Bridging Cultures and Technology: An In-Depth Conversation with George Siosi Samuels

In this engaging conversation, Emily Bron interviews George Siosi Samuels, exploring his multi-faceted background and insights into entrepreneurship, technology, and cultural heritage.

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Opening and Introduction to George Siosi Samuels
01:56 George’s Personal Journey and Cultural Background
06:09 Exploring the Concept of Micropreneurship and Micro Empires
15:54 The Influence of Cultural Heritage on Technology and Community Building
23:59 George’s Role in the Tuvalu National Digital Ledger Project
29:07 The Slow Adoption of Innovations
31:24 Exploring the Intersection of Cryptocurrency and Community
35:17 The Evolution of Online Communities and the Metaverse
40:21 The Future of Technology and Its Impact on Society
44:19 Leveraging Technology for Global Opportunities
49:08 The Role of Ancient Cultures in Modern Technology and Communities
56:07 Embracing Technology While Staying Connected to Our Roots

Emily: Hello. Hello, everyone. It’s me, Emily Bron. And today I have pleasure to meet my old, can I say friend or amigo, George Siosi. George and our story of meeting each other, it’s can be told after them, but I. Know George for around three years, I believe, meaning we met online three years ago, being at some online digital nomad forum.

And after then I immediately signed to George, it was LinkedIn profile and the newsletters and all what I can find about George. And today, after all this years, we again, together in my studio. Not in real life, I hope it will be someday, but I have pleasure to meet and introduce you, dear friends, George Siosi Samuels.

And it’s enough for me to speak. George, please, in short, tell your amazing and inspiring For me, and I believe for many others, a personal story.

George: Sure. First of all, thank you so much for having me on your show. And in terms of my story, like with anybody’s story, you know, trying to summarize for me, I’m 37 now.

So summarizing a 37 year story isn’t always easy, but I can give, you know, the, the, the shortened version or I’ll do my best. So I was, I was born in Fiji. I am an Australian citizen. I grew up in Asia Pacific and went to an international school in Bangladesh for most of my formative years. It was an American international school, so that’s where the Americanized accent comes from, but I never lived in the U.

S. And then I returned to Australia for university, and I stayed in Australia for about a decade. Crazy to think now, so from 20 to 30, I was in Australia. And then after that, I moved to Singapore, which is where I set up my first company and then also a second startup. And now I find myself in Mexico. And so I have been exposed to a lot of different cultures.

I am very passionate about entrepreneurs and especially the smaller scale businesses. I think we’re at a time where emerging technologies are enabling more, more of the smaller players to be able to do more with less. And I’m very passionate about the intersection of community, culture and technology.

Hence my nickname at this point in time as the Digital Wayfinder.

Emily: It’s very exciting. Who, who gets this nickname? Yourself?

George: Well, actually it came from my fiance. So, Polynesian wayfinding is its own term and concept. It has to do with navigating the, the ocean, you know, using wayfinding techniques, right, from the ancient Polynesians.

And the digital aspects, you know, well, that just comes from my career in tech. And so my fiancée was the one who helped put that, those two words together, and I thought it was cool, so I stuck with it.

Emily: So your fiancée is American or Mexican?

George: No, she’s, she’s mixed, she’s mixed like I am. So there’s this term called third cultured kids.

So I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of it before. Yeah. So the, yeah, TCKs, right? Third cultured kids. So she is Panamanian Mexican and American Irish.

Emily: Oh, I see. So Mexico is, became kind of ideal place for both of you to, to find each other and live in. And can I ask why Mexico?

George: Well, for love. So during the pandemic, I actually came here.

So we, we first met in London and then ended up doing a long distance relationship. And I was in Singapore at the time, of course, during the pandemic. You know, didn’t know when the pandemic was going to end. And I heard that Mexico was one of the few places in the world that was still open, you know, to people coming in.

And so she had traveled to Mexico to, to be with her parents. And I thought, well, why not? You know, we don’t know when the pandemic will will end. So I took a risk and hopped on a flight during the pandemic from Singapore to Mexico and ended up here. I didn’t expect to, to, to stay, or I guess I didn’t expect.

Things to turn out the way that they have, but I’m glad that they have. Things have worked out very well and, you know, went from, you know, just being girlfriend and boyfriend to now engaged.

Emily: Okay, my congratulations. So do you see your future connected with Mexico? Like, I understand that you expat in Mexico now.

And it’s hard today to plan for all life, but at least for the next couple of years, where do you see yourself?

George: Yeah, definitely. For the next couple of years, I still see myself here in Mexico as, as TCKs, you know, we’re often, you know, traveling around a lot. So we never really say that we settle anywhere, but in terms of, you know, having a solid home base for the two of us, this is definitely a solid home base for us.

And then we’ve, we’ve definitely fallen in love with Mexico.

Emily: So from what place you’re speaking with me now, Oaxaca or where you located actually?

George: Yes. For in Oaxaca. Okay.

Emily: Okay. It’s on my list to visit. I visited almost all big cities of Mexico, but Oaxaca it’s for this year.

George: It’s beautiful.

Emily: Yes. I know that it’s beautiful and it’s special. And , my next question will be about. Terms that I get. Only reading your posts in newsletters such as new terms for me, and I believe for others as entrepreneurship and micropreneur or micro empires. And my kind of following question, how it’s different from solopreneur like.

For example, I consider myself solopreneur and there are many other solopreneurs, what is the difference and what is the kind of new aspect that entrepreneurship bring to the business, you know?

George: Yeah, great question. So a micropreneur essentially is the sort of the next stage for a solopreneur, you know, with all of these terms like solopreneur, micropreneur, et cetera.

