Loops Burn Tokens
The article critiques the crypto industry's tendency to adopt superficial rituals and jargon from successful projects (a "cargo cult" mentality), arguing that this focus on token mechanics and loops of hype often burns value and distracts from building real utility or sustainable systems.
Background
- **Sam Altman** is CEO of OpenAI. In 2024 he was briefly ousted in a board coup, then reinstated after employee revolt. He previously ran Y Combinator (YC), the legendary startup accelerator, until being fired.
- **Worldcoin**, Altman's crypto venture, scans users' irises in exchange for a digital ID and a token called WLD. It has faced privacy bans in Europe, Kenya, and elsewhere.
- **OpenAI** began as a non-profit for safe AGI but now operates as a for-profit backed by Microsoft. Altman simultaneously runs an AI lab and a biometrics crypto project.
- **"Cargo-cult"** refers to Pacific islanders imitating WWII military rituals hoping for supply drops. The term here means copying the surface features of successful organizations (like YC or OpenAI's structure) without understanding their actual function.
- **The core argument**: Altman's ventures—YC, OpenAI, Worldcoin—form a single speculative system that uses grand mission statements to attract capital and power while delivering little durable value to society.