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Zuzalu Community Newsletter | August 2024 Edition

August 1, 2024·August 2024·by vrn.eth

Happy August, everyone! It's as busy as ever for many of us, and while discourse has had its ups and downs in recent weeks, it has been touching to see an abundance of passion and engagement. Welcome to the August 2024 Edition of the Zuzalu newsletter, where you'll read about a number of projects participating in the on-going Q2 quadratic funding round on Gitcoin, Zuzalu.city tech updates, Agora City (formerly Zuzagora) trending topics, community accomplishments and reflections, and our on-going list of upcoming events.

I. Q2 Funding Round - live until August 6th!

The Zuzalu Q2 Funding round is live on Gitcoin! It ends on Aug 6th, 23:59 UTC. Please read the Donor guide here. Note that you can only vote once, so make sure to select all projects you'd like to vote for before submitting.

Events

Fora & LEVF @ Ârc Lisbon Fora and LEVF will be running parallel event tracks during Ârc Lisbon, Sept 10-Oct 10 in Lisbon, Portugal. Learn more about our programmes and contribute to our Gitcoin round at https://bit.ly/fora-levf-arc. To learn more about Ârc Lisbon, visit the event page at https://www.zuzalu.city/dashboard/eventview/about?event_space_id=3aa5c34c-4f43-42e2-af8f-69b6d0597ee5. If Ârc is for you, and you are for Ârc, get vouched and join us this September.

⏩ Gitcoin Round Link: https://explorer-maci.gitcoin.co/#/round/10/55/0x5571c85166a44294df79dbd2a6b9362f6a5d138a

Invisible Garden Receive six weeks of free accommodation, co-working space, and advanced courses on Ethereum, ZKP, and more. Join our vibrant community, collaborate with top mentors, and participate in hands-on projects and hackathons. Apply now to become part of the next generation of Ethereum builders!

⏩ Gitcoin Round Link: https://explorer-maci.gitcoin.co/#/round/10/56/0x7c900ad1f7415e2878b56af6af9ffc8d41b337cd

Lovepunks Residency The Lovepunks Residency aims to create a community united by a shared commitment to radical love and collaboration. We cultivate a culture of radical inclusion, where every voice is heard, every heart is filled, and every soul with good intentions is welcome. Collective rituals anchor us to a sense of community and belonging, while celebrations pulse with the energy of collective liberation. Together, we explore the realm of extitutionality, moving away from the institutional status quo.

Main Objective: Bring together creators and changemakers to co-create a collective celebration, knowledge-sharing, and positive impact experience, leaving a legacy for future generations. ⏩ Gitcoin Round Link: https://explorer-maci.gitcoin.co/#/round/10/55/0xa0564ef80d259e6c1a23809f7711885557007835

Zelar City Zelar City is a 6-week popup village dedicated to bringing together scientists, entrepreneurs, and forward-thinking individuals to co-work, co-live, and innovate toward a world without death.

⏩ Gitcoin Round link: https://explorer-maci.gitcoin.co/#/round/10/56/0x706da85c8d1e126f6bbadfb6115b489615cb50de

ZuGarden in Thailand (by ZuBerlin) ZuGarden is a 3-week immersive Zuzalu-style pop-up village in Thailand. We are bridging the gap between focused in-depth research discussions (Ethereum, safe AI advancement, decentralized governance, public goods funding, etc.) and genuine human connection in a co-created community-atmosphere. We are providing space to explore and expand your comfort zone, as well as to relax and get to know fascinating humans on a deep personal level. ⏩ Gitcoin Round Link: https://explorer-maci.gitcoin.co/#/round/10/55/0xf3747afe9c24352f37b62baf3dd03fe9722f0a38

Zu-Grāma Zu-Grama (pronounced Zu-Graa-muh, meaning village in Sanskrit) is a pop-up village experiment designed to address three fundamental challenges in India: Ambition, Talent, and Capital---each playing a significant role in fostering an innovation culture. Current efforts to tackle these challenges have been thwarted by systemic inefficiencies, symbolized by Moloch, due to their game-theoretic nature. Zu-Grama will be a mechanism designed to change the existing incentive structures and overcome these inefficiencies by exploring alternative approaches. ⏩ Gitcoin Round Link: https://explorer-maci.gitcoin.co/#/round/10/56/0x11633f7192233ae311709387cc03001ae7fcf5e1

Zuitzerland

Zuitzerland is an ambitious decentralized project creating a network society driven by community innovation. Over three weeks in Switzerland, participants will engage with new technology and ideas, integrating the philosophies of Lunarpunk and Solarpunk, forging a new path for future societies.

