Eden Fractal Epoch 2: Original Proposal

Introducing Eden Fractal: Epoch 2 (Original Proposal)

Written by Dan Singjoy in July, 2024

Over the past two years we’ve made great progress by fostering countless collaborations, building tools for fractal decision-making processes on multiple networks, inspiring many fractal communities, and producing over one hundred amazing videos of our events. With the next generation of tools nearly ready and opportunities on the horizon, we need to refine our approach to achieve our mission and actualize our vision. It’s time for the next epoch of Eden Fractal.

Proposal

I propose that we start the second Epoch of Eden Fractal on August 14th, following a four-week summer break. This epoch will introduce several changes aimed at enhancing community engagement, improving the quality of events, and positioning Eden Fractal to achieve our mission and vision. I propose that we make the following changes after returning from summer break next month:

1. Switch to a Biweekly Event Schedule: Starting August 14th we will shift to a biweekly schedule to provide people interested in fractal decision-making processes with higher quality and more impactful events.

2. Start Playing Respect Games Again: The Respect Games will measure contributions and recognize efforts towards achieving our mission. The consensus results will be posted on Base with the new software as soon as it is technically feasible to do so.

3. Bootstrap/Reboot our Consensus Process: Establish a consensus process for community decision-making based upon Respect earnings to ensure fair, fast, and fun decision-making. We’ll practice what we preach.

4. Introduce Discussion Spaces Based on Demand: If/when there is sufficient demand for a variety of discussion topics (like we’ve done for the past eighteen months playing while Cagendas), we can introduce town hall or office hours events to provide a place for this.

More details about each of these proposed features, the summer break, and the second epoch of Eden Fractal are below. I’m curious to hear your thoughts about these and would appreciate feedback.

Summer Break

I think it’s best for Eden Fractal to take a 4-week summer break with the last event of our first epoch on July 10th (next week) and a return for the next epoch on August 14th. Additionally, Optimism Fractal will take a two-week summer break starting on July 25th. During this time I plan to host biweekly office hours where we can have open discussions related to fractal decision-making processes in a more private setting.

Benefits of the Break:

1. Quality Improvement: The break will allow for less frequent, more carefully prepared events, resulting in higher quality and more impactful gatherings.
2. Strategic Positioning: The break can position the Eden Fractal community well for opportunities like RetroFunding, enhancing our ability to achieve our mission and goals. I plan to pursue opportunities throughout the EVM ecosystem to support builders and community leaders who implement fractal governance processes.
3. Sustainable Participation: A less demanding schedule will be especially helpful for the Eden Creators and Optimystics teams, who bear a large burden of responsibility for topic creation, event promotion, video production, and other related tasks for two events each week.

Proposed Features of Epoch 2

Switch to a Biweekly Event Schedule

We’ll shift to a biweekly schedule to provide the community with higher-quality, impactful events. This change will give everyone more time to engage meaningfully, contribute effectively, and avoid burnout. By reducing the frequency of events, we can ensure that each gathering is well-prepared and more valuable for all participants.

Benefits:

• Community Engagement: A biweekly schedule allows for more focused and meaningful participation from all members, enhancing the overall event experience and making each gathering more special.

• Syncing Schedules: The biweekly schedule will allow everyone to join Optimism Foundation Office Hours every other Wednesday, which can help build relationships and attract funding.

Start Playing Respect Games Again

The Respect Games will begin as soon as it is technically feasible. These games will be played with consensus results posted on Base, focusing on achieving our mission by measuring contributions and recognizing the efforts of all community members. The Respect Game is crucial for fostering continuous improvement within the community and it’s important to practice what we preach. I think that the new software will be ready to use in the next few weeks, which would allow us to start using it when we return.

Benefits:

• Contribution Measurement: The Respect Game allows for fair measurement of each member’s contributions, which could be used for funding allocation or other decisions later.

• Driving Towards Mission: The Respect Game aligns community activities with our mission, providing a direct way to motivate efforts that contribute towards our shared goals.

• Consensus Primitive: The Respect Game is essential to bootstrapping our consensus process for community decisions.

Bootstrap/Reboot a New Consensus Process Using Respect

We will establish a new consensus process for community decision-making, using Eden+Fractal, the Council model pioneered by Optimism Fractal, and/or OREC as our consensus process. This will be enabled by weekly Respect Games in Epoch 2 and may at some point involve porting over previously earned Respect from Epoch 1 to Base.

Benefits:

• Practicing what We Preach: We should lead by example by using our products and making collective decisions with fractal consensus processes.

