I'm exhausted. And uninspired.

This is number 29 of 30 daily atomic essays. Instead of excitement, I feel a mixture of fatigue, boredom, and emptiness. It's important to finish this essay to complete the challenge for myself but also due to signaling.

Signaling has its costs.

The Cost of Effective Signals

I discovered a Farnam Street piece that made me consider the cost of signaling, whether that’s a gazelle stotting to discourage a predator or someone displaying a Veblen good to signal wealth.

Signaling is the act of conveying information about ourselves to people in a way that is costly for us and therefore believable. Without the associated cost of sending a signal, we would not be able to trust the information being sent. For instance, if it’s easy to signal that we are amazing without actually being amazing, then the signal would be comparatively worthless and no one would pay attention to it. Thus, effective signals take up a lot of time and energy, but are essential as a means of communication because the information they convey is trustworthy.

Through this writing challenge, I signal a commitment to publicly improve my writing and connect to a community. The above excerpt points to how effective signals take time and energy—I'm feeling that!

I wonder about the cost of signaling within the world of NFTs. Financially, it's easy for celebrities and the already wealthy to access blockchain artwork and NFT-gated communities. What are signals we want to encourage in web3 and what will be the costs to send those signals?

What have you signaled in your life? What were the costs?