⏩ Gitcoin Round Link: https://explorer-maci.gitcoin.co/#/round/10/55/0x47c89c96e64f84e61f5c65073d74af08282e3c4e

*ZuVillage Georgia*

We are coming together to lay the foundations for a transnational techno-optimist cypherpunk network. "What is the future direction of Zuzalu?" was the central question at Zuzalu 2023. Later that year, as Zuzalu was called a "new culture," we began to consider a more specific, yet still open question: "What would be the most magnificent use case for a new culture, originating out of Zuzalu?" For six weeks, we are running a techno-societal experiment inspired by Zuzalu -- this event concept itself is our attempt to answer both of these questions. Our goals are to:

Tech

Community Graphs Excited to launch Community Graphs alpha at ZuGeorgia! We're significantly improving social coordination by more accurately representing group membership, and the extent of each member's involvement. This enhances social dynamics, improves community governance, and unlocks the development of more robust, scalable reputation systems. Community Graphs is fully modular and composable, allowing anyone to integrate or build their own attestation mechanisms, voting algorithms, and reputation systems.

⏩ Gitcoin Round Link: https://explorer-maci.gitcoin.co/#/round/10/54/0xc47c77037bd1b68e10f08235ac479d4f19d7d7e6

Fora Fora for city builders is back in Gitcoin Q2 TECH round! Since the last Gitcoin round we launched our Campaigns platform (kickstarter / commitment mechanism for cities) and started a pilot with a $100M+ property developer for an onchain staking club that allows members to live in villas rent-free.

⏩ Gitcoin Round Link: https://explorer-maci.gitcoin.co/#/round/10/54/0x41a0ae8ca27b4a882fcb4ff798b0e6e05423c5cc

Impact Garden I'm currently working on launching Impact Garden; a platform to register contributions onchain and enable their evaluation by others. Through the data generated contributors will be able to get funding based on the registered benefits others have derived from them.

⏩ Metrics Garden Labs is participating in the Zuzalu tech round: https://explorer-maci.gitcoin.co/#/round/10/54/0xeab6bda09847f05ee6f4dca91f2c14b95b63738b

Jinni Health A Self-Actualization Game Based On Tomogatchis Your jinni (🧞‍♂️) bonds to you, living life and developing in parallel with you inside their spiritual/digital realm. 🧞‍♂️ are a generative, illustrative journal 📘 visualizing all your past progress and future developments ⏰. You play the game in the real world, the app is just a dashboard. Conjure a reality where your actions become art, where intentions create tomorrow. Every exercise and creative burst shape your ever-evolving 🧞‍♂️.

We focus on creating offline social experiences and coordinating prosocial activities with your friends IRL via the game. We are already testing with 3 network state communities - Zuzalu, Vitalia, and AKIYA Collective. ⏩ Gitcoin Round Link: https://explorer-maci.gitcoin.co/#/round/10/54/0xe829aaf8cac4d20e2234e98c17ece8404959770d

LottoPGF We will be running the first LottoPGF experiment at ZuVillage Georgia this month! We will publish a retrospect after the fact. Learn more about our vision to use lotteries to make Zuzalu self-sustainable here: https://mirror.xyz/lottopgf.eth/RoK3FckDbrcwhXQNOMQFgKp2Vy4FGiWh_yYZhQzUsqk.

⏩ Contribute to our project on the Zuzalu Tech QF Round: https://explorer-maci.gitcoin.co/#/round/10/54/0x521a50382761f6110e599f315e2dc945cc3d86ff MuseMatrix Community-run DeSci Fellowships focused on the production of open sourced DeSci tooling.

