Note: These show notes and timestamps were generated by Notion AI using the episode transcript. They have not been reviewed for full accuracy and may benefit from additional context about Eden Fractal and the broader ecosystem. Consider this a working draft.
Episode Overview
Community Stories, Episode 1
Host: Rosmari
Guest: Dan Singjoy (Dancing Joy)
Recorded: March 2023, approximately one month after Dan and Rosmari first met at an Eden Fractal community event
Watch: Community Stories Episode 1 on YouTube
In the very first episode of Community Stories, Rosmari interviews Dan Singjoy, founder of Eden Fractal and Eden Creators. What neither of them knew at the time was that this conversation marked the beginning of a journey that would lead to their marriage on December 6th, 2025. You can read the full story of how they met and where they're headed on the Dan & Rosmari Story page.
The episode is a wide-ranging conversation about communities: what they are, why they matter, what they lack, how to make them better, and what the future of community could look like. Dan and Rosmari discuss everything from consensus games and fractal decision-making to cenotes in Mexico, the concept of ikigai, and singing and dancing every day.
Key Themes
- What is a community? People cooperating in harmony, bringing unique skills to create something greater than the sum of its parts. Dan references the "1+1=3" concept from Daniel Larimer's More Equal Animals.
- What communities lack: Better structure, games that help people cooperate, education, tools, independence, and the drive to help each other.
- Games as cooperation systems: Consensus games at Eden Fractal formalize how people interact, giving everyone a voice and incentivizing helpful contributions.
- The surface vs. what's hidden: Communities have informal power structures and hidden context. Formalizing rules (like games) helps make things transparent. References The Tyranny of Structurelessness.
- How to make people dive deeper: Inspire them. Provide great experiences, welcome newcomers, build trust through transparency, tell good stories, and align people's interests with the community's needs (ikigai).
- The internet as enabler: Online communities like Eden Fractal allow people across the world to connect over shared interests, but we're still in the early stages.
- Rosmari's inspiration: Joining Eden Fractal showed her a democratized community for the first time. She was impressed by the concept and inspired to start Community Stories to explore these ideas further.
Timestamps
Opening & Introduction
- 0:00 – Teaser montage with highlights from the episode
- 1:04 – Rosmari introduces Community Stories and the show's purpose
- 2:07 – Introduction of guest Dan Singjoy: founder of Eden Fractal and Eden Creators, musician, community builder
- 3:13 – Dan thanks Rosmari and expresses excitement about collaborating
Fire Questions (Icebreaker)
- 4:26 – Five rapid-fire questions begin
- 4:54 – Dogs or cats? (Dogs, but loves cats too)
- 5:00 – 70s or 80s music? (Indies)
- 5:06 – Sun or moon? (Sun)
- 5:12 – Reading a book or watching a movie? (Movie, but books are good too)
- 5:23 – Calls or text? (Calls)
- 5:35 – Winter or summer? (Spring/Summer)
- 5:49 – Dreams or reality? (Reality, with a John Lennon quote)
- 6:13 – Mountains or the beach? (Beach, loves surfing)
- 6:35 – Fun discussion about "fire questions" vs. "rapid fire questions"
Big Questions
How would you describe a community to an alien?
- 8:20 – Question posed
- 8:52 – Dan discusses multiple ways to describe community: people cooperating in harmony, the sum being greater than its parts
- 9:08 – Importance of stories for inspiring communities
- 10:27 – Dictionary definitions of community: common interests, fellowship, working together
- 10:51 – Music metaphor: people cooperating like instruments in a song
- 11:32 – "1+1=3" concept from Daniel Larimer's More Equal Animals
- 12:12 – Communities as natural human behavior, like cells forming a body
- 12:58 – Solar panel / battery metaphor: people create energy and invest in communities
- 13:57 – Rosmari's thoughts: cells, organs, community as something you can't run from
- 15:08 – Rosmari's story about dogs in the park as a community metaphor
- 16:54 – Discussion about humans as the most advanced species and the need to communicate and share
What are people lacking from a community?
- 19:00 – Question posed
- 19:21 – A community's purpose is to help its members; what's lacking from communities is what's lacking for people in general
- 19:56 – Independence and dependencies as a major theme
- 20:02 – Basic needs: food, water, electricity, internet, time to enjoy life
- 20:59 – The huge potential for more amazing experiences
- 21:50 – Wide range: some communities thriving, others in poverty or tyranny
- 22:38 – All communities lack some independence from central institutions
- 22:59 – Current lack in terms of future capability: need to improve so communities can survive and thrive
Structure and games
- 24:00 – Communities need better structure; games that help people cooperate
- 24:40 – Games as cooperation systems that incentivize helping each other
- 25:15 – Tools like Notion and Telegram help structure and gamify community experience
- 25:49 – Rosmari agrees: community members (not just management) should be involved in key decisions
- 27:28 – Need for formal ways to collect community feedback
- 28:45 – People want to feel loved in their community
- 29:06 – Voices need to be heard; platforms and methods needed
What is Eden Community?