Essentially, they’re all entrepreneurs, but at different stages, right? The micropreneur actually, by definition often has a micro business and a micro business is typically any business. Earning revenue with a team of less than five or 10. And the reason why I say five or 10 is because it depends on which country you’re in.

Cause there’s different, you know, laws or jurisdictions around the definitions. So the safe bet is to say, if you have less than 10 people in your team, then typically you are a micropreneur. So you can actually be a micropreneur even if you are a solopreneur. Right. Because you have less than 10 people in your team.

However, I think for a solopreneurship, a lot of people think that as a solopreneur, you might be doing everything yourself and not actually getting help. And I think it’s interesting to take note of that many solopreneurs are still getting help, whether that’s through a VA might be a partner or a spouse, right?

So I think sometimes there’s a little bit of a, I don’t know if it’s deceiving or deception, but I think people get a bit confused into what it means to be a solopreneur because you might still be getting help. And so micropreneurship, I think is becoming a little bit more popular because it’s a little bit more honest in its.

Description because micropreneur is saying that like, okay, yes, you might be the only one employed in your business, but you’re still getting help from other people and you know, it can be up to 10 people now. Why that’s relevant today is because more. I think more businesses are able to actually earn way more revenue with smaller teams.

And Sam Altman, who is the, one of the co founders for OpenAI, you know, ChatGPT, which has become very popular. It’s, he, he’s also stated that he’s expecting, you know, the first billion dollar one person company to come out soon. But if it’s not one person, it’s definitely going to be these small teams that are going to have outsized returns.

And that leads into micro empires. So, I became really fascinated by the concept of a micro empire, because there’s actually a lot of examples of micro empires that exist today, and also in ancient times. In ancient times, it would have been referred to more as a, you know, city states because the concept of a nation didn’t even exist back in the day.

So the world consisted of a lot of, you know, smaller empires or smaller city state based empires. And if you look back, we know some of the bigger civilizations like, you know, the Roman Empire, the Babylonians, the Egyptians, etc. But if you actually look deeper into those time periods, there are many city state empires, which would be the ancient equivalent. Of a micro empire that had such a huge influence yet. They were very small in geographical size.

Emily: Venice, Free City, Genoa, this Mediterranean.

George: Yep. So see, you can already come up with many examples, you know, so do, do give me your list because I’ll end up putting it in the micro empires newsletter. Because I love studying all of these different micro empires and then, you know, connecting it to modern, you know, micro empires and micro businesses.

So then fast forward to today. What are the equivalent micro empires today that exist, maybe at a national level? So I think some of the examples that I have, which I’ll be featuring in my upcoming book, Micro Empires Unleashed, is Singapore. So Singapore is another classic example of a micro empire. You know, they are small in geographical size, but they command huge revenue and huge influence on the global stage.

And a lot of people know them as the Switzerland of Asia, right? And so then that brings up Switzerland. So over in Europe, you also have places like Switzerland, which are very economically powerful, but very small in size again. And if you go over to the United States You could even look at Silicon Valley.

Now, Silicon Valley isn’t its own country, right? It’s just an area within the United States. But it is known, right, as Silicon Valley. People refer to Silicon Valley because it produces so many wealthy startups. Right? Unicorn companies, et cetera. So these are examples of modern day micro empires because it has to do with the more traditional classic definition with geographic size.

But in modern times, when we’re looking at businesses, it’s a lot more digital. And we are now starting to see that there are these tech companies who start who are starting to have more power than nations themselves. And this is how power has kind of shifted and changed because you can see that some of these companies even Are able to influence politics, right?

Because these tech, these CEOs of these tech companies become very powerful because they’re, they’re able to operate at scale across the world, even though they might have only a couple thousand employees. Right. Compare that to nations where they have a five million people, right? Say, like in Singapore, it’s a different case.

So these micro empires off today is more becoming more relevant because these smaller and smaller teams are now being able to compete with some of these larger even tech companies, right? And they’re able to move faster. They’re able to do things differently because they’re leveraging technology. Okay.

To get more out of, yeah, their time and their money. And so I think those are the kind of like three components. When we’re looking at micro empires, we’ve got like the ancient micro empires, we’ve got the modern micro empires, and then we’ve got these digital micro empires that is being enabled and accelerated through emerging tools and technologies like AI, et cetera.

Emily: I can bring another example. Now we are speaking about micro empires, maybe not empires yet, but such entities. It’s Lieberland, if you’ve heard about it, and I am actually a resident of Free Republic of Lieberland, and I am following, yeah, and I am following other project of Free, Free City Foundation, because Free City Foundation, actually speaking about development, new projects, and It might be villages, it might be actually a network of villages.

I’m not speaking about Bala book, which and Bala theory, which I’m aware of as well. I’m more kind of leaning to the Free City Foundation approach of giving opportunities, people, entrepreneurs and, and actually for people who prefer to live in community of like-minded people, different. option of leaving, say, Liberland in the center of Europe, but even Liberland, which is saying that it will be Singapore of Europe, we will see.

It’s what their kind of program is. And they’re leveraging technology. It’s actually what this country is about. But they’re also speaking about spreading the concept. And Switzerland administration system to other continents like North America, Latin America. Okay, so it’s a really exciting time to live in.

And now I understand that actually you’re speaking about the same, but using different terms. And telling the truth, I’m not in big, I’m not very excited of big corporation, you know, these big Silicon Valley companies on influencing politics for millions of other people, but it’s a different conversation.

But I understand that it doesn’t matter I like it or not, but the world is moving in this direction. But no, I mean, it should be checking balances, I mean, in everything, and with all these switches, it might be too much for many people, for millions of people, actually, for billions of people. people on the world.

