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Weekly: Digital Wayfinders, ChatGPT's A.I. Arms Race & Nouka Puriël

Weekly #043

Author

George Samuels
March 6th, 2023

Happy Sunday fellow wayfinder!

Last week, I discussed the importance of firm foundations in Web3. This week, I’m changing things up a bit!

As entrepreneurs, we’re always growing and evolving. And as we do, we learn new things about ourselves that force us to take on new risks. So after some key shifts over the last few months, I decided to step further into the realm of ancestral wisdom (without losing the tech, community-building, & business aspects).

You may have seen me weave in ancient cultures and civilizations into my newsletters, but now is the time to step more confidently into that realm. I’m not into “fluffy” discussions — I very much like practical solutions and applying them to my day-to-day work or life.

However, over the last 10-20 years, I acknowledge that I have attracted a unique network of successful entrepreneurs and professionals — from ex-corporates to billionaires — who are [secretly] grounded in their own ancestry and belief systems. They, too, don’t necessarily resonate with modern escapism, extreme focuses on logic, or performative meditation.

As a result, I would like to start highlighting these hidden gems more, and share their stories through my network.

So the “It Will Come” newsletter will now be called the “Digital Wayfinder” newsletter — a community for those exploring or building: emerging tech, sustainable communities, and ancestral wisdom.

This newsletter will retain most, if not the same, type of content — just with a slightly different format.

A more formal community will be launched soon as well. This will be an exclusive, paid membership for high-performers looking to dive deeper into the above three categories, accessing high net-worth investment opportunities, and helping one another succeed.

So areas of interest will include, but not be limited to:

  1. AI, blockchain, Web3, digital transformation

  2. Community-building, corporate culture, wealth management

  3. Dreamwork, indigenous medicine, native technologies

If any of the above is still of interest, nothing changes. You are a Digital Wayfinder yourself! If this seemingly new direction no longer aligns with your interests, please feel free to unsubscribe at the end of this newsletter.

If you’re interested in focusing only on say Web3 & community-building, please subscribe to my consultancy’s (Faiā) new newsletter home over on Substack. We have migrated over after Revue shut down its services. That newsletter will stay focused on tech & communities.

And if you’d like a preview of the upcoming community site, or would like to get involved, just hit reply.

Ready to continue? Let’s dive in.

George

☕️ Reading time: XX mins.

📰 INDUSTRY NEWS

Emerging tech (AI/blockchain/web3)

Sustainable communities

  • Blockchain is changing the way we fight for sustainability. The combination of blockchain technology with monitoring tools, such as the Internet of Things and satellites, can provide further transparency and traceability of impact reporting along the green finance value chain. The companies in tihs space consider themselves part of the growing Regenerative Finance (ReFi) community.

  • Cities in space: inspiring future generations to live off-world. How do you design a regenerative living system when living in a closed colony with only imports from Earth to begin on another planet? Food for thought for building interstellar communities of the future.

  • NEOM CEO confident of building unrivaled futuristic city in desert. "NEOM will become a blueprint for a sustainable community that is not disruptive to its surrounding nature, a community that enhances the lives of its residents, promotes a circular economy and leaves the environment better than how we found it."

Ancestral wisdom

Secret tunnels and chambers under the Sphinx. Source: Brittanica

🪶 DIGITAL WAYFINDER STORY

Below is an interview with entrepreneur Nouka Puriël — originally from Curaçao but now living in the Netherlands — who I had the pleasure of meeting this week while validating a product idea. She’s an ex-corporate and founder of a sustainable fashion Web3 company called We Are 3RF. Listen to her story below with Denitree Garza to learn more:

In the above interview, Nouka talks about her journey into entrepreneurship, starting with focusing on her personal values and character through mindfulness and therapeutic mentoring sessions. She also emphasizes the importance of her startups aligning with her values of generational health, wealth, and sustainability. Nuka shares two of her startups, My Education Lifestyle app and We Are 3RF, which focuses on second-hand clothing. She also discusses her experience attending the Women in Technology conference and provides advice for those interested in starting a startup, including the importance of planning finances and not getting emotionally attached to money. Nuka has a team working on her startups, and she values trust and shared values in her team members. She also mentions that if she could work with anyone in technology, it would be Nikola Tesla and Alexis Ohanian, the former owner of Reddit.

My favorite quotes:

  • “I’m bringing [good] karma to my lineage, what I’m pushing out for my future descendants.”

  • “The fashion industry is the second largest polluter of the world after the oil industry. 85% of all manufactured clothes are either dumped or burned on a yearly basis. 10% of carbon emissions.”

Until next week, remember: through patience & persistence, it will come.

George

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