The case for Community-first Psychedelic DAOs
A proposal for purpose driven digital collaboratives
Psychedelics and web3 exist on parallel planes juxtaposed by energies of both anarchy and radicle interdependence. Both psychedelics and blockchain have and will continue to have a large impact on society. It’s inevitable that as their paths cross, their respective impacts will amplify a synergy we all saw coming.
In the article, Where Web3 and Psychedelics Might Meet, authors write:
“both psychedelics and web3 tap into an undercurrent of questions concerning what role and responsibility the individual has in larger systems. Web3 asks how data and financial sovereignty can be returned back to the individual, in psychedelics; what responsibilities we have in our own mental wellbeing.”
This notion of reclamation is a fundamental observation underpinning both industries. Communities from both are passionate about creating a new world beyond the flawed systems that inspired the need for change. It’s no coincidence that both are growing quickly in the mainstream to exponential lengths along side one another.
In a fundamental way, the ethos of crypto and psychedelic communities are the same. This becomes more clear as barriers in knowledge are removed. The world of blockchain suffers from public stigma similar to psychedelics in its earlier days. Just as that stigma dissolves with education, so too will the stigma of crypto as we move beyond fears of market volatility to see the potential of its underlying technology.
In the blockchain ecosystem, one particularly clever application is the decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO, and it’s likely that this application will be a major catalyst for the fusion of these two sectors of society.
This article provides a background for DAOs, and why the psychedelic community might be particularly poised to make use of the technological (r)evolution.
The Decentralized Autonomous Organization
“DAOs increasingly represent an important piece of the blockchain-enabled puzzle. Collaboration and creativity go hand in hand, and DAOs unlock the next wave of possibility.”
Decentralized autonomous organizations are modern variants of online communities, coming together around a common purpose with tools that help with distributed organizing. DAOs are also armed with economic “fuel” through a sale of tokens and NFTs.
Put more simply, they give a group of people spread around the world the ability to govern a community owned bank account. The community decides on governance models (including who gets paid how much and for what), and these payment models are automated through smart contracts, which is part of what makes these types of organizations automated.
Most DAOs are not truly autonomous, but they all have technology enabled distributed decision making as a feature. Eventually they can develop the capacity to exist independent of any one or few individuals and instead are driven forward by the governance and involvement of the community. They are unique models for mission driven initiatives with sustainability promoted through community empowerment and engagement programmed into its core.
The DAO Ecosystem
There are different kinds of DAOs, each with its own purpose. Amongst them are grant DAOs where a community votes on how a fund is distributed for philanthropy or venture DAOs where a community votes on companies to invest in. These examples were initial iterations, but DAOs have become more complex. One example is the social DAO Friends with Benefits (FWB) which started as a way to bring artists, creatives, community organizers and entrepreneurs passionate about Web3 into conversation and collaboration. They now have chapters in major cities around the world who network, share their work and seek support. Through the DAOs funds, the larger FWB and local networks are able to organize events or social impact initiatives, combining many of the different functions of other DAOs.
Core Components
Although the purpose, scale, and sophistication of DAOs can vary, most include the same essential components. Community based ones tend to develop in similar ways:
Group chat. DAOs usually start off with a group of like minded members of a community having conversation on on a virtual platform like discord, telegram or signal around some common interest.
Governance. As the community grows, they might start planning events or projects, so they start exploring ways to make decisions in a distributed manner. DAOs make use of online tools that provide templates and mechanisms to organize and make decisions with members who may be spread across the globe.
Token. The community might then create a digital token associated with it that represents membership and gives access to governance (either voting as a baseline or more active and rewarded contribution) while also funding the DAO which sustains its activities.
Treasury. DAOs explore different ways to manage a treasury. Many purchase or sell NFTs to raise capital or decide to put a portion of the treasury in staking pools so the DAO can be sustained beyond new members purchasing tokens.
On-chain cash flow. Individuals who wish to contribute to the mission of the DAO are able to pick up different tasks as part of on-going projects. Projects are funded by the DAO, and members are paid for their time and effort on-chain, creating the opportunity for many who might have been doing passion work for free an opportunity to earn, if they choose to.