- 30:04 – Dan describes Eden Fractal: weekly meetings, consensus games, breakout rooms
- 30:44 – People welcome to join and contribute; rankings from peers help with decision-making
- 31:16 – Different community members bring different skills (like organs in a body): developers, video creators, musicians
- 32:47 – Better communication and feedback; references first time Dan and Rosmari met
- 33:24 – Traditional organizations are autocratic (top-down); Eden is democratic (everyone speaks)
What is on the surface vs. hidden in a community?
- 44:44 – Question posed: tip of the iceberg
- 46:26 – Surface = limited experience in the moment; deeper understanding comes with time
- 47:48 – Eden has been meeting for ~40 weeks; most people have only seen a fraction
- 48:58 – Hidden informal structures and power dynamics
- 50:54 – The Tyranny of Structurelessness: every community has informal power structures
- 51:18 – Games help formalize these structures and make cooperation clearer
- 52:53 – Rosmari: the more you stay, the more you find out; structure helps people decide if they want to stay
How to make people want to dive deeper?
- 53:55 – Question posed
- 54:07 – Simple answer: inspire people. Provide good experiences, welcome newcomers
- 54:32 – Remember to say hi, ask how they're doing, learn what they want to achieve
- 55:05 – Align community goals with individual goals (ikigai alignment)
- 55:35 – Great tools, fun games, and value propositions help
- 56:47 – Rosmari: trust is key. "It costs zero cents to be good."
- 58:23 – Dan adds: intrigue and telling a good story
Cenotes digression
- 59:27 – Rosmari describes cenotes in Mexico: natural underwater cave systems
- 1:00:09 – Mexico has the largest underwater system in the world
- 1:02:01 – Rosmari: "It was one of the best moments of my life"
Water Questions
If you could change one thing about a community?
- 1:03:39 – Question posed
- 1:04:53 – Better collaboration, co-creation, ways to reward and incentivize cooperation
- 1:05:28 – Dan's background story: great childhood community through school, then a gap after university
- 1:07:17 – Started playing music at 20, wanted to collaborate but people were busy with jobs
- 1:09:40 – "Hobina" concept: from This Is Your Brain on Music, a village where everyone sings and dances every day
- 1:12:03 – Summary: more connectivity, more communal experiences, singing and dancing every day
- 1:16:25 – Ikigai: aligning what you want, what you're good at, what the community needs, what the world needs
Community expansion and the internet
- 1:17:49 – People with niche interests can now find each other online
- 1:18:37 – Internet as a huge enabling force, but still in early stages
- 1:19:41 – Vision: consensus games for every interest community (music, filmmaking, surfing, etc.)
Guest's Question for Next Guest
- 1:20:53 – Dan writes a surprise question for the next guest (kept secret)
Rosmari's Turn
What inspired Community Stories?
- 1:25:13 – Dan asks Rosmari what inspired her
- 1:25:36 – Rosmari: always passionate about communities but didn't realize it until Eden Fractal
- 1:26:19 – First time seeing a community operate in a truly democratized way
- 1:27:32 – Previous communities always had separation; games could have helped bridge those gaps
- 1:30:19 – Wants to see structures where people can openly share opinions and spread love
Rosmari's experience with Eden
- 1:33:07 – Experience has been great; welcoming community
- 1:33:58 – "I was very impressed by the whole concept and I never seen anything like it ever"
- 1:34:18 – Trust built through Dan's willingness to answer all her questions
- 1:35:19 – "Long-term spontaneous" – a new category
- 1:37:31 – Ikigai alignment: prefers this work to previous jobs
Future of communities and Community Stories
- 1:38:53 – Dan asks about the future
- 1:38:58 – Rosmari's vision: people freely express opinions, more transparency, the gap between visible and invisible narrows
- 1:40:12 – "Dance and sing every night if they wanted to"
Closing
- 1:40:50 – Rosmari thanks Dan and the audience
- 1:41:18 – Rosmari's closing words: "I hope you have love in your heart and you're not afraid to share it"
- 1:41:37 – End
Notable Quotes
"It was one of the best moments of my life. It's like the alignment of what you want, what you're good at, what the community wants, and what the world most needs." – Dan
"I was just very impressed by the whole concept and I never seen anything like it ever." – Rosmari
"It costs zero cents to be good." – Rosmari
"There's a current lack in terms of what we'll be able to do in the future, and so we need to improve and strive so that communities can survive and thrive." – Dan
"I hope you have love in your heart and you're not afraid to share it." – Rosmari
Where to Go Next
This interview was recorded just one month after Dan and Rosmari met at Eden Fractal. What started as a creative collaboration soon blossomed into a romance that crossed continents and led to their marriage in December 2025. To read the full story of how they met and what they're doing now, visit the Dan & Rosmari Story page.
If the conversation in this episode sparked your interest, here are some ways to get involved:
- Eden Fractal – Join the weekly community events and experience the consensus games firsthand.
- Eden Creators YouTube – Watch videos from Eden Fractal events and community collaborations.
- Eden Creators Newsletter – Subscribe for updates from Dan and Rosmari. (Coming soon)