll figure it out. Here’s my original dweb wrap-up message originally for the Dweb Cascadia signal group:

“not to be too wordy here - but i do have a single regret from this weekend - missed a big hug from someone in the hugprotocol circle monday morning and I need to close that loop. still working out how to do so in a secure, decentralized way - can hugs be sent remotely? Hey person, where do you live?

ALSO - speaking of our MC - I’m just in awe of the team of facilitators and organizers that made that event so special, I can only imagine the coordination and grit it took to put that all together - many invisible threads and emails and dms and followups i’m sure - from the perspective of a last-minute walk-up, you all made it look EASY!!! an effect of how hard you all worked, so the rest of us could be goofy, thoughtful, dreamy and carefree for a lil bit! boy i needed it ~ THANK YOUU <3 - i would name people individually but can’t because i’d miss someone important i’m sure!! and that’s everyone

Some highlights for me: Who was it that sang before me? I didn’t catch their name - wow. Also, being at the stage in life where I didn’t feel the need to compare myself to them and get scared. People chatting in the volunteer area at all hours. [Mystery Person 3] tea ceremony. Spotting local legends striding across the field in the sun. People sitting in a big circle sharing ideas, taking time, but also keeping it brief. [Mystery Person 4] dancing. Moon behind the clouds. [Mystery Person 5] sitting on the edge of the stage weaving together so many things with grace, [Mystery Person 6 being amazing in there own way that I’m still learning about] and so many holding it all together - just wow - cool - nice - amazing - shimmer - hehe”

I haven’t shared that with the group chat because I talk too much sometimes. Working on that too. What’s an editor?

• Jonny