And as far as I understand, we are living in this transition stage of going kind of from previous kind of life set up, even it’s different for different countries to something new, which is based on the digital and technology. But what I’m kind of really Cautious about, I even sometimes shared with my comments on your posts that I don’t want to lose our human side, our human history, our human touch even, our, all what our civilization developed over the centuries, you know, coming from different cultural background, I feel that it’s super valuable and actually that’s why it’s so great.

One of the reasons I’m so interested in your work, because you’re trying to bridge, as far as I understand, this technological, digital aspect of development with community building and with historical heritage. And now, I’m just thinking that my question would be, how has your own Polynesian heritage, and actually, Living in different countries influenced your approach to technology and online community building actually what you do now.

George: Great question. You know, it is, it’s definitely influenced a lot, you know, and I can thank my mother for that because from very young, she was always stressing the importance of knowing your roots. And, you know, obviously as, I guess, you know, immigrants coming from the Pacific into Australia in the early days, you know, my parents, you know, they both had to work hard and make their way up and, you know, I got to benefit later on in life with, you know, better opportunities, better education, but with the Polynesian side, my mom, even though we didn’t get to learn the language and, you know, that’s another, another topic, because I think there was contention between my mom and dad on whether or not to teach us, you know, their languages or just go straight for English.

Emily: I’m sorry, what languages do you speak? How many languages do you speak?

George: Only english, only English, you know.

Emily: Okay. Oh, in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Australia, I understand. So you were going only with English and it was enough?

George: I mean, I don’t think it was enough, but you know, I was able to get by with English in the Asia Pacific region because most of the countries did speak English.

But I think, you know, looking back, I wish, you know, my mom had taught me more cause she speaks, I think about five languages, my dad, two, but I think it was more of my dad’s desire for us to only speak English because, you know, and, and again, it depends on the families. But I think he felt that it would be better for us to just focus on English so that we could assimilate right into places like Australia.

And I think you’re familiar with this story, right? For a lot of different families, immigrant families where, you know, sometimes the children, you know, they’ll, they’ll know the other language, you know, say English or Spanish. but they might not know their parents language and there’s a disconnect, you know, in culture.

Emily: In my family, I insisted, even I’m not kind of ethnically Russian, but because Russian was my first language and like all the relatives which live in different countries now. So my children actually speak in Russian, but it’s, yes, it’s a lot of effort. No, speaking, reading and writing, like they don’t like it, but they know it.

But again, Back to you. I’m sorry. It’s an important question because language is one of the bridges which connect us with our parents, grandparents, and actually the culture which is, you know, behind the language. So for me, language, it’s not like, for example, I, I don’t like what’s like Russia is doing over the years.

It’s not my country. It was never was my country, but it was my language. And I appreciate all the cultural backgrounds, this Language is opening for me. Your case is really interesting. So you with English are managing to live in so many countries, but with all this, you came or you’re coming or you’re developing your connection with culture of your

parents. Yes.

George: Yes. And you know, it’s one of those things too, where sometimes. You know, people like us, I think we’re, we’re engaged more into things like community and culture, maybe because we didn’t have, right, or maybe because we felt there was a disconnect somewhere in our upbringing. So this is also, even though this has become part of my career, it’s also a personal journey for me because it’s, it’s forcing me to also learn more about my own culture.

So in learning about all of the, all of these other cultures and respecting and appreciating all the different cultures. I’m also learning a lot for myself. And so in terms of how the culture has influenced, you know, I guess my, my work, it’s. It’s, it’s, it’s had a, it’s had a big impact because the community building aspect that you said was very natural for our culture.

So in the South Pacific, it’s very family oriented. It’s very people oriented. You know, there’s, there’s things like island time. So when it comes to, you know, being. On time for meetings, right? That’s just not something that is common. People often come up late and that’s a cultural thing. But for me, it was always, I always got like kind of secondhand, I guess, explanations and experiences of our culture.

And it’s, it’s kind of interesting too. Cause if you think about like even Latin America, right. And you compare the Spanish and Latin America compared to Spanish back in Spain now, even though the Spaniards, right, their original, they’re the originators, right? But they have a different form of Spanish compared to all the Latin American countries.

And sometimes the Spanish folks who have their Spanish heritage, sometimes they’re more into their culture than the Spaniards back in Spain, you know, because it’s a part of their identity because they’re so far away. And I think that’s probably what has happened for me, because I was so far away, you know, from my ancestral homelands, I’ve had to find ways to reconnect.

And so I’m using my, the opportunities that I’ve been given, right? So from an education business, all that sort of stuff to kind of bring these benefits, but do something to help back home with the ancestral homelands, because I know my ancestors took those risks to leave. To find better opportunities for their, you know, families.

I feel it’s part of my responsibility to do something to give back. And that’s kind of what drives me a lot.

Emily: So where are your, your roots coming from? Like Tuvalu, Fiji? Like, explain me please.

George: All over, all over. So this is why I say like the Pacific, the, the, the South Pacific region itself. It, it, almost every island nation has a bit of my family.

So the Tuvaluans, right, this is where my grand, my grandma and my great grandfather, right, they come from. But Tuvalu is also a mix of Tongan and Samoan. My mom, she was raised in Fiji, but she was raised with a Samoan father. So culturally, she’s more Samoan than Tuvaluan. And then for me, I, right, migrated to Australia with the family when I was young.

I have an Australian citizenship, but culturally I don’t share anything with Australia because Most of my formative years was formed when I was in Bangladesh.

Emily: But you’re living already many years outside of Australia and Bangladesh, and you still feel that your kind of cultural influence more coming from Bangladesh side?

