So Farcater isn't dead yet
Wow, Farcaster still exists?
I joined it way too late, as the company behind it was falling apart. I confess I only joined to try to promote the Substack I was starting. I missed all the ebbs and flows of the more exciting days, and it's really hard for me to much care about social networks at this point.
I don't know how long it's been since the last time I opened it. My last post was on May 31.
But opening it up now I see that I can "vote" to stay in the Network State universe or go. I clicked "Stay" — who cares? But then it said I had to verify my vote with my mobile app.
- LOL. Long deleted. Not downloading that again.
But yeah, thanks to the thicket, I have been made aware that there is drama on Farcaster right now, because Balaji's Network States has bought the app.
Network State's takeover of Farcaster is way more intellectually interesting to me than I initially expected.
Most of the timeline's energy right now is emotional, related to loss and injustice. People want to be seen and heard, whether they are on Team Gray or Team Never Gray.
But the Farcaster network has always had high numbers of Deplatforming Experiencedooors, We Are So Early What's Next Droppoooors, and Notice Me Senpaioooors. Very few Deep Thinkoooors on the level of Balaji.
Steelman: the new Network State social network is experiment 1 of N of an AI-enabled opt-in public space. The tuning knobs for experiments 2, 20, and 2000 can be turned for more/less dissent. They picked an appealing set of model calibrations for their Experiment One.
I think if you complain about techno-fascism, you might be missing the techno-optimist point of the experiment.
The question at hand is: can new AI policing tools unlock a better commons, than humans could achieve previously?
Go with God, Balaji! I don't much care either way. But I am glad that since Elon bought X so many people have left to till other fields! It doesn't feel like there's an Eye of Sauron of social networks any longer.
It did feel that way before. Now? People might be flipping out about you somewhere (probably Bluesky), but your boss isn't going to care.
—Brady Dale
October 17, 2026