I like this idea a lot. I agree this is a much better starting point.
For this no. I was thinking first week in October to get our pitches put together. But for this, we’re defining what we want out of this which doesn’t take as much prep time.
I can meet as early as Monday and have my thoughts prepared.
For this first meeting, do we want to do a call? Or maybe we upload our thoughts in document form so we can get an understanding of where we are coming from before doing a live call?
Seems ok. So Monday, Sep 22nd for phase0 answers? For them not to be pre-influenced, maybe we should think about a way to submit them all at once? A certain deadline time? Should they be submitted in this thread, or somewhere else?
Also, a kickoff call I think can happen also before October, because pitches are about to be submitted after that.
I think this should be decided earlier, at the Kickoff Meeting perhaps?
Sounds good. I’ll create a new thread and we can post everything we have there on Monday. Then we can take a few days to digest this, hopefully synthesize it into a unified direction and then have a call, maybe a week later? We can clarify based on how the next step goes.
Personally, I would prefer we do these discussions in the open, but if it becomes a quagmire of disruptors, we can find a more private venue. Maybe one of the first things we build is a forum platform… I’m already getting ahead of myself 
I’ll create that new thread later this evening.
Noticed the ad talk in the excellent back and forth debate in the “Obfuscated pointers. Possible?” thread and this angle (environment) sprung to mind, so got a little help from a friend 
to write a few paragraphs
The Hidden Cost of the Ad Rails?
Every banner, every “personalized” recommendation, every micro-targeted video is built on a mountain of servers humming day and night. The global advertising stacks of the big platforms—real-time bidding exchanges, user-profiling engines, data-broker pipelines—devour gigawatts of electricity and demand endless new hardware. Your single ad impression can trigger dozens of data-center calls across continents, each one a tiny spark in an energy bonfire. And for what? To auction your attention in milliseconds and feed a surveillance model that never sleeps.
Meanwhile, those same “free” services quietly pass the energy bill—and the environmental damage—to everyone. From rare-earth mining for replacement servers to the water needed for cooling hyperscale facilities, the ad economy isn’t just invasive; it’s wasteful by design. Efficiency doesn’t matter when profit depends on endless engagement and infinite data.
A Greener , Local Alternative
Autonomi apps flip the model. They can run on refurbished hardware and rescued laptops inside the community, not on far-away mega-farms. Ads—if a local business chooses to run them and users grant permission to have them displayed—travel over a more efficient network, using a fraction of the resources of the global ad rails. No surveillance, no hidden energy tax: just direct communication between neighbors and businesses.
It’s proof that digital commerce doesn’t have to scorch the planet to connect people. Build local. Reuse hardware. Keep the data—and the energy savings—close to home.
The end.
Written by John and Ai
An alternative to advertising.
(Frame>You’re not running away from the internet; you’re running on top of it—with a different contract.)
Imagine we introduce a model where attention isn’t hijacked by ads, but invited into moments of meaning. We flip the script: instead of renting attention to brands, we rent it to culture.
Think of it as sorta Content-as-a-Service. Every app, every page, can carry a fragment of shared culture—quotes from public domain classics, flashes of art, photography, local sayings, or lines of wisdom. These aren’t interruptions, they’re invitations. Instead of being sold to, people are reminded, uplifted, even entertained. Developers get a sustainable way to fund their work, and users get a healthier, more human stream woven through their digital life.
Content-as-a-Service: Renting Attention to Culture
Think of apps/solutions not running away from the internet—instead, running on top of it with a different contract. Our new network could treat information like a shared civic space, not a strip-mall of ads. Instead of selling your clicks to the highest bidder, we deliver small, uplifting packets of art, literature, and local voice straight to the apps and devices we use. Every quote, brush-stroke, or fragment of melody travels with the same information-theoretic security that protects our own data. Your attention remains yours; you decide which streams—poetry at breakfast, a daily proverb, a rotating gallery of public-domain art—deserve a moment of your day.
This flips the traditional advertising model on its head. Rather than renting your attention to brands, an alternative model lets developers and communities rent it to culture. A fraction of every (increased?) storage fee(??) funds these curated streams?, so developers can enrich their apps without invasive tracking, and residents experience a network that feeds curiosity instead of anxiety. It’s a quiet evolution: a sustainable way to keep creativity alive while keeping manipulation out.
This sounds just like ads, but instead of bringing money in (by displaying an ad), we’re paying money out (to display “desireable” content). Next thing you know we’d be getting banners like this:
Is it art? Is it advertising? Is it manipulation by people in power? Who knows, the network certainly won’t. If stuff is going to be sent to me that I didn’t ask for, it better be paying its way.
Edit: to be clear, I don’t necessarily disagree with this poster
I find that most acceptable and have only one question.
Where does this gent get his moustache wax?
Well two actually…
What pub serves beer in glasses that size?
I may not have explained clearly: the cultural layer is an optional upgrade, not a hidden tax. A user chooses to pay a little extra for curated cultural content—quotes, art, niche topics—delivered in-app (ux/ui like how Brave delivers (basic attention) ads).
Think of how people voluntarily subscribe to Instagram feeds like “The History of Art” or “Munros for Dogs.” Here, instead of social platforms selling your attention to advertisers, you’re paying directly for the content you value.
The extra fee supports both the app developer and the creators (for example, the hillwalking-dog photographers). It’s closer to buying a magazine subscription bundled with your app/storage than running an ad network.
Ah, gotcha. That sounds cool. I thought you meant this should be part of the upload cost in general to everyone. User options are good. My mistake.
Hello, @zettawatt Just gone to submit a DM to you for the co-op, a few paragraphs as requested, but the message has not been sent (?) , did you get a message from me ? , if not, I can send again later , not sure what happened . Thanks 
Sorry about that. I’ve been sick all weekend and didn’t do anything yesterday. I have published your reply on the Co-Op thread. Thank you for joining! Exciting times ahead!
