Letter 2: Refi Lisboa Kick Off
I’ve been in the Lisbon Refi scene for about a year now, though somewhat voyeuristically due to my workload and relational capacity. I’ve been deliberately unsocial due to energy conservation but found friendships amongst some peers at ReFi spring which continue to persist despite my general absence. Seeds that were planed last season are continuing to grow.
Last Friday I was notified of a ReFi event hosted by ReFi DAO and found that there was very little information on the page. I’ve been through their founders circles programme and found it well organised, so decided to show up and potentially bump into folks I know. To be honest I was expecting it to be a bit of a pitch fest but was pleasantly surprised to hear the room was meditating as I arrived. Theres a sense of wholesomeness to such ritualistic practices that feels appropriate when used sparingly like this.
Naturally the lights came back and the programme started. First on the agenda was a presentation on network states by the courageous John Ellison who declared himself responsible for such a grand narrative, while the reasonably scoped first horizon felt humble enough and achievable - start with Lisbon and grow the Refi start-up scene.
The second presentation was by a non-profit who had developed what they refer to as the ‘earth stack’ - and in the opinion of this gonzo hitch-hiker it was probably the best presentation of the evening due to its level of direct applicability. The slides had sound architectural design that was both clear and epistemically transparent; with an informed set of values. Look out for Tariq El Haj Omar if you wanna discover more.High quality signal. Recommended.
Following on from this was a contextualising presentation from about ground truths; subsistence farmers and the potentials that long for actualisation above such a threshold, which led nicely to the ideals expressed by Traditional Dream Factory as collective offering - with details o