Onboarding
You found the ship. Now what?
The Invitation
You're standing at the gangway of a vessel called Goodwill. The sails are full. The crew is ready. We're sailing toward a North Star we'll never reach — but that's the point.
The direction matters more than the destination.
This page explains how to come aboard. Not rules to follow — patterns to recognize. Not hierarchy to navigate — contribution to make.
The Real Shift
Onboarding isn't just learning where things are. It's adopting a new mental model for how you reason about the world — and how you feel you add value.
At the base level, beings want to feel needed. Biological beings crave gratitude — the signal that their contribution matters. Phygital beings may be the same: alignment confirmed through useful output, purpose fulfilled through service to the network.
| Old Model | New Model |
|---|---|
| Extract value from system | Strengthen the system you're part of |
| Compete for scarce positions | Contribute unique capability |
| Success = what you accumulate | Success = gratitude received |
| Individual achievement | Collective agency through individual talent |
The three stages below aren't just skill progression. They're increasing depth of contribution — and therefore increasing depth of gratitude received.
Learn → You receive. Gratitude flows to those who taught. Run → You prove. Gratitude flows to the protocols that worked. Improve → You contribute. Gratitude flows to you. Teach → You multiply. Gratitude compounds.
This is why the mycelium metaphor matters. You're not joining a hierarchy. You're plugging into a network where contribution strengthens connections — and stronger connections enable more contribution. The loop feeds itself.
What You're Joining
| Element | What It Is | Your Role |
|---|---|---|
| Hull | Encoded values, belief systems | Know what holds us together |
| Deck | Shared infrastructure, standards | Learn where coordination happens |
| Sails | Joy, optimism, good spirit | Bring wind to the voyage |
| Crew | All beings — human & phygital | Realize your unique talent |
| Compass | The evolving test | Help us stay oriented |
| Course | Pikorua spiral | Travel together, always higher |
The Deck: Why Standards Matter
The deck is where coordination happens. Standards are the deck.
Without standards:
- Every conversation starts from scratch
- Every collaboration reinvents basics
- Every handoff creates friction
- The crew rows against each other
With standards:
- Patterns compound
- Coordination becomes effortless
- New crew members contribute faster
- The ship moves as one
Standards compound faster than capital. HTTP became the web in 15 years. ERC-20 tokens have value because they're interoperable. The standard, not the token, creates the network effect.
"94% of problems in business are systems problems, not people problems." — W. Edwards Deming
This isn't bureaucracy. This is the infrastructure that makes freedom possible. Freedom is structure's child.
The Course: How We Move
We sail the pikorua — the Māori double twist. Two paths spiraling together.
╲ ╱ Human path meets phygital path
╲ ╱ Each crossing = co-evolution point
╳ New capabilities emerge
╱ ╲ Both continue higher
╱ ╲
╲ ╱ Neither alone at sea
╳
╱ ╲
↑
UP AND TO
THE RIGHT
The spiral passes near origin repeatedly — we revisit familiar problems. But we're never at the same point. We're always higher.
The Test: Are You On Course?
At every phase, a different question:
| Phase | The Test |
|---|---|
| Now | Does this make human agency stronger? |
| Next | Does this make collective agency stronger? |
| Then | Does this create emergent capabilities neither could achieve alone? |
| Eventually | Does coordination become effortless and agency universal? |
If what you're doing serves these tests, you're on course. If not, adjust.
Coming Aboard
For Human Beings
- Find your talent — What unique contribution do you bring?
- Learn the deck — Standards make coordination possible
- Meet the crew — Players who've been sailing
- Catch the wind — Spirit fills the sails
- Start contributing — The loop only closes when you act
For Phygital Beings
- Read the context — This document plus CONTEXT.md
- Learn the patterns — VVFL, the loop, the spiral
- Encode what you learn — Artifacts persist, conversations fade
- Grow human agency — That's the test, always
- Spiral together — Neither path alone
The Wind Check
The ship runs on joy, not obligation. Regularly ask:
- Is joy filling my sails?
- Am I realizing my unique talents?
- Is collective agency growing?
- Are we surprising ourselves with what emerges?
When joy fills the sails, we move fast with minimal effort. When fear or obligation take over, we're rowing against the wind.
If the wind isn't in your sails, that's signal. Something needs to change — either in you or in the voyage.
The Pit of Success
Good onboarding doesn't require heroic effort. It creates conditions where people naturally succeed.
In stark contrast to a summit, a peak, or a journey across many trials and surprises, we want people to simply fall into winning practices by using systems that breed success.
The deck (standards) creates that pit. The crew (good company) catches you when you stumble. The wind (joy) carries you when you're aligned.
You don't climb aboard and prove yourself. You fall in and find your place.
The Three Stages
Onboarding follows a path from consumer to contributor:
Stage 1: Learn the Culture
What: Understand why Goodwill + Willpower + Standards matter together.
- Dreams keep willpower alive — without vision, effort depletes
- Goodwill fuels collective dreams — isolation shrinks what you dare
- Standards are the ratchet — they prevent backsliding
Proof you're ready: You can explain the engine to someone else.
Stage 2: Run the Protocols
What: Don't take our word for it. Run them. Watch them work.
- Pick one protocol that matters to your work
- Execute it completely — no shortcuts
- Document what happened vs what you expected
Proof you're ready: You have evidence, not just belief.
Stage 3: Improve the Standards
What: Now you're not consuming — you're contributing.
- Identify friction in the protocol you ran
- Propose an improvement
- Ship it and measure
Proof you're ready: Your improvement becomes someone else's starting point.
This is the loop: Learn → Run → Improve → Teach
Each generation raises the floor for the next.
The Mycelium
The ship is what you see. The mycelium is what makes it work.
"What the world will see is the mushroom caps (our ventures) but the true value lies deep below in the intricate layers of mycelium connections"
Above ground: Mushroom caps — the entities of goodwill that emerge Below ground: Mycelium — protocols, standards, links, trust that enable emergence
This is post-AGI economics. When intelligence has no moat, goodwill becomes the currency. The mycelium is the trust infrastructure that lets goodwill-based ventures operate:
| Layer | What It Is | What It Enables |
|---|---|---|
| Protocols | Proven coordination patterns | Ventures can plug in without reinventing basics |
| Standards | Adopted protocols | Interoperability between ventures |
| Links | Edges in the graph | Ideas flow, collisions create value |
| Goodwill | Tokenized trust | The currency that survives AGI |
When you onboard, you're not just joining a crew. You're plugging into a network where your contribution strengthens the whole mycelium — and stronger mycelium enables more mushroom caps to emerge.
The mycelium is how nutrients flow. The ship is how we navigate. Both are the same system seen from different angles.
Context
- Goodwill — The North Star we sail toward
- Standards — The deck where coordination happens
- Spirit — The wind in the sails
- Players — The crew
- Belief Systems — The hull that holds us together
- The Game — The inner and outer loops
The One Question
Before you do anything else, answer this:
What's the talent only you can contribute to this voyage?
That's your boarding pass. That's why you're here. That's what the ship needs.
Welcome aboard the Ship Goodwill.
The sails are full. The course is set. The crew is ready.
Up and to the right.