Time for coordination
In 100 years, there might be 10 billion human people living in the world. On the scale of billions, what is the right frame of time to live in?
Should we orient our purpose to the here and now, to immediate crises and the individual stories of elegant, pragmatic solutions? Or maybe we ought to look long, toward the narratives that change worlds, towards new mechanisms and ways of encoding the trust structures that sustain communities, societies, and civilizations.
The Ethereum Foundation exists to nurture and support a protocol designed to treat all humans equally; the next billion initiative at the Foundation is a frame of reference for long-term thinking about that protocol's relationship to humans and, by extension, humanity.
We think that operating at the scale of humans is the way to engage with the challenges and opportunities existing at the scale of humanity. Even a 10,000 year journey begins with a few ordinary steps. Through fellowships, scholarships, events, and other programs that create space for creative exchange and the assembly of new memes, we support the protocol for human coordination, and the communities that will keep it living for years to come.
Stories over narrative
Protocols like Ethereum are often explained in the context of big Narratives about human ingenuity, collaboration, and society. But it’s hard to imagine a future in those heroic terms.
It’s the small stories that provide perspective into the soul of that protocol, and allow us to see what human coordination might look like someday. Heroes don't need to move a mountain to share it; a stone is enough.
Earnest Exploration
Much good can come from the meeting of worlds. Different perspectives provide new insights; new contexts create different designs.
Small, open-world, "finite game" initiatives reflect Ethereum’s culture of mutual discovery, exchange, learning, and teaching. We do our best to support the creation of space for collaboration, experimentation, and play.