Bridging the Psychedelic Community
“Currently, we are relegating the power of psychedelics and the communities around them to the margins of social change. Psychedelics have, for many, become just another tool for self-development rather than a spiritual practice rooted in revolutionary thought and social justice, centered around deep communities of kinship that have the power to uproot the psychosis of modernity and the structures that keep it in place.” - Alnoor Ladha
Background
The psychedelic ecosystem has a robust global community of inter-dependent grassroots networks of activists evidenced by the 100s of psychedelic communities, consisting of 10s of thousands in collective following. Including the artists, healers, researchers, musicians, event planners and educators in the psychedelic community adds thousands more.
This grassroots foundation generally has a focus on connection towards common goals that include education, policy initiatives, community support and play. Local psychedelic communities have come together to form coalitions like the Global Psychedelic Societies and Mycelia Network. Local communities were also seeded by organizations like Psychedelic Club.
This concentric organization of networks and shared mission primes the psychedelic community for DAOs as the next stage of global collaboration through a community owned pool of shared capital as an arsenal for peace.
The Potential
The possibilities are plenty and could include local subDAOs, DAOs within the DAO that have their own treasury allocation. Here are a few potential applications of a psychedelic DAO.
Provide seed funds to new grassroots psychedelic communities, peer support focused initiatives, or local policy initiatives
Purchase psychedelic community centers or retreat spaces that develop circular economic models, where profits from the retreat spaces feed the community centers supporting integration.
Coordinate funded global events like synchronized global fire ceremonies to raise money for indigenous reciprocity
Develop open source content like toolkits for stigma reduction or attuned education for affinity communities.
A community governed VC fund as part of the treasuries management where the community decides which startups to fund, which also helps the treasury grow
develop a think-tank that explores solutions for ecosystem wide problems requiring time, capital, and interdisciplinary collaboration, sharing solutions with the appropriate stakeholders akin to a community owned consultancy.
The possibilities would all depend on the scale of the DAO and its organic growth, led by onboarding current psychedelic community leaders and contributors to begin outlining priorities in use cases before opening it to the larger public where community members might be incentivized to join to contribute actively towards the growing psychedelic movement.
Likely, many already existing psychedelic organizations will begin the adoption of blockchain as experiments within their existing business structures. The existing business structure could become a holding company of an organizational DAO where blockchain tooling is used to explore technology enabled distributed decision making, expand upon fundraising mechanisms through NFT sales or reward volunteers through an organization native token accepted by local psychedelic aligned organizations.
The Possibility of Psychedelic Community Currencies
“The global economy is a complex-adaptive system the size of the planet. At this level of scale and complexity, it is effectively a form of artificial intelligence.” - Alnoor Ladha
A psychedelic DAOs native token would have the capacity to become a psychedelic community currency that helps power a global psychedelic economy. It would be the electrical messengers akin to the neuronal network of a psychedelic distributed intelligence.
Organizations like Dr. Bronner’s accepting it would be a signal of support for psychedelic community. Spending it would be a signal of belonging to the community. The resultant economy would bring unique value as psychedelic and psychedelic adjacent organizations use the currency or currencies.
The use of these psychedelic community currencies would keep money circulating within the psychedelic and psychedelic adjacent industries rooted in wellness, cognitive liberty, spiritual health and community health.
Rather than purchasing from Amazon you might instead choose to purchase from an online business that supports psychedelics indicated by their acceptance of a psychedelic community token.
Rather going to a super market you might instead get a membership at the local food cooperative that accepts the token.
Conclusion
A psychedelic could DAO unlocks the creative potential of the psychedelic collective, setting the stage for whats possible with a decentralized technological revolution. It could spark and catalyze a movement beyond the imagination of any one individual, group, or organization.
The world is ready for Psychedelics and DAOs to meld and become one. Are you?
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About Decentralize Psychedelics
We are a community in formation, a media platform, and think tank that seeks to empower the psychedelic community by supporting the adoption of technology enabled decentralized governance and decentralized technologies in the psychedelics space.
Our community channels are in early stages but will be home to a community that functions as a sandbox, a place for the psychedelic community to learn, play and interact with blockchain technologies not just by reading, watching or hearing, but by doing. We’ll offer support for those in the psychedelic space who wish to better understand blockchain technologies by giving low stake opportunities to practice, co-govern and create in blockchain with the purpose of supporting their psychedelic communities. Subscribe to the newsletter for launch updates.
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