Community
Behind every great project, lies an even greater community.
Conscious. Interwoven.
DeFi is much more than financial freedom. At the heart of this revolution lies a social movement rooted in our humanness. Behind every avatar is a living, breathing being and it's this connection that we truly cherish. We are on a collective journey - consciously living, learning and growing together.
We have nothing but love, admiration and kindness for all the Ludwigs who engage and participate in our evolving community.
This industry develops at an incredibly fast pace. It is critical that every now and then we take a step back and try to make a little sense of the surroundings.
DeFi has deep roots in the social strata that define who we are as beings. Community is everything and human behavior simply cannot be overlooked. From in-depth behavioral science studies to weekly community breathes, we are striving to evolve intentionally in this industry as a collective, with an open and conscious mind.
The Lotus Room
Inspired by the need to have space where everyone could recharge and reconnect, the Lotus Room has found its way into the hearts of many of our Ludwigs. What started out as exploration has now cemented itself as a foundation for connection and community.
We run weekly community breathwork sessions that have become a lifeline for both the team and our users. These sessions are intended to provide a space for our community to develop consciously as a collective. To focus on the growth and development of our inner realities just as much as we do materially. The breathwork sessions are run by a highly qualified Breathwork therapist and take place in the Discord.
Beyond the realms of the breath, the Lotus Room has also fostered the development of community conversation. We run weekly sessions aimed at building rapport within the community and the exploration of ideology that lies outside the realm of DeFi.
Conscious Conversations is a place for all Ludwigs to express themselves freely, no matter the topic of conversation. It is self mediated and follows a free flowing format to allow for spontaneity and creativity.
Tech Tuesdays is focused more on the realm of technology but isn’t limited to Beethoven X. DeFi is vast and the technology behind it even more complex. Tech Tuesday is a space to explore the innovation that takes place behind the scenes.
There has been budding enthusiasm for these sessions and they continue to grow week by week. As the protocol develops we plan to continue the development of our community focused initiatives. Interwoven and connected, we can only grow as fast as our community; quality is of utmost importance and we hope to embody this in all that we do. No compromises.
Social Science Lab
Beethoven X champions a more than “just tech” philosophy. Thus, it is not surprising that the protocol is the first in DeFi to employ a social scientist.
DeFi is so much more than just a technology or tool for the attainment of financial freedom. This space brings to light the very essence of who we are as social beings – in every aspect. DeFi is a collection of inspiring humans; a space of social connectedness where new friendships develop, intense emotional experiences are shared, and meaningful communities evolve around protocols beyond finance.
In its current form the depth of social insight is infantile at best and in an emerging industry, this knowledge gap is vital to explore if we are to reach our full potential.
The Beethoven X social science lab is an initiative that aims to bridge this knowledge gap and cultivate a space where we can dive deep into topics related to human behavior, decision-making, and motivation. Rooted in community, the social science lab is also a space of belonging for our community members; a space to connect with compassion and kindness.
The social science lab is led by a team of social scientists that work closely with the protocol to conduct pioneering research on human behavior within the industry. The team explore topics of trust, balance, health, wellbeing and community in DeFi and uses methods like 1:1 interviews, focus groups, and quantitative studies in order to convey insights in an interesting, educational format.
To date the social science lab has published in depth research into the following areas:
Fostering trust in a ‘trustless’ space
‘sensemaking’ of crisis situations
‘Identity fusion’ is a behavioral science study that Josey and her research collaborators recently started working on. This study seeks to answer the following question: “What makes people stick to a network and/or protocol long-term?”
Josey and her collaborators suspect that there is a role of social belonging that explains ‘stickiness’, if users like the community associated with a protocol. In other words: people may come for the money, but stay for the community.
In scientific terms, a sense of belonging can be achieved by what is called ‘identity fusion’. The study ‘identity fusion’ was conceptualized specifically for Optimism and will be conducted across several protocols.
The proposal can be found here