MuseMatrix runs six month long fellowships; helping educate, fund and coordinate builders interested in advancing decentralised science. We take a pragmatic approach focused on tangible outputs, namely open sourced DeSci tooling. We run cohorts of approximately 20 fellows (a mix of scientists, web3 developers, ZK, AI and more) who work collaboratively to build out a product. It is designed in an additive way that scientists & developers can participate whilst also having other commitments. We are currently leading the DeSci program at ZuVillage Georgia, bringing 10+ international scientists to collaborate with Georgians and build open source DeSci tooling together. ⏩ Gitcoin Round Link: https://explorer-maci.gitcoin.co/#/round/10/54/0x107d2569bbf9404041840fe12049e2e7d03e101e NeuroFusion NeuroFusion has built tools for communities to run decentralized brain and behavior studies and is looking to partner with ZuVillage organizers! Please see more details on our Gitcoin Tech round. We would love your support.

⏩ Gitcoin Round Link: https://explorer-maci.gitcoin.co/#/round/10/54/0x00cb2ff5817371b952cf086aab2c6a9105f83d27

Open-Source-Orchestra The Open-Source Orchestra (OSO) is a unique initiative born from the tradition of musicians gathering at Ethereum events. Originating at ETH Prague 2022, this protocol of gathering musicians within the Ethereum community has been embraced by Zuzalu-inspired events. As a Zuzalu TECH PROJECT, OSO stands out for its multifaceted contributions, from providing technical support to fostering community spirit through music.

⏩ Gitcoin Round Link:https://explorer-maci.gitcoin.co/#/round/10/54/0x9bedfc750ee4b23d3bd042bc3803811818ca3682

*Socratic.Bot*

Socratic.bot is an LLM-powered open source critical thinking tutor. We've recently relaunched with our webapp and Agora City integration for you to refine your arguments when preparing discussion posts for higher quality discourse while improving individual cognitive sovereignty. Just click the little Socrates icon on Agora to discuss your post with our bot or discuss individual cognitive sovereignty on our webapp!

⏩ Gitcoin Round Link: https://explorer-maci.gitcoin.co/#/round/10/54/0x6dc9d4d1e2790c0b719f001b6b289ac2b175b0a6

ZuForever

ZuForever V2 aims to address the recurring accommodation challenges faced by attendees and organizers of Zuzalu's pop-up cities. In the original model, ZuForever pooled funds to book townhouses for major web3 conferences, reducing costs through shared expenses and using NFTs to represent room bookings. However, this model's one-size-fits-all approach is ineffective for pop-up cities, where attendees have varied schedules and accommodation needs. ZuForever V2 proposes a more flexible, on-chain solution. It introduces wrapped NFTs representing available room days, connects staking pools with real-time data for accurate pricing and amenities, and automates KYC processes for confirmed attendees. This approach aims to reduce costs for attendees, ensure minimum attendance, and provide liquidity through a secondary market for NFTs. The project plans to finalize the V2 design, build an admin panel for NFT issuance, develop a bednight analytics interface, and form partnerships with pop-up cities, with key milestones set from September to Q1, 2025

⏩ ZuForever is a tool build for all Zuzalians, so please consider supporting us with a donation here: https://explorer-maci.gitcoin.co/#/round/10/54/0xcc3fb9a369d5a78aa41d0092ac5506a66f5515ec

ZuLand: Building real-world infrastructure empowering Zuzalu Communities

ZuLand is a collaboration between Builders Garden, AKASHA, URBE.ETH, and ECF to provide secure, scalable tools for decentralized communication. It integrates AKASHA Core with Lit Protocol for encrypted content and ZuPass for user authentication, ensuring only verified users access content. Our vision is to expand ZuLand as a key social extension of Zuzalu.City, offering customizable, private communication tools for all communities.

⏩ Gitcoin Round Link: https://explorer-maci.gitcoin.co/#/round/10/54/0x72638378763c3b3828e42107b75b12ecf0c54385 Zuzalu City (ZuSoftware) Fuel Zuzalu.City's mission on Gitcoin QV round. Zuzalu.city is a community-driven toolkit where over 100 builders from various projects collaborate, emphasizing interoperability and seamless integration with multiple tools. A robust coordination process across zuzalu.city will be established, actively encouraging community members to contribute and develop essential modules. Finally, Zuzalu software, an operational system, will be built to empower spin-offs within and around Zuzalu. ⏩ Fuel our mission here: https://explorer-maci.gitcoin.co/#/round/10/54/0x47e73237daa8c2501cf0e812644e4b2b9db4644c

II. Zuzalu.City Software Updates

Announcing ZuCity ALPHA Launch We're thrilled to announce that the ZuCity Alpha is officially live with ZuVillage Georgia! We're calling on our amazing community to join us in testing new functions and features. Your feedback is crucial to helping us improve and grow. If you're interested in creating community spaces and test new functions in the testing phase, please follow our X (@Zuzalu_city), farcaster(@zuzalucity), calendar and join Element to be part of the operation and shape the software together.