George: No, in terms of cultural influence from Bangladesh, I don’t feel that it was, there was a strong influence there. But my schooling, because I went to an international school, right? There was so many different Cultures in that school, and I think that had more of an effect on me than maybe Bangladesh itself. If that makes sense.

Emily: Yes, it’s makes sense. And I’ve heard that they actually from other sort of culture, children who were educated in international schools, which in some sense, it’s a very good environment to, you know, to catch and to interact with children from different culture, but it’s kind of different comparing the situation when you live in society of the culture of the country you are, you are now, and with.

I, I understand that the many stories can be told about each kind of period of your life, but tell me please how what way actually you ended up with your role in the national digital ledger project with the Vassil government, which is a really unusual project, and I’m interested to know how this project You know, if it’s in progress at this point and actually I understand it’s what push you or what gave you inspiration to think about creating digital nation, correct?

George: Yeah.

Emily: Please tell about this project and your role.

George: For sure. So I would say that like, I’m a very intuitive, gut driven person. A lot of my decisions that I make in life is often from, you know, my guts. Right? Because whenever I’ve not listened to my gut, things don’t happen. So how that project came to be was it was New Year’s Eve, and I was already working in the tech space and blockchain space for a while, and I saw this news about how Tuvalu was considering something new relating to A certain amount of funds that they, that were, it was coming up.

Ah, it was a renewal of their. com, their. tv domain, because a lot of people don’t know that Tuvalu owns. tv. And so in a sort of a night of inspiration, it was new year’s Eve. I thought, Hey, okay. If Tuvalu is going to have their. tv renewed and they’re going to be getting some, some money coming in, why don’t I put together a plan that will help, you know, maybe maximize.

The, the, the incoming money at that point in time. And so I actually put together this document called the five point plan for a sinking nation, right? For Tuvalu. And this article, you can find it on medium. If you just look up a five point plan, Tuvalu, my name, you should find the article, but, and then I just published it.

And this article then made its way amongst the Tuvaluan community on Facebook. So many of the Tuvaluan’s Facebook is still very popular there. So that article then made its way to some members of parliament or members in the government in Tuvalu. And then I ended up getting in touch with one of the ministers there, Simon Koffe.

And so from there we started having conversations about, you know, what this would look like, how it could help Tuvalu, etc., etc. And I think a lot of these ideas were complementary to maybe some of the things that Simon Koffe was thinking of, but maybe added more detail, you know, to it. And because I’ve already been working in that space, this was sort of the way that I saw I could use my knowledge and experience to be able to set Tuvalu up for the future.

Because I was thinking about way into the future, if Tuvalu did sink, what would they need to do in order to continue on as a people and a culture? And I think those, those aspects help plant the seeds for what is now known as the Future Now Project. So I came in it from a very specific blockchain perspective, because that’s kind of like my realm of expertise.

And I think the Tuvalu government took elements of that and created the FutureNow project, which is now in motion. Now the FutureNow project, there are some elements of blockchain, but they’re looking at creating essentially a digital version, right, of Tuvalu. So that if something ever happened, they might be able to get legal backing to be continued.

Continuously recognized as a nation, even if the physical land ceases to exist. And this is quite revolutionary. And I think it’s quite smart of Tuvalu to do, because it might set a precedent for other parts of the world that might suffer to the effects of rising ocean levels. Because many coastal cities or many low lying islands are at risk of sinking if, you know, ocean levels do continue to rise.

But this is also something that has happened throughout history, right? Many lands have come up and sunk as well, due to changes in climate. And I think we’re just at a period or a point in time where we have to adapt. And I think technology can help us adapt to this. So, the, the initiative that I started, the Tuvalu National Digital Ledger Project, we did phase one of that.

It was to kind of, you know, test the theory, test the idea out. But I think one of the things that, you know, is, has been made clear is that this blockchain aspect might be a bit too ahead of its time. So in the process of doing this project, I noticed and observed that I think the world market still isn’t ready for a lot of these innovations, even a nation like Tuvalu.

Yeah, because there’s quite a few things that need to shift even culturally and sort of in mindsets that has to do with digital infrastructure. And so places like Tuvalu, they have more basic needs where they’re upgrading their internet, right? They’re upgrading their, their telecommunications infrastructure, those sort of things like matter a little bit more immediately.

The blockchain stuff was always my sort of backup plan or insurance for Tuvalu, right? So I trust that there are other smart people to help out with things now. But I, I’m the type of person that I like to look a little bit ahead, right, so that, you know, nations, communities, businesses, they’re not blindsided by, yeah, you know, these, these sort of disruptive new things that come into play.

So, for, for blockchain technology, I still think we have about 10 to 15 more years. Before we see sort of global adoption of the technology. The technology is there. It is technically ready, but human beings are a little bit slow to catch up. And if you look at how innovation works with technology, for example, the Internet existed, I think, in the 60s or 70s already, right?

But it took social media companies to come in around the 2010s to make it more accessible for normal users. Before then, right, in the early days of the internet, I think it was mostly governments or universities. Then it became accessible by maybe the companies that can afford, you know, doing anything, right?

And then we started to have, then we just started to have more and more people become aware of the internet. I remember there’s a video that goes around about, you know, I think it was on a news network where they were talking about emails and they didn’t understand why is there an at symbol and a dot com, you know, because everybody was using fax machines.

Right. And so there are all these other things that we, we use that we kind of have to get out of before we adopt new things. And you see this time and time again in human history that for some reason, it takes about 30 years for human beings as a collective. To adopt a new innovation, because I think maybe where the technology is quick, but we’re still a bit slow because we have all these cultural things and mindsets and beliefs that we have to get out of before we can adopt the new technology.

