In August 2022, a group of Web3 enthusiasts and community members, driven by principles of positive externalities, openness, mutual benefit, and open-source, initiated the "Summer of Wamo | Dali Web3 Summer Fest" in Dali. This event, fueled by a passion for technology, a quest for governance and self-organization in DAOs, reflections on public goods, and visions for the community living and the future, planted a seed in Dali. Now, we're set to launch Wamotopia in Chiang Mai, a gateway to a new world.
The Summer of Wamo has since become a shared memory and a unique cultural phenomenon among Chinese-speaking Web3 enthusiasts. This decentralized, permissionless collaboration born from collective effort redefined the Chinese-speaking Web3 culture, fostering public goods and DAO organizations characterized by positive . As this seed sown in Dali, some participants chose to stay and continue this decentralized emergence. Today, Dali has transformed into the hub for Chinese-speaking Web3, DAO organizations, digital nomads, and community living. Its spirit, carried by participants, now thrives across the globe, transcending geographical and national boundaries.
The Summer of Wamo, an almost predestined creation, charted a new course woven from open-source, permissionless, decentralized collaboration, and spontaneous emergence, reminiscent of the avant-garde spirit of rock music – unconventional, unrestrained.
Now, this path unfolds from Dali. It migrates southward, across the Himalayas, burning the dream of Dali's summer into the fiery Southeast Asia. At the end of 2023, in the land of Chiang Mai, Wamotopia emerges from the collective dreams of Builders, Creators, Thinkers, Dreamers, taking shape in faint outlines.
"A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality” — John Lennon
From December 16, 2023, to January 1, 2024, over 17 days, participants of Wamotopia – the Wamians – will carry their aspirations, explorations, and actions for the future world. Together, they will envisage the future, celebrate the new year, and co-create theme camps, building prototypes of our imagination and actions for the future. Wamotopia continues the legacy of the Summer of Wamo with theme camps, decentralized, permissionless engagement, community participation, freedom, and openness. It introduces the concept of a "Prototype Society," bringing the idea of "prototypes" from product and engineering into the social realm, constructing preliminary, demonstrable models for the future.
Wamotopia is a testing ground for Prototype Society. Each gathering of Wamians could be the start of incubating a prototype society. Our era demands coordinated efforts to confront systemic societal issues, creating new mechanisms and solutions. Due to the complexity of societal systems, it's challenging to derive a universal consensus from a theoretical model. Blind faith in a vision can also lead to disastrous outcomes. Like modern science and engineering achievements, social systemic changes require experimentation, iteration, and optimization after initial prototype feasibility, gradually gaining broader acceptance.
Wamotopia aims to create a space detached from traditional societal structures, where we can temporarily step away from the old world's Matrix, collectively imagining and shaping mechanisms, narratives, arts, technologies, and cultures of a future society. All Wamians will partake in molding the prototype society of the future. Participants can freely initiate or join any theme camp, with each camp embodying different thoughts and imaginations, intersecting and piecing together. In this process, mechanisms, cultures, technologies, and consensuses will gradually take shape through testing and verification, leaving seeds of the future – seeds that will sprout, grow, and become part of our future.
Chiang Mai, standing tall in the highlands of Southeast Asia, is the world's Dali. It embodies people's longing for a free, relaxed life filled with poetic possibilities. Chiang Mai, like Dali, has its natural ecology, rich history, and culture. Its Old City and surrounding areas, spanning 1.5 square kilometers, are dotted with cafes, bars, and public spaces. Chiang Mai's low living costs and visa-free policies for many countries with a wide range of accommodations attract young people worldwide to live and form communities. Its temples, tropical jungles, and Buddhist culture imbue a pleasant, chill vibe. Open, relaxed, natural, and wild – these are the colors of Chiang Mai. In Chiang Mai, one can effortlessly nurture the wildest life and boldest imagination.
Wamotopia – a co-creation of a prototype society, a forthcoming urban festival akin to Burning Man, a vibrant, diverse, experimental public realm, a dream forged by a collective. Where else but Chiang Mai could be more fitting for this event?