Slots and epochs: Ethereum alignment in the State Machine One (SMO) gigalopolis

Abstract

This article is an ethnographic account of the State Machine One (SMO) gigalopolis. It offers the first modern mapping of the social imaginaries found within the network states, coordi-nations and agoras of State Machine One (SMO). It further provides insight into the operations of SMO’s Ethereum Ecosystem C (EEC) polycentric governance system. The author was invited to engage in this research by the University of Dencun and received academic immunity to travel across the major sectors of SMO. Employing New Grounded Theory, it presents State Machine One as a complex, heterogenous, but broadly cohesive political entity at its core. The author finds strong evidence of Ethereum Alignment across SMO, but also the presence of an ungovernable region known as Free Ross and some unusual reports from beyond the Exclusion Border.