Emily: And the issue sometimes is that we don’t want to give up our cultural background for the good reason, for the good reason, we don’t want to be kind of machine or fully, you know, follow some protocol, because I believe I understand the difference, like I belong to different generation, I, my relationship with kind of human life and human culture and with dignity

well, now I’m serious, you know, personal dignity as a human being with multiple capacities, like of creation and, you know, music and all this, I’m kind of looking to this digital intervention, say, to some sacred places, maybe of our psyche, at least I feel it this way. So you’ve been involved with Bitcoin association.

And fire correctly pronouncing and please explain what is the difference first of all, and how do you navigate between intersection of cryptocurrency communities and actually adoption of broader technological advancement?

George: Yeah, sure. So my work with the Bitcoin Association was under contract, so I was brought in to help them.

Optimize things for their community related to the association and then also to help improve things internally related to their, you know, workplace, culture, operations, those sort of things, right? So with that, I’ve been involved with different Bitcoin communities and Bitcoin like associations over the last decade.

And I’ve also been involved in helping other, you know, crypto currency based communities through my agency, FIA. So, FIA, you pronounce it correctly, is essentially a, we describe it as a community tech consulting agency. And the community tech, because that’s my intersection or my passion, right, with community and technology.

And I agree with you, people do matter. We should never forget that. But we also shouldn’t be afraid of the technology, right? That we should make sure that if we have it and use it, It serves us and not the other way around. So that is the community tech side, the consulting, because primarily we give a lot of advice and consulting services.

And then the agency is second because for companies and clients who maybe want more than just the strategy or, and the playbooks, et cetera, then we can actually service them by helping them to execute on some of those projects. But essentially, faya in Samoan, the word is originally Samoan, so I found out about it, you know, through, through my mom and through, through my network, and apparently it means to span a divide like a bridge.

And I think this works as a great concept for us as a as a company, because what we want to be is a bridge between communities and technology. This is also reflected in my own personal journey in terms of always being kind of at the edge of different cultures and communities and being a bit of a translator between the different cultures and communities.

And when I started working professionally, I found myself doing the same thing, but in a professional context, so I have a background as a developer. So when I first started, I actually wanted to be an animator, and I had I learned everything around computer technology, which included programming. And so my first job actually was as a front end developer.

And that has helped me, though, navigate the tech space because I have a foundation in the way that, you know, technology works. But as a result, I learned that I had better skills with people. So I, with some of the companies I worked with, all of my developer friends would often get me to talk to clients because they didn’t want to speak to people.

They just wanted to code. So I would often be the one to explain complex technical topics. Two people who are non technical and then also vice versa. And so this is really being the, the, the crux of my career journey is just being a translator of technical complex things to non technical people or groups.

And so

Emily: Lay people, lay person.

George: Exactly, the lay people.

Emily: Yeah, like, I, I, I belong to the same camp, like, I’m not, you know, shy to, to tell it. I mean, in, in this particular area, because I even don’t have time to follow, you know, all advancement. Obviously, I know about Web3, I know about, you know, different meta communities.

By the way, Liberland, they’re developing their meta community. And I’m just wondering, like, What kind of communities and what’s the difference between them? Like when when you say community again, meta community, where where your people are? Oh, where’s the people of certain communities and how they communicate just through the metaverse?

George: It depends. You know, metaverse also as a term is kind of died down a bit, right? I would say between 2020 and 2022. That’s when it was very, like, it was a really big buzzword, right? Now the flavor of the month or the year is AI. But during the metaverse period, these communities, interestingly enough, were not all inside the metaverse, right?

And if we look at what the metaverse was, it’s really just like video games. Because if I go back to the early 2000s, there were games that looked very similar to these metaverse applications. And just 20 years later, what they were doing, the only difference for these metaverse communities, was that they were attaching cryptocurrencies as a form of currency.

Right to engage between the online world and offline. That’s where cryptocurrency started to come in. Now, cryptocurrencies has also got a bad reputation because of all the scams that have come out of it, right? There are a lot of people who realize, Oh, I can just essentially create my own money by creating a new cryptocurrency.

I will go just, you know, scam a whole bunch of people into believing that this is the next big thing. They give me their real money, right, real money, and then I cash out, and then they have their digital, you know, NFT or whatnot, but they can’t do anything with it. So this is also why I say there’s about 10 to 15 more years for some of these technologies to really make things useful for us.

And that’s because we still live in a world that is, you know, 2. 0, right? That’s the term that they call Web 2. 0. And so we have to transition out of Web 2. 0 into Web 3. 0. But all of these other emerging technologies like A. I. spatial computing. All of these things need to become commonplace before we can really take advantage of these technologies that, you know, were hot for a minute, but have also died out just as quickly.

And so when I’m talking about communities, obviously communities, everybody knows what a community is. Often it’s just a group of people with shared beliefs, values and ideas or vision. Yeah, but in the online world, there are nuances, and all of those nuances has to do with what type of community they are and who they serve.

So a meta community is a metaverse based community, but when I was working in that space, those communities were often in Discord or Slack, or still they were in Web 2. 0 forums for community communications. That may change now because of, you know, the hardware is catching up. So Apple just released Vision Pro, right?

New hardware technology that may enable us to interact more with that metaverse experience that Mark Zuckerberg was, you know, wanting to see. But these communities, I often tell people, like, don’t get too caught up in the fancy names for communities. Just look at who are they serving, and essentially, that community is serving that, that niche.

That’s generally how I look at it.

Emily: So, how’s this communities, actually, how’s it different from the forums, which we have already online? You know, number of forums, and even known kind of forums where people going to find and select like minded people or to find some information. And what will be with other people who are not? Kind of part of meta the community.

