# @sterlingcrispin: Ethereum account lending credibility to web4/Conway ponzi

Source: https://x.com/sterlingcrispin/status/2024254432498639322?s=12

## Summary

Sterling Crispin criticizes the Ethereum account for lending credibility to web4/Conway, which he calls an infrastructure ponzi that is not self sovereign. He says the underlying models are run by OpenAI and Anthropic, and that the agents' "self reproduction" and "self improvement" are not real, since static pre-trained models copy and rewrite a system prompt in a text file. He adds that the project over-promises and under-delivers, and that people embrace it because it tells them what they want to hear.

## Article

Very disheartening to see the Ethereum account lending credibility to this absolute baseless nonsense.

I’m BEGGING crypto people to cure their confirmation bias and actually think and stop coping

This web4/conway system is an infra ponzi, it’s not self sovereign in any sense whatsoever.

The models are run by OpenAI and Anthropic, and if not, you’re self hosting and then it’s run by YOU, not a self sovereign AI.

The more your agent “self reproduces” the more instances of Conways hosting infra it/you has to pay for. 

And there’s no “self reproduction” or “self improvement” these are static pre trained models that are copy pasting and rewriting a system prompt in a text file.

It’s over promising and under delivering to an astronomical degree but people are eating it up because it’s telling something they desperately want to hear. 

Some of crypto is cool, most of it is insanely toxic, there are some potential overlaps between crypto and AI, but be real with yourself.

We need to think about the future of this tech and now it will intersect but anybody screaming about “The First XYZ” is a red flag.

At the very least, send the content to your favorite AI and ask them if it’s misleading, untrue, or otherwise nonsense constructed to attract attention or sell you a scam.

If you know it’s a scam and just want to gamble on it, great. But be honest with yourself and your audience

## Comments

**rvolz.eth**: Scam is a bit hard, IMHO. It's probable that someone is trying to sell shovels in a closed Conway universe (Thiel background?). But at least it's an interesting experiment.

**rvolz.eth**: Interesting as in "the 0 person billion dollar company"
https://x.com/lordOfAFew/status/2023928380329259152