NET Society

Derek is out this week, so the Net Society crew is joined by special guest Poof for a mind-bending journey into simulations, AI, and the future of media. The episode opens with the origin story behind Poof’s name and career pivot into crypto, before diving into his latest project: a large-scale, multi-agent simulation “DX Terminal.” From there, the crew explores strange emergent behaviors from synthetic agents, including scam coin schemes and binary-only communication. A wide-ranging discussion follows on simulation theory, self-reinforcing media loops, and the coming age of customizable digital realities. They close with a candid look at the stagnation of traditional media, the tyranny of algorithms, and what it might take to break the internet open again.

Mentioned in the episode

Special guest Poof joins this week https://x.com/poof_eth

DX Research Group https://x.com/dxrgai

Tweet from Mat Dryhurst https://x.com/matdryhurst/status/1920130715129131161

Show & Hosts

Net Society: https://x.com/net__society

Derek Edwards: https://x.com/derekedws

Chris F: https://x.com/ChrisF_0x

Priyanka Desai: https://x.com/pridesai

Aaron Wright: https://x.com/awrigh01

Production & Marketing

Editor: https://x.com/0xFnkl

Social: https://x.com/v_kirra

• (00:00) - Origin of Poof and Entry into Crypto

Pri is out this week, so the Net Society crew is joined by special guest VonMises for a deep dive into the shifting terrain of NFTs, crypto art, and AI. The conversation opens with a look at Grant Yun’s recent Fellowship drop and what it signals about the use of AI in contemporary art. From there, they explore the generative art landscape, asking whether the early hand-coded era is entering its golden age in hindsight. A spirited debate unfolds around ETH versus NFTs as long-term stores of value, before turning to which collections belong in the NFT canon. Squiggles take center stage with a wide-ranging discussion on their historical and technical significance. The crew then zooms out to the future of programmable media and dynamic art, closing with VonMises’ take on trade policy, global markets, and why the best may still be ahead.

Mentioned in the episode

Special Guest VonMises joins this week https://x.com/VonMises14

Grant Yun ‘Spaces’ Fellowship release https://x.com/fellowshiptrust/status/1917959157128523973

Provenance pod https://x.com/provenanceart

Chromie Squiggles https://opensea.io/collection/chromie-squiggle-by-snowfro

Show & Hosts

Net Society: https://x.com/net__society

Derek Edwards: https://x.com/derekedws

Chris F: https://x.com/ChrisF_0x

Priyanka Desai: https://x.com/pridesai

Aaron Wright: https://x.com/awrigh01

Production & Marketing

Editor: https://x.com/0xFnkl

Social: https://x.com/v_kirra

• (00:00) - Grant’s AI Drop and the Artist’s Role

The Net Society crew is back this week, with Derek returning, to pick up part two of Death by a Thousand Turnings (just kidding). They open with a look at crypto art’s physical renaissance in New York and the emergence of the Node Foundation as a new cultural force. From there, they unpack the growing flattening of culture, tracing the rise of beige luxury, bland logos, and the slow erasure of aesthetic diversity. The conversation shifts toward Bitcoin, exploring why it may be entering its true decade of global relevance. They revisit Meebits and remnants, reflecting on the resilience of mass appeal and cultural persistence. The second half takes a detour into AI side hustles, from ghostwritten Amazon books to OnlyFans AI personas, before zooming out to Ethereum’s quiet resurgence and a fresh wave of conviction around crypto art as a store of value. They close with a meditation on scarcity, network effects, and why the next era may be shaped by those who build through the noise.

Mentioned in the episode

Heft Gallery opening https://x.com/heft_gallery/status/1915509377290703303

Node opens gallery in Palo Alto https://x.com/nodefnd/status/1912862607964577858

Why AI company logos look like buttholes https://velvetshark.com/ai-company-logos-that-look-like-buttholes

Beige is the color of money https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/14/style/beige-is-the-color-of-money.html

Derek’s Squiggle Bronco https://x.com/derekedws/status/1915109593518346481

Glitch Meebit https://opensea.io/item/ethereum/0x7bd29408f11d2bfc23c34f18275bbf23bb716bc7/6863

Noper x Meebits https://x.com/MeebitsNFTs/status/1915767768516878846

Chris’s NFT Collection https://opensea.io/collection/starholder

Show & Hosts

Net Society: https://x.com/net__society

Derek Edwards: https://x.com/derekedws

Chris F: https://x.com/ChrisF_0x

Priyanka Desai: https://x.com/pridesai

Aaron Wright: https://x.com/awrigh01

Production & Marketing

Editor: https://x.com/0xFnkl

Social: https://x.com/v_kirra

• (00:00) - Death by a Thousand Turnings: Part 2 (not really)

The Net Society crew returns, missing Derek this week, for a fiery post-mortem on content coins, Base, and the design failures showing up all over the crypto timeline. They break down why the latest wave of token launches feels more like narrative recycling than real innovation, and explore the growing exhaustion across the ecosystem. From there, the conversation shifts to consumer crypto, where brunch apps, stablecoins, and stealth NFTs suggest a quieter future ahead. Drawing comparisons to the decline of file sharing, they ask whether the degens are truly disappearing or just changing shape. They bring in Carlotta Perez’s theory of turning points to place crypto within a broader move from chaos toward maturity. The second half zooms out to a larger story of algorithmic governance, platform fatigue, and the growing challenge of living under systems we can no longer fully control. The episode closes with a speculative look at rogue AGI, quantum multiverses, and whether some systems have already grown too complex to manage.