If you have any questions or need assistance for Zuzalu.City, feel free to contact Veronica(TG:@hxatk) & Kelly(TG:@Kelly_xzw).

Building Decentralized Social across ZuCity community We are thrilled to announce our latest collaboration with the AKASHA Foundation & Builders Garden to enhance decentralized social applications. This partnership marks a significant step forward in our mission to build a community-driven toolkit for better community connection and creativity.

III. Zuzagora => now Agora City!

Zuzagora is now Agora City!**Read Agora's latest updates here.**

Top three posts on Agora today:

  1. *Anonymous Concerns about Q2 incl. Counciles*
  2. *Seeking Community Input: Allocation Strategy for Zuzalu's Upcoming Q2 Grant Round*
  3. Changes to ongoing Q2 Funding Program & Council Structure

IV. Community Accomplishments & Reflections

ZuLit

ZuLit club has a new format called "rabbithole host"

ZuPhD Not directly related to Zuzalu, but during my time at Zuzalu I was working on my PhD research... and I am proud to announce that this work it is finally submitted to a journal and available to read as a preprint! Here's a thread I wrote on it that includes a link to the preprint: https://x.com/BJ_Dyakov/status/1813547706914390291

What is a belief you've recently updated, and why? *"*I've updated my belief that major scientific progress will stem primarily from the work of (very much respected) titans and KOLs in the life sciences. While certainly there are exceptions who continue to make waves (I can name a select few), I increasingly believe creative and disruptive solutions will stem from the problem-solving power of the non-expert collective, which is unencumbered by dogma or focus on an infinitesimally narrow research focus and is unafraid to ask probing questions. "

"Never become accustomed to life. Keep playing."

"Value of leaning into a belief vs perpetually emphasizing with different viewpoints"

"If you want to go fast go alone if you want to go far go together. This really describes it"

What is a recent technological or scientific advancement that excited you and why? "ESM3! https://www.evolutionaryscale.ai. This open source model makes sophisticated protein design and directed evolution accessible to anyone with the curiosity and imagination to see what is possible. I cannot wait to play with this."

V. Upcoming Events from the Community

  1. Luma calendar** **- Town Halls, Zuzalu Software All Hands, ZuCafe, and ZuLit (recurring)
  2. ZuVillage Georgia (July 20 - August 31, 2024)
    1. See our final schedule and apply here.
  3. VitaliTea camp pop-up at Burning Man (August 25 - September 2, 2024)
  4. Zuitzerland: Prototyping a Swiss inspired Network Society** (**August 25 - September 15, 2024)
    1. Interlaken, Switzerland
  5. Ârc Lisbon (September 10 - October 10, 2024)
  6. Ethereum Mexico (September 13 - 14, 2024)
  7. The Archipelago in Chiang Mai, Thailand (Sep 20 - Nov 10, 2024)
  8. Invisible Garden (September 30 - November 10, 2024)
    1. ETHEREUM AND ZKP DEV CITY #0 THAILAND
  9. Zelar City (October 5th - November 17th, 2024)
  10. ZuGarden in Thailand (November 10 - 30, 2024)
    1. Presignup here: http://join.zu.garden/presignup
  11. Lovepunks Residency (November 18 - December 9)
  12. Vitalia just released the Master Programming - plan ahead to join as a builder of the frontier-tech city.
    1. More info here: https://x.com/NiklasAnzinger/status/1811811540217008524 📆 If you'd like an event to be included, please make sure to submit it to the form! Events are carried over each month until they have ended. 📝

VI. Conclusion

See you on August 6th for our next Town Hall! Cheers, Veronica