# Results of the Pluriverse<>Metacartel Pod

As per the original proposal above, the initiative focused on 4 main deliverables:

- A v2 of the Guide to the Pluriverse
- A full-length concept album
- 2-3 original artworks illustrating Pluriverse content, in the form of limited archival fine art prints and NFTs
- A new physical/digital book of original ficition and non-fiction texts in collaboration with students of Nottingham Trent University, UK.

### v2 Pluriverse Guide
This was promptly revised and published according to schedule. [The result can be seen here.](https://pluriverse.wtf/pdf/pluriverse-guide.pdf) No funds were used to execute this work.

### Artwork
The allocated budget for the artwork was $5,000 USD, which was provided to the artist to conceptualize five distinct images that would create a fertile foundation for envisioning the future of coordination. This process involved numerous weeks of dialogue to familiarize the artist with the ongoing discussions within our community. Surprisingly, the collaboration yielded 20 images, from which 10 were selected for the final grouping. Although the initial plan was to mint these artworks as NFTs, we decided to simplify the release to focus on the album as the primary artifact and use the images for the packaging content. These pieces were printed and showcased at the Metacartel side event at ETH Denver in February 2023, allowing hundreds of cartelians and friends in attendance to view them. Sadly, since the Pluriverse.wtf project has now died a silent death, the numerous other intentions and potentials of this work will remain unrealized.

### Album
A sum of $5,000 was directed towards the musicians to cover their time and production costs. Following extensive discussions to help them grasp the core concepts, they managed to complete, master, and prepare the album for release by the designated deadline – a commendable feat given the complexities involved. The release was planned to coincide with ETH Denver via the Metalabel.xyz platform. However, due to unforeseen challenges, the Metalabel team [prioritized another release](https://gitcoin.metalabel.app/quadraticfunding). As a result, our launch was postponed multiple times, and market conditions evolved significantly in the interim. We finally initiated the NFT mint in June, selling 31 on-chain records. I am currently preparing to distribute the album via traditional means, hoping to expose a new non-web3 audience to the delicious complexities unearthed in the work. If there are sufficient profits from these efforts, they could still be reallocated towards a future release with another group of musicians, although based on the response it is more likely that we will just distribute the earnings back to the artists. I am personally extremely pleased with the outcome of this album! [The completed release can be viewed here.](https://pluriverse.metalabel.app/ambiguities)

### Publication
From November 2022 to January 2023, I engaged in intense discussions with students from Nottingham Trent University in the UK. They were enrolled in a unique creative marketing program, with many focusing their thesis on metaverse-related topics. Although there was a $5,000 incentive available, their commitment to their dissertations made it challenging to draw their attention to our more abstract efforts. Despite various subsequent strategies and outreach to other web3 writers, we ultimately abandoned the idea of releasing a publication by ETH Denver. By March 2023, I began dialogues with diverse professionals outside the web3 ecosystem to reinvigorate the idea of an academic journal, but the sheer complexity of the technical concepts inhibited many from participating. [The allocated funds for this endeavor - 4 ETH - were returned to the MetaCartel DAO treasury.](https://gnosisscan.io/tx/0x0d0a10790dd966bf8eba3543a6a91755b174059cb086553749db5755ca754f3b/)

### Reflections on the Initiative
For the duration of this project, several organizations experienced significant internal changes unrelated to our endeavors. The Pluriverse community's engagement dwindled down to silence, Metacartel underwent major cultural transitions, and Supermodular saw Owocki's departure back to Gitcoin, effectively ending the Pluriverse conversation. A key challenge was the miscommunication with the Metalabel.xyz team concerning the release schedule and needs of the minting mechanics, which greatly deflated the momentum behind the efforts. Reflecting on the overall community engagement, it was startling to witness the lack of involvement from both core and associated communities during the open mint. It is hard not to feel as though we may have experienced a very different outcome if the release had dropped according to plan, to the eager and affluent audience of ETH Denver.

### Final Remarks
I extend my heartfelt gratitude to Kevin Owocki/Supermodular, Yalor, and the signatories of the pod multisig for their leap of faith in this highly experimental project. Special shout out to @billw for his enthusiastic support and curiosity about the potentials of the Pluriverse from day one. The past year has been a profound learning experience for myself, full of difficult lessons underscoring the critical juncture at which our ecosystem currently stands. We are experiencing a profound ideological crisis in web3 that reflects the numerous larger crises in the world. The Pluriverse project failed to address or ameliorate these tensions in any proximity to what I had hoped to achieve. Although this lorecrafting experiment has come to a close, I remain deeply committed to the need to clarify our cultural values and am ever ready to engage further with those that might feel likewise invested in contemplating our collective future fates. It remains more essential than ever that we challenge each other to question "what we are coordinating towards" and take responsibility for the tides and currents of our industry.

Should there be any queries or concerns regarding this report, I am available for clarification.