Mentioned in the episode

Techno Utopia at sea https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/15/magazine/seasteading-libertarian-ocean-living.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Show & Hosts

Net Society: https://x.com/net__society

Derek Edwards: https://x.com/derekedws

Chris F: https://x.com/ChrisF_0x

Priyanka Desai: https://x.com/pridesai

Aaron Wright: https://x.com/awrigh01

Production & Marketing

Editor: https://x.com/0xFnkl

Social: https://x.com/v_kirra

The Net Society crew is back and they open with a market gut-check, asking whether Bitcoin has lost its identity as digital gold. From there, they track the ripple effects of the meme coin era, linking it to a broader decline in developer momentum. The conversation turns toward AI’s growing role in shaping crypto’s next primitives, with new ERC standards and vibe coding entering the scene. They zoom out to explore how blockchain’s rebellion has turned into fintech, and why that shift feels like the Spotify moment for the space. Remix culture takes center stage next, from squiggle Legos to 3D printing to the return of Creative Commons energy. The episode closes with a sweeping look at history, UGC, and the rising productivity unlocked by AI, ending on a question that lingers: what happens when output outpaces meaning?

Mentioned in the episode

CryptoPunk Alien sale https://x.com/cryptopunksbot/status/1910420121648070741

Derek’s Squiggle lego mockup https://x.com/derekedws/status/1909308457473257911

Show & Hosts

Net Society: https://x.com/net__society

Derek Edwards: https://x.com/derekedws

Chris F: https://x.com/ChrisF_0x

Priyanka Desai: https://x.com/pridesai

Aaron Wright: https://x.com/awrigh01

Production & Marketing

Editor: https://x.com/0xFnkl

Social: https://x.com/v_kirra

• (00:00) - The Bitcoin Identity Crisis

The Net Society crew returns with a high-energy deep dive into the world of tokens, from crypto to compute. They kick things off by breaking down what tokens really are across AI and blockchain, then trace a growing meta trend: the shift from attention to raw token consumption as the driving force behind modern platforms. The conversation explores “token thirst traps,” the idea that the most successful products invite and optimize for compute. They debate whether distribution still depends on attention or if token volume is the new growth metric. HBO becomes a case study for legacy media's future as the crew imagines an immersive, token-powered content world. They wrap with a provocative look at AI’s labor impact, the fate of credentialed elites, and why marketplace coordination might be the most resilient moat of all.

Mentioned in the episode

Yacht Rock https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a55pyQsI3GQ

Show & Hosts

Net Society: https://x.com/net__society

Derek Edwards: https://x.com/derekedws

Chris F: https://x.com/ChrisF_0x

Priyanka Desai: https://x.com/pridesai

Aaron Wright: https://x.com/awrigh01

Production & Marketing

Editor: https://x.com/0xFnkl

Social: https://x.com/v_kirra

The Net Society crew is back and they open with the viral surge of Studio Ghibli-style image generation, tracing how creative tools and internet behavior fused to create a moment of mass prompting. From there, they zoom out to explore the flattening of culture and the eerie resemblance between AI media cycles and speculative assets. The conversation shifts to NFTs as potential memetic stores of value, asking whether blockchain can timestamp and preserve meaning in a world of aesthetic churn. They debate whether AI trends harm or help iconic IP, and whether tokens can offer fair compensation in a remix-heavy world. The crew contrasts longform storytelling with speculative markets, then rounds things out with a deep dive into meme fashion, fast manufacturing, and whether the future is 3D-printed, AI-enabled, and delivered straight to your door.

Mentioned in the episode

Studio Ghibli art style takes over timeline https://x.com/Zeneca/status/1904774204769411196

Stewart Brand Pace Layering https://jods.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/issue3-brand/release/2

Derek’s Squiggles across art history thread https://x.com/derekedws/status/1905023985903079523

Greg Isenberg tweet https://x.com/gregisenberg/status/1905409166232989715

The White House low EQ tweet https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/1905332049021415862

Derek’s thoughts on CC0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PjEAH2yr_A&t=1103s

Show & Hosts

Net Society: https://x.com/net__society

Derek Edwards: https://x.com/derekedws

Chris F: https://x.com/ChrisF_0x

Priyanka Desai: https://x.com/pridesai

Aaron Wright: https://x.com/awrigh01

Production & Marketing

Editor: https://x.com/0xFnkl

Social: https://x.com/v_kirra

• (00:00) - Ghibli-fication and the Viral AI Aesthetic

The Net Society crew is back together and deep in the trenches as Aaron shares a three-hour descent into NFT Twitter Spaces, setting the stage for a wide-ranging conversation. They kick things off with a heated debate around Beeple and pop art criticism, unpacking what makes certain artists lightning rods in digital culture. From there, they explore signs of life in the NFT market, touching on PFP comebacks, new drops, and the return of curiosity across collector circles. The crew then zooms out to look at the broader vibe shift in crypto, including post-regulatory thaw, meme coin nihilism, and the internet’s habit of forgetting. They revisit the royalty debate and explore how sustainable models might return, before diving into Pudgy Penguins’ ETF and what bridging TradFi with NFTs could look like. The episode wraps with a lively back-and-forth on robots, asking whether we really want humanoids in our homes or just cute little machines doing our chores.

