Castalia is a 3 week pop-up city to advance DeSci. It is a home for scientists, developers, and supporters to convene to build a better scientific future. Castalia is DeSci IRL.

About Castalia is the home of intellectual pursuits, experimentation, and synthesising human knowledge. It is the place where inspiration meets reality. It is where science progresses.

We believe that knowledge should be free to come alive and that this best happens when people have the freedom to experiment and have access to the tools necessary to do so.

Over 3 weeks this fall Castalia will be home to over 50 scientists & developers progressing science forward. It will be filled with scientific experiments, discoveries, & product developments laying the foundation for the future of science & DeSci.

More info ⬇️

Name and Inspiration

The name Castalia is inspired by Hermann Hesse's novel "The Glass Bead Game," where Castalia is a fictional utopian society dedicated to intellectual pursuits and the synthesis of all human knowledge. Additionally, the name references the Castalian Spring from Greek mythology, which was sacred to the Muses.

Event Overview

This event will specifically not involve any typical conference-style talks or ‘tracks’ and it won't just be a “gathering” of people, while those elements are essential to the advancement and sharability of knowledge, Zuzalu-inspired events are all about experimentation and breaking new ground. Our structure and format will be unique, differing from all previous events to foster genuine innovation and collaboration focused on the advancement of science.

Focus and Goals

Castalia is focused on collaborative building and tangible output to advance science. We're planning a significant event for mid-2025 (lasting two months with approximately 300 attendees). To lay the groundwork, we will conduct a shorter, experimental event, refining our structure and methodologies. Support during this round will go towards Castalia v0.1.

Castalia v0.1 will be a three-week long event with a minimum of 50 people occurring during October/November. We have identified a few prime locations, but the final location is TBD and will be based on community input in August.

Organisers

The event will be organised by Bharat and Erin, along with Fellows from the MuseMatrix DeSci Fellowship. Together, we bring a wealth of experience running events (between us we have attended Zuzalu, ZuConnect, Vitalia, and Edge City and will be attending ZuGeorgia, Crecimiento and more). Bharat is the founder of DeSci London, the largest IRL DeSci community with monthly meetups and an annual conference. Erin has also helped run over 300 events including science tech events in over 18 different regions.

Key Questions and Objectives

Attracting Scientists

How can we attract more scientists, especially those unfamiliar with web3 technologies?

Strategies to bridge the gap between traditional scientific communities and the emerging web3 space.

Optimising Event Structure

Is the current structure of having multiple “tracks” the most effective way to run events?

Does this format truly accelerate progress in specific domains or the concept of network states, or is it just a long conference with vibes?

Embedding Web3 Mechanisms

How can we integrate native web3 mechanisms (such as PGF/Hypecerts) into the event's fabric?

Exploring practical applications and benefits of these technologies in real-time.

Measuring Success

The event's success should not be gauged merely by “vibes” but by tangible outcomes.

Conclusion

Castalia aims to push the boundaries of conventional event structures and is focused on experimenting with mechanisms that allow a floating city of scientists to collaborate and tangibly advance science in new ways not possible pre-decentralisation adoption. We hope to pave the way for future pop-up cities & network state events focused on advancing a specific domain.