My honest thoughts about the Solana ecosystem right now: Even though I’m still extremely bullish, the ecosystem genuinely feels very different from before. We’ve built more apps, improved infra, onboarded more users, more institutions, more capital, and generated more revenue than ever before. The ecosystem is objectively stronger. But somehow it also feels more lonely than before. The space got so big that many of us don’t even know each other anymore. Things feel more artificial, distant, and transactional. Back in 2021, the community itself carried Solana on its back. The devs were eating glass 24/7, creators onboarded users out of pure conviction, and the narratives were built organically by the people. The foundation barely even had a social presence back then. The community had the power. Now it feels like too many people rely on the foundation, engagement algorithms, institutional validation, and coordinated narratives to shape the culture for them. I mean "Solana kols" are now foundation members. And that’s where I think things become dangerous. If the narratives of the ecosystem are artificially constructed and amplified from the top down, the culture slowly loses authenticity. People stop thinking for themselves and just start echoing whatever is placed in front of them. The culture became bigger, but weaker. It's more efficient forsure, but less human. A lot of people no longer love Solana itself. They just use Solana because the tech is good or because the current meta is here. There’s less collective identity, less emotional attachment to the chain, and less genuine support between builders unless there’s financial incentive attached to it. Back then we all felt responsible for pushing Solana forward together. Now many people just spectate lol. The Solana I fell in love with was built around real communities, nfts, friendships, chaos, conviction, and collective belief during the hardest times. Not just perps, casinos, AI agents, and whatever the next shiny meta is. Maybe this is simply what happens when ecosystems mature. Maybe I'm just too washed now. I genuinely miss when the people themselves felt like the soul of Solana.

If you're on the fence about whether you should build for the Colosseum hackathon, do it. Story time. When I first built something on Solana, I built for the early 2021 Solana Hackathon. I noticed a missing piece on Solana and quickly hacked together a solution, shipping it. I didn't win the hackathon. I didn't even get honorable mention. But I met a ton of great Solana developers, joined the community, and eventually was offered a job at Solana Labs. You don't have to win the hackathon to change your life. The opportunity is there with Colosseum again to make a name for yourself. Take a chance. Join the arena. Build on Solana.

Solana Network? More like Solana Notwork

retvrn to chewing glass

if you ever meet someone who at one point was globally ranked in a video game hire them immediately

We freakin' done it. Solana now has a proper Debugger.

It is related to rotation, which is why they kept the word “spin”: it’s how the particle’s quantum state changes when rotated in spacetime. We’re used to thinking of something being back to starting position when it’s rotated 360°. That’s true of bigger, classical objects. But some particles aren’t like that. - Spin-0 (scalar field): Doesn’t change under rotation (e.g., Higgs boson) - Spin-1/2 (Dirac field): Requires a 720° rotation to return to its original state (e.g., electrons, quarks). This means a 360° rotation only goes halfway; it flips the wavefunction’s sign - Spin-1 (vector field): Transforms like a normal 3D vector in macro space (photons, W/Z bosons). 360° = 360° - Spin-2 (tensor field): looks the same every 180° (e.g., the graviton). So after just HALF a full turn, it looks the same This isn’t just funny math: it has physical implications we have to observe when working with electrons or with interference experiments.

A really great exercise for everyone in deep tech: Write down the science fiction story of the future of your company, project, technology, or research. Make it as vivid and realistic as you possibly can. Now, believe you are already a character in the story. Live by it.