• Fair Representation: Ensures that decision-making power is distributed based on actual contributions as evaluated in weekly Respect Games.

• Advanced Tooling: Using advanced EVM open source tools like Snapshot and Hats Protocol for consensus processes enhances transparency and efficiency within the community.

Introduce Discussion Spaces Based on Demand

If/when there is sufficient demand for more discussion topics, we can consider introducing another event like Office Hours or Eden Town Hall. This space can be dedicated to diverse discussions facilitated by the Cagendas community agenda game, where players vote on topics with Respect earned during the Respect Game.

Benefits:

• Tailored Discussions: Provides a space for discussions on topics that matter most to the community, based on their votes.

• Flexibility: Introducing Office Hours or Eden Town Hall only if there is demand ensures that we are meeting the community’s needs without overextending resources.

• Enhanced Engagement: Facilitates deeper and more diverse discussions, enriching the community experience.

Office Hours:

If there’s enough demand for in-person meetings and group discussions, I could also host an Optimystics office hours where we discuss similar topics as Eden Fractal but do so without the video production, promotion, and topic creation for events. Optimystics office hours would provide a place for discussions that won’t be produced and publicly shared. This is valuable as some people might prefer more private conversations and the ability to ask questions more freely.

Reflections on Eden Fractal and Optimism Fractal

Acknowledgements and Opportunities

I greatly appreciate everyone’s support at the events, and it’s been a huge pleasure collaborating with you all. We’ve accomplished so much together in these first two years:

• Fostering countless collaborations and friendships
• Inspiring dozens of fractal communities and leaders
• Building powerful open-source tools on three networks
• Creating hundreds of videos and educational content
• Carrying the torch of fractal democracy to create a better future
• Fantastic anniversary events and amazing memories

However, to achieve our mission, the community needs to grow and attract new participants, builders, and creators.

Fractals are designed to work with thousands of participants, but our average attendance has decreased from about fifteen participants throughout the first year to about five participants over the past months.

Optimism Fractal and the Superchain provide an onboarding opportunity to attract countless leaders to realize the benefits of fractal decision-making processes. We need to strike while the iron is hot.

Regeneration and Future Plans

In order for Eden Fractal to grow into the community that achieves our bold mission, it needs to regenerate and be reborn into its next phase of development.

This includes reflecting on what is working best and what should be improved, based on market demand and feedback. We plan to experiment with biweekly events upon the return of Eden Fractal and then expand to weekly events when the time is right, based on demand and market opportunities.

We need to focus on what will be most helpful to achieve the mission of Eden Fractal. For the Optimystics team, this includes focusing more on Optimism Fractal for the time being and giving it the attention it needs to serve as an example for more fractals to follow.

Optimism Fractal Updates

I’m excited to announce three exciting new updates regarding Optimism Fractal that provide more context around this proposal and opportunities for Eden Fractal:

1. The OptimismFractal.com website has been revamped and includes a more detailed section about Eden Fractal on the homepage. This puts Eden Fractal more in the spotlight for opportunities on the Superchain and complements promotions for Eden Fractal in Optimism channels.

2. The Optimism Fractal council approved a proposal to update its core intents to include optimizing governance on the Superchain, which you can learn about in this post. This creates more alignment with Eden Fractal’s mission.

3. Optimism Season 6 is starting and there are many exciting funding opportunities that I’m planning to pursue for fractal communities. You can learn about this in the Optimism Town Hall at 58:33 in this video:

Optimystical Journey

These proposed changes will allow the Optimystics to focus the attention needed for Optimism Fractal, which can serve as a prime example and success story for Eden Fractal’s products. By focusing more energy on Optimism Fractal we can better achieve Eden Fractal’s mission. These updates position Eden Fractal to support the initiatives on the Superchain.

Closing Thoughts

This proposal would mark the end of an era for Eden Fractal and the beginning of a new paradigm in which we make major strides towards the collaborative implementation of fractal decision-making processes throughout society.

Our vision is a world where all communities have the tools and methods for the best decision-making possible—fair, fast, and fun. We have a clear mission to actualize that vision via collaborative research, development, education, gamification, and community engagement. Now it’s a matter of optimizing our strategy to achieve the mission, then executing on it. I believe that Eden Fractal Epoch 2 is the next step in this direction.

Thank you for reading. Feel free to write any comments on notion or in telegram. I’d be happy to discuss this at this week’s events and am curious hear your thoughts!

Acknowledgments

Thank you to everyone who has contributed so much in our first epoch and helped contribute to the success of our community so far. Special thanks to Rosmari for inspiring many of the ideas in this article. Go Eden Fractal!