Ethereum Reimagined as Off-Grid Tech in a Buddhist Village

Shinya Mori, speaking on the Futures Worth Building track, describes reimagining Ethereum as "a technology for off-grid living" through practice at the pop-up village kuu village, which he co-organizes. The village is inspired by the Buddhist concept of kuu, or "emptiness." Mori argues that as Ethereum gains wider adoption, its technology spreads without its underlying values and vision. He warns that superficial adoption risks reproducing Web 2.0 structures, and says Ethereum's place in society needs reconsidering. Across two pilots, about 50 people experimented with physical off-grid practices, including building huts and digging wells, and digital off-grid practices, including onchain governance, self-hosted servers and mesh networks. Through values such as resilience, openness and regeneration, the organizers came to see these practices as Ethereum-like infrastructure. The talk shares that perspective and practical ways to collaborate with people who do not know Ethereum deeply but embody its underlying values.