For example, level one is the voting booth where users are presented with various posts from across the network (think edgy Instagram filtorials and VR fembots) and invited to rate the quality of the content by pressing down on the screen: the longer you press the higher the vote. Each level unlocks a different function on the app. “This format is best for us because creativity requires a mood that should be relaxed and exciting,” Newman says. The app itself is divided into eight video game-style levels. As the founder, I'm federating people but eventually I want this project to be owned and driven by the community,” Newman tells Dazed, whose name alone sounds like the alias of an Internet overlord. Afterall, building an economy controlled entirely by aesthetics is so post-internet. It claims to be the first social media platform to convert our ability to create and curate content – something that Newman refers to as Aesthetic Quotient or AQ – “finding patterns between different things people find beautiful” – into real-world currency. It was founded by net artist and general tech dude Vector Newman (that’s his New Life name) and is supported by a network of Internet pioneers, including V-files’ Preston Chaunsumlit. The futuristic app is targeted at artists, designers, tech people, crypto-nerds, and everything in between. Admittedly, it all sounds a bit Black Mirror, but with a fan base comprising of everyone who’s anyone in the net art know-how, including Johwska, Ines Alpha, Allan Berger, and Virgen María, it’s worth digging into. Hailed as the ‘new Tumblr’, the cyberpunk-looking app is like Blade Runner with a buffer time a decentralised platform for and governed by its users, powered by a mysterious force called New Power. Sounds too good to be true in this post-capitalist society, really? But New Life.AI is just that.

Imagine a social media network powered entirely by aesthetics – no ads, no sponsored posts, no data being sold to faceless conglomerates, and certainly no censorship (looking at you, Instagram).

Tumblr vector code