George: So it’s you know, I to use more traditional terms neighborhoods, right? I think many of us in the pre internet era Communities had to do with your local neighborhood suburb village, right? Those type of communities and I think in the online world They just take a different form and so all of these different platforms like and forums They are just online versions of these neighborhoods Right?

And so you just, you’re just choosing the neighborhood that you want to go, go to and in the metaverse again, it’s a new type of neighborhood. Maybe it’s just a more futuristic looking neighborhood, but it’s still a neighborhood. And so the technology is just creating a different experience off that neighborhood.

And that’s where the community is congregating. Like, that’s where they’re coming together. But the community, the ways that communities come together is still kind of the same, but the location is different. So instead of the physical world, we’re obviously going into the digital world. Right? And Web 2. 0, where we would come together, would be, you know, Slack, Discord, Twitter, you know, Facebook.

Those were the places that we would go for community. With the Metaverse, it’s just taking it up another level, but it’s just a different environment. Now it’s like, you can put on your goggles, and you can kind of see and feel everybody. But you’re still coming together in a virtual platform, or a virtual neighborhood.

Emily: No, I’m serious. Why digital or virtual reality is better than our physical reality? Like our physical interaction as a people in the world or what, you know, again, ancient civilization till now we’re developing in different form and shapes and like I’m personally not excited. I understand it’s not about me that digital reality will kind of oversee over, you know, actually all beautiful world we have around us.

So why do I need goggles to live in some imaginary world when obviously I cannot. travel, you know, now to be in Tuvalu and I have TV for this purpose. I mean, to see how people living here and there. And I understand as a traveler, I very appreciate opportunity actually to travel to this place, but actually feel and see and touch with my physical, you know,

why is the higher level, in your opinion, like this web 0. 3, it’s a higher level of existence versus to a human being as we are developed, you know, so far?

George: Yeah, I wouldn’t, I don’t know if it’s better. I think it’s just where the technology is taking us. And I think there are, there are obviously advantages and disadvantages.

And this, this has happened every time humanity has scaled, right? So if you think about a village, right? So you have your village, and it’s, you know, a limited, a limited location, yeah? Then, eventually, there are so many people in that location and people want more space, so it pushes them out more and more.

And it pushes, eventually, over time, it pushes it out until there’s no more land left, right? And people start forcing themselves to travel the oceans. And people who are used to living on land say, why do you want to go travel the oceans, right? Why do you want to go explore new territory, right? Stay here on land, it’s much better.

And that’s because I think there are always people who will explore to find new ways of doing things, to find new resources, right?

Emily: I absolutely understand. I understand where you’re going. I always cherished, you know, Columbus and Vasco da Gama, and all people who were discovering new land, or maybe at the time it was like a new universe, like a different planet.

But it was still human. And the war and discovery of potential and, and now we are speaking about the different being as far as I understand, and okay, I didn’t want to use the word singularity, but It’s not what I, in my opinion, will enrich human interaction or actually human being. So in my opinion, okay, my, my question, how people will benefit rather than having, you know, AI doing some work in mundane or, you know, not interesting or really speeding up work like AI tools, I understand as it will help people.

But this quick. Development and you speak in 10 years, like what do you see in 10 years will be with us and how we as a human being will actually benefit from it? I’m not speaking about Silicon Valley, you know, chairperson and, you know, leaders of the companies, even speaking about Micropreneur how small micropreneur in his li his life and sorry, his family life will be better in 10 years rather than now.

George: Well, I’ll give you a very easy example, right, for my ancestors, in order to get better opportunities, right, better money, they had to leave their home. In order to do that. Okay, with these new technologies, you do not have to leave your home. You do not have to give up your culture, your traditions in order to make money right in a very practical term.

Right? It this this type of technology and this access allows people who don’t want to physically leave their homes in order to find better opportunities to do that from the comfort of their own home. Homes, villages, islands, right? They have the same access that previously only people who had money to travel elsewhere could have access to.

Emily: How they will get more opportunities. No, I understand. It’s very interesting point, but how actually they will get more opportunities. Yes, they can meet other people like we’re speaking with you now, being in different parts of the continent or even in different continents. But speaking about the business opportunities, because it’s not only communication, which obviously is better now when we visit technology, but what opportunities are you speaking about?

George: Well, I mean, there’s so many online opportunities. If you just go to YouTube, right, there’s so many ways to make money. I think most people these days don’t realize just how much knowledge exists. Online for free for you to be able to make money. And previously you would have to go to, you know, special business school, or again, travel to another country in order to get access to that knowledge to make your money.

But today to create an online business, it does not take much. But you still have to go through the same things that any entrepreneur has to go through to learn how to make money. Right? Whether it’s online or offline, right? You will still have hard days as a business owner. Right? The only difference is the medium.

Emily: Yeah, but we’re speaking about, sorry, about Internet point two. W like version two. Yep. It’s YouTube. It’s what we have now. My question is how version three will be better and how we will benefit from the next 10 years version.

George: Yeah, I don’t, I don’t know. Again, it’s to me. I don’t, I don’t know if better is the right word.

It’s just different. It’s just an evolutionary step, right? Because I think people think that we’re forced into a lot of these. Evolutions with technology, but you can always choose not to engage with it, right? And I think some people don’t like it when things change and it makes it more difficult. And but I think it’s important for people to know that you always have a choice whether to use the things or not.

So it’s like if you wanted to use the new technologies, you learn about it and figure out ways to make it benefit you. If you don’t, then you just stick to what you know, and you try to make your, your living that way, you know, it’s, it’s always a trade off but of course the world will still move on or continue on doing its thing, but there are many examples of people who still do like traditional jobs, you know, traditional things, and they make their money that way, like in Australia.

