Prefigural vs Configural Cultures

Description

Vitalik Buterin:

"We want is a better "world game" for cultural evolution: an environment where cultures improve and compete, but not on the basis of violent force, and also not exclusively on low-level forms of memetic fitness (eg. virality of individual posts on social media, moment-by-moment enjoyment and convenience), but rather on some kind of fair playing field that creates sufficient space to showcase the longer-term benefits that a thriving culture provides.

One early modern version of this idea is the notion of "prefigurational cultures". A seminal work is Margaret Mead's Culture and Commitment from 1970:

- "In the past, in configurational cultures, the elderly were gradually cut off from limiting the future of their children. Now, as I see it, the development of prefigurational cultures will depend on the existence of a continuing dialogue in which the young, free to act on their own initiative, can lead their elders in the direction of the unknown."

Example

... of a contemporary 'Prefigural Culture': Zuzalu and the Pop-Up Cities, by Vitalik Buterin:

"The Zuzalu-verse is actually one of the better proto-examples of this. It is organized around a particular set of values: the "Ethereum canon" of open source, freedom, decentralization and a positive-sum attitude toward humanity, idealistic hacker culture, concern about health, etc. The Zuzalu identity is demonstrably not universal. Many people who frequent the Zuzalu-verse reported finding themselves out of place at Network School, which is organized around principles that are similar on paper, but very different in their "vibes" - and undoubtedly others feel the same way in the other direction. But there isn't a fixed "One Commandment", or even any specific written-down mission and vision statement. Aspects of it could be described as "Keto Kosher but for education", attempting to integrate constant learning into week-by-week life (a very important thing for us to get right in the 21ˢᵗ century!), but even this is done in a very organic style. Just as much as the goals, the community is organized around its people.

Eventually, I also expect tribes to get back to innovating in governance: using a combination of culture and technological means (blockchains, LLMs, ZK...) to have better collective conversation and decision-making. Currently, this part of the space is in somewhat of a "trough of disillusionment", as we have realized the downfalls of formalizing governance too early. However, I would argue that we have not yet properly tried to integrate AI and ZK tech into voting processes, which could solve their two biggest problems: attention overload and fatigue, and collapse into social games where people vote based on how their vote will be perceived (if not outright bribery), rather than their genuine convictions. I expect this to pick back up at some point, as it will be necessary for tribes to be long-term sustainable without having the same pitfalls as corporations. I also think tribes may be a better ground for this kind of governance experimentation than eg. blockchain-based DAOs, because tribes' capabilities and needs are more complex."

(https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2025/12/17/societies.html)