I invite you to Cryptopia this Wednesday.

The tickets are very affordable, especially for a student or teenager who can come for $10 and learn more about economics than they would in a year of high school.  Just put this code in at checkout: LEARNABOUTWEB3 at cryptopiaconference.com. There will be great panels with crypto leaders from Utah and even a panel with top AI minds and one of the Fortnite creators.

There will be a cookie eating contest that will have $1000 in bitcoin for the winning team among other prizes. The prize for the bowling competition is this oil painting that I think is real work of art…and it is not an NFT:)

If you are out of cash please reply and I will invite you as guest.  I want you to be able to come and be a part of this festival if you have the time.  Web3 is still buzzing and we are in early days of this new invention.  It continues to find new ways to survive and even thrive.  Many of us chase the next shinny object, like me, and 2 years ago it was all about Web3 and now it seems AI has joined the party.

Why do many humans flock to shinny things, when real-estate, stocks, healthcare and insurance can provide investment returns, incomes and careers that are more stable?

I don’t know, but if we are only living one life, it’s sure seems to be more interesting being in the wide open, sun-beaten western frontier where there are no rules set in stone yet.  I love to bet big, lose big, meet with minds that have no idea what tomorrow will bring but like to guess.  

In Japan, there are thousands of years of history and patterns of how they do things.  I give much reverence to this way of living and thinking.  However, if there is anything I have come to miss after 2 months of living here, it’s the Wild West and our maverick ways.  We are a messy country, U.S. of America.  We have murders daily, poisonous food, political chaos, and apparently some real anxiety around rainbows. But what we sure as hell do not lack is innovators, artists, and rule breakers.

GPT-4 and I had a convo about this very topic this morning while I sat looking down on Tokyo cityscape from 31st floor of my hotel.

Here is what I realized about the West when I asked:  “tell me about several global brands that have spread quickly and have huge fan base beyond just revenues?”.  The answers were all companies from West Coast, except Lego, which comes from Netherlands.  Nike, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Disney, Tesla…not to mention the very product I was using, OpenAI, all come from 3 U.S. States that touch the Pacific Ocean.

The West has been the final frontier for a few hundred years and it still is today.  It’s not here in Asia, no matter how flashy their LED skyscrapers appear.  The future of the human race will somehow be determined by a kid who could be anywhere in the world, but will most likely end up building a team and a movement somewhere in California.  I am just glad I get to be in the vicinity of this movement for the next 60 years of my life.

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It’s my final day in Japan and as far as our expectations and what actually happened…we were way off.  I didn’t find answers on how to live longer that I was searching for in Okinawa.  It seems that the residents have actually succumbed to American diets and are not doing as well as they were 20 years ago.  There were a few obvious foods that they use like the Goya, which is a bitter melon.  The most obvious thing I have determined is Japanese people keep moving and going out and working on whatever it is they have been doing.  They will be on bikes, busses, shopping and don’t seem to stop working ever.  I would say 1/3 of the restaurants I ate at had a 75 and even 80 year old woman or man cooking and serving. 

I did discover Satoshi Nakamoto in the craziest place.  Satoshi will make an appearance at Cryptopia.  Bitcoin’s founder bears a Japanese name, but I didn’t see much bitcoin here at all. With all the futuristic robots coming from Japan, I didn’t see technology aiding their life nearly as much as I would have expected.  Ticketing and purchasing and ordering food is still as frustrating as at home and I saw zero use of crypto or NFTs or blockchain here on the street.

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Jump is doing its first VR wingsuit tournament.  Fresh off of winning the best Connected Immersion experience in North America, if you haven’t tried this please let me know, as it’s definitely the most unique activity you can do indoors right now. I will be there and racing with no real experience, so you can do it, too.

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If you are part of Convoi Ventures or want to be, we just announced our dates for Camp Convoi.  This was my favorite weekend last year and will probably be my favorite this year.  We will go somewhere in Utah for 3 day. August 24-26 are the dates we have set for this years camp. This will be for founders and investors in our fund. we have a limited capacity and with the repeat demand from last year’s campers, you will want to email Trent Mano ASAP to get name on list. This GIF is some highlights of last year at Zion Ponderosa.

Goodnight Japan, see you tomorrow Utah

Scott Paul