If you work as a manual laborer, right? Like say you work out in construction or as a trading a treaty, you can still make more money than somebody who’s operating a digital business. It’s just different opportunities and different utilization of those skill sets because it’s not a guarantee that when you have new technology that automatically everybody is going to make more money or be better off.

It still comes back to you and what you do with it, and it’s always been that way, so it’s just presenting. It’s not better. I still I see it as it’s just a new opportunity with new technologies, and it’s up to you whether you want to use it or not, because there are still many people who make their wealth through real estate, right?

And I think they will continue to make money through real estate, right? And they make more money than some of the online entrepreneurs. Who struggle to make anything online, even with all this knowledge and even with Web 2. 0. So and I think it’s going to be the same way in Web 3. 0 that even though there’s all this cool new technologies.

I don’t think it’s going to be for everybody, right? And I think there will still be some of us who might make more money in the old way than some people with the access to the new way. Does that make sense?

Emily: Now, I understand. From the practical perspective of new generation to making money and actually finding their own niche. Yes. And developing this niche to the extent. That it will be, yes, a different reality for them. Obviously, we cannot and shouldn’t speak now about all aspects of something that it’s not tangible efforts. Yeah. And it’s still in development. Yep. So, one more question. Yes, on the personal note, you talk a lot about your journey to explore ancient cultures.

How does this particular adventure feed into your professional endeavors? And actually, I believe from this one you get the idea of developing communities. How do you see breach, as you already playing role sometimes, between ancient cultures and communities to the Communities of new type.

George: Yeah, good question. I think for me, because my mom did a good job of remembering our roots and, you know, always ensuring to remember where we came from. That got me fascinated in learning more about ancient history. And what I what I realize is that when you look into the past, you find patterns and cycles, right? You use, you notice and observe things that happen again and again, but they happen in different ways.

Yeah. So it’s like there’s an overarching same type of cycle, but it just happens in a different time period or in a different way. And so I started to learn to just look at those cycles. And look at, like, how can, how can these particular, you know, rituals or these behaviors from ancient times, how can they be used for us today so that we’re not necessarily repeating the same mistakes?

I think it’s inevitable because every time, you know, I guess we have a new person born, we’re all learning different things in different ways. And not all of us are able to just read all of the history from the past. And as we know, even with history, it’s not always a full picture. There’s things that are missing, there’s debates on what’s true, what’s not, so who knows, right?

But, I think we can start to appreciate some of the things that more ancient cultures, communities, and civilizations have done. That has stood the test of time, regardless of the changes in technology or society, and I think those are the important things that I appreciate and value. I personally always love speaking with like the elderly because I always love hearing the stories.

You know, it’s the stories and the experiences that they’ve had that I think the younger generation. Need to hear so that we can also be a bit wiser because as younger, younger generations are always going to think that they, they know better. I mean, I was that way, you know, and as I get older, I realized, okay, yeah, I didn’t know, but I thought I knew, you know, and it’s important that we share the stories.

So at least, you know, the older generation can know that they, they, they at least shared it with somebody and that then it’s up to the younger generation to do something with it. Right. And that’s why I feel so compelled to do something with the opportunities I’ve been given to help, you know, more of my ancestral homelands again in the Pacific.

Because of all the risks that my ancestors took in order to get, have a better life. And again, I don’t think any of us ever get it perfect. I don’t know what’s perfect, but I think we all have a desire to do better than, you know, our parents or our grandparents. And it’s that pursuit that often. Yeah, it’s helpful, or at least I hope it’s helpful.

Emily: Okay, one more question on the similar note. You live already for a couple of years in Mexico. Yep. And Mexico is known place for several ancient civilizations. Actually, I don’t know, you know, if you’ve had a chance, I believe, knowing you that you already kind of discovered and looking close to them, how do you feel this civilization are really adding up value for you in your, you know?

Pursuit of happiness and actually to society now we speak about Mexico or maybe wider society because yes there are some, you know, travel. We have tours to these places and they, the government trying to preserve them to the next generation. There is storytelling, there is tradition, there are actually like Maya people if we speak about.

Mexico, there is no exactly, you know, Aztec, Olmec, and there is remnants of these cultures, but how do you feel these stories really actually impact your life today?

George: Yeah, I think it’s always fascinating to me to see all of their structures, right, and the pyramids and what they built so long ago. I think, you know, like when we look at the Egyptian pyramids, even archaeologists today can’t understand how they built it.

You know, and that amazes me with all of our technology, right? We think we’re so advanced, yet we still can’t explain some of these things from the past. And that’s also why I explained, right, between Web 2 and Web 3, right? It’s not necessarily better, it’s just an evolution, but if it’s going to be better, it’s up to us with what we do with it, you know?

And I think we can see the same thing with how scientists of today still cannot explain some of these ancient things. Right. And so that that makes me that excites me because it means that no matter how much we learn, there’s always going to be more and that we don’t know everything. And for the Mayans and the Toltecs and the Olmecs here in Mexico.

I think what they’ve helped do for me is maybe appreciate more our interconnectedness as human beings because I noticed that there are a lot of things in the, their culture that is actually similar to Polynesian culture, and I think that’s where it made me curious to learn more about myself, even though I was exploring their culture.

And I think that’s, that’s part of why I love history and culture and especially ancient history and culture is that the more that I look into the past, the more I learned to appreciate today and also project into the future, because again, no matter how much we come to know now, there may be people in the future who might not even understand how we build things today, you know, because there are just cycles that happen.