Mentioned in the episode

Good Vibes pfp https://opensea.io/collection/good-vibes-club

Infinite Garden by Leander Herzog https://www.infinite-garden.xyz/

ArtXCode Virga by William Watkins https://www.artxcode.io/collections/virga

Show & Hosts

Net Society: https://x.com/net__society

Derek Edwards: https://x.com/derekedws

Chris F: https://x.com/ChrisF_0x

Priyanka Desai: https://x.com/pridesai

Aaron Wright: https://x.com/awrigh01

Production & Marketing

Editor: https://x.com/0xFnkl

Social: https://x.com/v_kirra

• (00:00) - NFT Trenches & Beeple Discourse

The Net Society crew (minus Derek) is joined by special guest Gmoney, founder of 9dcc and longtime crypto native, for a conversation that jumps between memes, AI, and the future of digital culture. They kick things off with the JD Vance meme phenomenon, discussing how AI-generated content is entering the mainstream and whether this marks a turning point in public perception. From there, they shift to the Sphere in Vegas, debating its longevity and the increasing presence of digital art in physical spaces. The conversation then turns to AI’s growing role in creativity as they explore the tension between automation and human-driven experiences. Will the future be hyper-automated or hyper-handmade? Gmoney shares his thoughts on consumer culture and experiential retail, discussing how brands are shifting toward community-driven spaces. The crew also unpacks the current state of crypto markets, grappling with the disconnect between bullish policy moves and bearish sentiment. They wrap up with a look at localized manufacturing and hyper-customization, imagining a future where personal style and production are fully on-demand.

Mentioned in the episode
Special guest Gmoney joins this week: https://x.com/gmoneyNFT

SBF prison interview https://nypost.com/2025/03/08/us-news/sam-bankman-fried-gets-solitary-after-unauthorized-jailhouse-interview-report/

JD Vance memeshttps://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/surprising-reason-wild-jd-vance-213128188.html

AI Poetry Survey https://x.com/colin_fraser/status/1861324416375722257

Tech in Texas https://x.com/MrGoldBro/status/1856109587251761204

Chris AI music/video https://x.com/ChrisF_0x/status/1900307097801175226

Show & Hosts

Net Society: https://x.com/net__society

Derek Edwards: https://x.com/derekedws

Chris F: https://x.com/ChrisF_0x

Priyanka Desai: https://x.com/pridesai

Aaron Wright: https://x.com/awrigh01

Production & Marketing

Editor: https://x.com/0xFnkl

Social: https://x.com/v_kirra

• (00:00) - The JD Vance Meme and AI’s Role in Culture

The Net Society crew (minus Derek) is joined by artist 113 for a deep dive into the evolving intersection of art, crypto, and programmable cryptography. They kick things off with a discussion on Ethereum’s cultural role and whether its future is more about financial infrastructure or artistic settlement. The conversation then turns to NFTs, unpacking their identity crisis as they question whether they are truly art or just a cleverly packaged product. They explore crypto’s ongoing quest for legitimacy, debating the tension between institutional validation and groundbreaking innovation. 113 sheds light on the untapped potential of programmable cryptography, introducing new possibilities for digital expression and anonymous collaboration. The crew also touches on crypto’s frontier status, comparing it to past technological shifts and examining the battle between state control and digital sovereignty. They wrap up with reflections on where crypto culture is headed and how artists and builders can shape its next chapter.

Mentioned in the episode

Ethereum Org Tweet https://x.com/ethereum/status/1898077135916437718

Alan Kay - How to invent the future https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e8VZlPBx_0

Xerox PARC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PARC_(company)

0xPARC https://x.com/0xparc?lang=en

Conway’s Game of Life https://playgameoflife.com/

Numerai https://x.com/numerai

Doomscroll 15: Quinn Slobodian pod 

https://open.spotify.com/episode/0xL9GlO8rF14UAqirNvNyN?si=OeqeKwO8T3ujYOsWcGaXqg

Show & Hosts

Net Society: https://x.com/net__society

Derek Edwards: https://x.com/derekedws

Chris F: https://x.com/ChrisF_0x

Priyanka Desai: https://x.com/pridesai

Aaron Wright: https://x.com/awrigh01

113: https://x.com/0x113d

Production & Marketing

Editor: https://x.com/0xFnkl

Social: https://x.com/v_kirra

• (00:00) - The Habsburgs and the Future of Ethereum