There are distinctly memorable moments in life where coming face-to-face with new information compels me to reevaluate the foundational assumptions behind my long-held beliefs. 

Some of the past pairings include:

• The rise of Scientology with the idea of religion and its intra- and inter-personal incentives.

• The Trump administration with the political landscape and governing bodies.

• Psychedelic research with consciousness and the perspective of lived experience.

• Blockchain technology with centralized systems and the trade-off between regulatory oversight and everyday inconvenience.
  

More recently, I dived further into cryptocurrencies, exploring the world of NFTs and Decentralized Finance (DeFi). To be frank, I wouldn’t formally advocate for the future prospects of either investment vehicle (to be honest, I would, off-the-record). Yes, I made some money. Yes, I lost some money, too. 

More importantly, studying and participating in these emerging markets allowed me to observe real change take place, a rare opportunity for a once casual onlooker. I slowly became imbued with the ambitions of community-driven goals, invested in the progress of their realization. Witnessing thousands of minds attempt to decentralize traditional organizational hierarchies taught me the strengths and flaws of existing systems. Catching up to utility-driven tokenomics and other mechanisms designed to sustain trustless money markets prompted a review of financial incentives and their respectively rewarded behaviors in our current banking practices and investing schools of thought (no, everything is not priced in, but I will agree with you if you disagree). 

Anyways, while I risk coming off as a yield-obsessed degenerate with a gambling addiction, I believe a closer look into these modern experiments is more than warranted. I would like to apologize now for any future posts that will continue to build upon this sentiment.