So I think, yeah, for me, it’s the interconnectedness of us as human beings. So when people ask where I’m from, of course I give the answer about, you know, this nation, that culture, but I am human first and foremost. And I do try to optimize for that, even though I’m in the technology space. The human aspect is very important, and I think the technology, we need to learn how to have that serve us instead of overtake us.

If that happens, it may happen, you know? I don’t know if that’s inevitable. We’ve seen all of those doom and gloom movies, but I hope not. I hope we can learn how to live with technology harmoniously. And maybe that has to come from us learning how to live with nature harmoniously because in the physical world we have lost touch with nature.

Emily: It was exactly my point. We need to, we kind of lost our connection with nature, like in general, some people not. And many people who are now developing you know, web 3 technologies , would not be able to survive for two days in the jungle, probably. No, for, for, for, for the reasons. So that’s why I’m kind of question.

Benefits, but not still visible to me, like how to make our life not just better, which can be sub objective, but more make us more connected, more sensitive to needs of each other and actually to help society. To, to, to look forward to the future with hope, because again, thinking as you were speaking about ancient pyramids in Egypt or even in Mexico, and I was thinking, like, you know, I’ve had education as a construction engineer, and today are some bridges or buildings collapsing after 20 years.

So all this technology and they were built based on kind of advanced technologies 20 years ago. So what will be after us, like at least this civilization, they left, you know, not only structure like calendar and advanced mathematics, like, yes, here it will be something to live as well. But probably we need another conversation, George, for developing the topics of new forms of life, which developing as we are speaking.

So as for today, I’m very grateful for opportunity to speak with you. And I believe, and I hope that your life in interaction with Mexican people around bring you joy and maybe new understanding of interconnection between people. I’m not sure if you have time to learn Spanish.

George: Oh, I am. Yes, I am learning at the moment.

Okay.

Emily: Great. So it will be your second language. Yeah. Finally. No, no. And I’m very happy. And like, I hope to meet you in real life. Even though it’s nice opportunity to connect with you online and all the best to you, to your projects, to your aspirations, to your vision. To your existing and probably new projects to be and to your communities like I just wish that the life of the people around you Will be in reach And better as well as you will fly in your imagination And creativity Thank you very much.

George: Thank you so much. Thank you. Absolute pleasure. Thank you so much.

Emily: Thank you

George Siosi Samuels

Community-Driven Growth | Fractional Chief Community Officer | Ex-Head of Community @ Bitcoin Association | Building Micro-Empires & Coaching Micropreneurs | #blockchain #ai #tech

George Siosi Samuels – the “Modern Micropreneur” and “Digital Wayfinder.” A community technology advocate, and founder of several ventures including Faiā and Honā. I leverage my Polynesian heritage and a decade of experience in building communities and businesses to help organizations navigate the digital realm, improve their internal culture, and embrace emerging technologies.

Bridging Cultures and Technologies: Insights from Emily in Conversation with George Siosi

In a fascinating dialogue that spans continents, cultures, and centuries of human endeavor, Emily Bron’s interview with George Siosi Samuels offers a glimpse into the interconnectedness of our world through the lenses of technology, ancient civilizations, and personal journeys. The conversation, rich in personal anecdotes and philosophical musings, delves into the evolution of digital communities, the resonance of ancient cultures in today’s society, and the role of technology in shaping our future.

A Meeting of Minds and Cultures:

The interview kicks off with Emily, a seasoned digital nomad, and community builder, introducing George Siosi Samuels, known affectionately as the Digital Wayfinder. George’s journey is as eclectic as it is profound; born in Fiji, raised across the Asia Pacific, and now a resident of Mexico, his path mirrors the global village our world has become. His work, deeply rooted in the intersection of community, culture, and technology, seeks not only to harness the power of emerging technologies but to do so in a way that honors and preserves the richness of human heritage.

The Power of Digital Communities:

A significant part of the discussion revolves around the transformative power of digital communities and technology. George sheds light on the evolution from solopreneurships to micropreneurships, emphasizing the potential for small teams to achieve outsized impacts thanks to digital tools. This mirrors the narratives of ancient micro-empires, which, despite their geographical constraints, wielded considerable influence. George’s insights into the role of technology in enabling similar feats today offer a hopeful vision for aspiring entrepreneurs worldwide.

Anchoring to Ancestral Wisdom:

Perhaps the most captivating elements of the conversation are the reflections on ancient civilizations and the lessons they hold for contemporary society. Emily, with roots in the diverse cultures of the South Pacific, shares her journey of reconnecting with her heritage and the profound impact it has had on her personal and professional life. The parallels drawn between the community-centric cultures of Polynesia and the digital tribes of today underscore a universal human craving for connection and belonging.

The Future of Digital Integration:

Looking forward, both Emily and George express cautious optimism about the integration of emerging technologies into our lives. The conversation touches on the necessity of maintaining our humanity and cultural heritage in the face of rapid digitalization. They advocate for a balanced approach, where technology serves as a bridge rather than a barrier between people and cultures. The potential for technology to democratize opportunities, allowing individuals to contribute to the global economy from anywhere in the world, is highlighted as a powerful counterbalance to the risks of digital detachment.

Conclusion:

In closing, the interview between Emily and George Siosi is more than just an exchange of ideas; it’s a testament to the resilience of human culture and the boundless possibilities that arise when we seek to understand each other. Their conversation invites us to embrace the complexities of our global heritage, engage with the digital world thoughtfully, and, most importantly, remember that at the core of every technological advancement, community project, or entrepreneurial venture, the human element is what truly binds us together.

As we navigate the choppy waters of digital transformation, let us take a leaf out of the book of ancient wayfinders, using the stars of our shared history and the compass of our shared humanity to guide us toward a future where technology amplifies, rather than eclipses, the richness of human experience.