I don’t remember “explorer” being an option on any of the job matching surveys I took in high school or college. It seems the occupation is nearly extinct and the only remaining true explorers are relegated to odd hours and knockoff shows on the History Channel.
Admittedly, the traditional notion of exploration has lost some glamour. If you set sail now, it’s unlikely you’ll bump into a previously undiscovered landmass. Today, no one is planting flags, staking claims, or discovering worlds…on Earth.
Traditional exploration came with the allure of riches and fame, but it was not an easy venture. Conquering the sea, foreign lands, and disease was no small task. But someone had to do it.
“The sea is dangerous and its storms terrible, but these obstacles have never been sufficient reason to remain ashore… Unlike the mediocre, intrepid spirits seek victory over those things that seem impossible… It is with an iron will that they embark on the most daring of all endeavors… to meet the shadowy future without fear and conquer the unknown.” – Ferdinand Magellan
At Magellan’s time, you had to be a huge badass to even think about leaving your home in search of something new. Not to mention the fact that you needed a huge boat, a crew, money, food, and likely the backing of your King or Queen.
There were so many obstacles in the way of discovery, that only a select few were able to take part.
Enter the Internet
Now? Everyone can be an explorer.
Every day there are new shows, songs, and apps to share with friends and family. The barrier to exploration has never been lower. All you need is the internet and some curiosity.
I wrote the above last year, a silly foreshadowing for some recent pieces about how I think surfing the web might be my edge.
And tonight...I wanted to go exploring.
Magellan probably started by lacing up his boots, but for me? I pulled up Twitter.
It took me thirty seconds to fall into a rabbit hole that led me to something new and interesting.
Here's the tweet.
A few notable context clues.
I've already labeled GMoneyNFT as a notable, sharp NFT source.
Decentraland, is a respected Metaverse project. It's native currency, $MANA, is listed on Coinbase.
Disclaimer: I bought $MANA during this experience. This is not financial investment advice.
Sometimes this is really all it takes. One smart person shares a tiny shred of information, and I take it and explore.
This exploration was pretty simple.
I hopped to Decentral Games.
Did a brief read through the technical docs.
Watched a 90 second video.
And then I decided to give it a try.
I created an avatar, connected my ETH wallet, deposited some DAI, and headed to the blackjack tables.1
Perhaps fortunately for my DAI balance, the metaverse doesn't cooperate well with rural internet speeds.
I played one hand, and walked away a winner of 5 DAI (DAI is a stablecoin backed to the USD).
Plus! I mined .0001 DG (~$0.02) while playing.
In a perfect world, I could keep playing, slaughtering the metaverse dealers with perfect basic strategy and racking up the DG on the side.
If you’d like to try Decentral Games - feel free to use my link!
Unfortunately though, it’s rather unlikely that I’m fit to become a full-time metaverse blackjack player. Though maybe, I could offset the small house edge with the DG mining? Is this a +EV endeavor? Can someone do this math for me?
While I wait for the math to come back, I should note that making money through blackjack in this scenario is far from the real benefit of this type of exploration. The value comes from the exposure to new things. In the matter of a few hours I was able gain surface level knowledge of a bunch of NEW things.
Here’s a list of five new things I know about after my trip to the metaverse.
Decentral Games
$DG
Decentraland
Mining DG while playing blackjack
$MANA
It doesn’t matter that I don’t know everything about them. It matters that I know of them, and have references to turn back to if or when I wish to learn more.
Most often, these nuggets will be completely useless in the future. But as I’ve witnessed first hand with NFTs in recent months, if you can even get to something early-ish, it can mean great reward.
Am I early to the metaverse? No, definitely not. My nephew has been watching Roblox videos for months.
But am I early enough? Maybe.
I’m often reminded of this chart.2
Since I’m not the one pushing boundaries or writing code, it’s unlikely I’ll ever find myself in the innovators column. But if I can land myself in the early adopters category often enough, I’ve got a great chance at creating life changing rewards.
For me, that means having enough to wake up wherever I want, whenever I want, and do whatever I want.
Until that time, I’ll keep exploring.
Please gamble responsibly. Need help? https://www.addictioncenter.com/drugs/gambling-addiction/
https://www.asaecenter.org/resources/articles/an_plus/2017/september/rethinking-the-change-adoption-curve