The Generalist - The Fox with 1,000 Faces

Hey friends,

Today’s piece is more than three months in the making. Since we dropped the first collection of our Philosophical Foxes NFT project, we’ve been hard at work on its next phase. I am extremely excited to take the wraps off of what we’ve been cooking up and tell you more about where we’re heading.

In the spirit of pieces like The Generalist’s one year recap, I’ll take you behind the scenes to see how we put the newest collection together. It involved several contributors, a lot of technical expertise, and plenty of creative thinking. My hope is that by doing so, you’ll get a better sense of how NFT projects come to fruition and the trade-offs creators should consider.

If you’d like to understand how we’re thinking about that, jump in.

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THE FOX WITH 1,000 FACES

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Actionable insights

If you only have a couple of minutes to spare, here's what investors, operators, and founders should know about NFTs and the vision for Philosophical Foxes.

• NFTs present a chance to tell massive communal stories. Each Philosophical Fox functions as the protagonist in a solitary and shared story. Their unique traits and on-chain inner lives inform how they act in certain circumstances, providing the ingredients for true "multiplayer media."
• Different NFT projects require different approaches. Every Philosophical Fox NFT has been hand-designed and features thoughts I have written myself. That manual approach is atypical and has clear trade-offs. Nevertheless, it made sense in our case.
• Dutch auctions protect against fast flipping and gas wars. Sophisticated collectors can game open mints, grabbing a low price and then selling to secure a fast mark-up. By starting at a "ceiling price" and ticking down, Dutch auctions protect against this behavior. By spreading out sales over time, they also reduce the chances of a gas war.
• NFTs can develop through "progressive personality." Because of their name, it's often assumed that NFTs shouldn't change – they are "non-fungible" after all. Sticking to that definition too rigidly limits creativity. To allow our Foxes to develop, we adhere to a notion of "progressive personality." By adding solo thoughts, Foxes can take on new traits, growing just like we do.
• "Narrative composability" opens up new possibilities. Decentralized Finance projects have leveraged the concept of composability to create novel products. These "money legos" are designed to be remixed and recombined. Could we do something similar with stories, breaking them into constituent components? Doing so might unlock cross-project narratives.

What you need to know

Looking for details on the drop? Here’s what you should keep in mind.

• We have a new website. Check it out to learn more about the vision for Philosophical Foxes’ and where we’re hoping to take the project. I hope you like it.
• The new collection drops February 3 at 5 pm ET. To make sure you don’t miss it, we’ve created a calendar link. Click here to add it to your agenda.
• It will take place on OpenSea. We’ll be hosting a Dutch auction on our OpenSea page – click here to visit. You might want to bookmark the page.
• You’ll be able to browse Foxes before the sale goes live. Though you won’t be able to purchase an NFT until 5 pm ET, you'll be able to start browsing the collection as soon as you receive the link, 60 minutes before the auction begins. We’d recommend picking out your favorite Foxes so you’re ready to roll once the doors open.
• We’ve opened a Discord. The “Ethereal Cafe” is a place for supporters of Philosophical Foxes to meet, jam, and think. Some amazing people are already onboard. You can join us here. ​
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The Bayeux Tapestry is a material drama. Commissioned in the 11th century, it tells the story of William the Conqueror's successful procurement of the English throne, won in vicious battle. Across its seventy meters, the viewer sees boats approach the British shoreline, horses stumble and fall in battle, supplies maneuvered to frontlines, noblemen drink and feast, and heads severed in ferocious skirmishes. It is both spectacle and chronicle. Indeed, the astrophysicist Carl Sagan called it the "newspaper of the time," noting that Halley's comet appeared in one of the tapestry's friezes.

The Bayeux Tapestry was the product of many hands. At least, we think so. Perhaps dozens of embroiderers may have worked on its sections simultaneously, sewing miniature melodramas that, when put together, created a super-narrative. A total of 626 distinct characters feature across its fabric, without including the 202 horses and mules. Each has its own story, some meeting their demise, others headed for glorious victory.

Nearly a millennium has passed since the Bayeux Tapestry was made. Our ability to coordinate vast, interlocking projects has increased exponentially. And yet, as I noted in a piece on the subject, I believe our greatest "multiplayer" works are yet to come.

It is through this lens that I see the future of Philosophical Foxes. The Generalist's NFT project is an experimentation in storytelling, intellectual property, community, and multiplayer media. It is an opportunity to create a vast visual literature, to sew a tapestry in pixels.

In today's piece, we'll examine what this means and how we've reached this point. In particular, we'll make sure to cover the following:

• The story behind Philosophical Foxes. Created in October of last year, Philosophical Foxes very nearly involved a convoluted murder mystery.
• Reflections on the first drop. Our genesis collection of 100 Foxes and 11 solo thoughts sold out quickly and sparked secondary sales.
• How to make 1,000 new Foxes. We took an unorthodox approach to creating our artwork. While inefficient, it had clear advantages.
• Where "Narrative 1" will take us. Our current Roadmap ends with "Dreaming Foxes" and the opening of a portal to a new world.
• The themes we're exploring. Philosophical Foxes exist to pioneer on-chain storytelling. That involves playing around with "progressive personality" and "narrative composability."

IN A MEME
​​For the pictorially inclined, here's the whole piece — all 5,300 words of it — in a single meme.

PUZZLER
​​All guesses welcome and clues given to anyone that would like one. Just respond to this email for a hint.

Last week’s riddle proved a tricky one, with only Blake P and Neil H prevailing on the first try. Here’s what stumped our crew:

The answer? A jeweler sells watches; a jailer watches cells. Ooooo wordplay! That is a tricky one. I also thought SM gave an excellent alternative: A jeweler sells a chain you are happy to own; a jailer gives you one for free you can’t wait to lose. Clever.

Snow blankets the streets around my apartment. It looks like it will be another chilly day. I think I will voyage out for a coffee now and then read near my window.

Until next time,

Mario