Request for Help

August 2nd, 2025

Who am I?

My name is Dan Allison. If you follow me on twitter, then you’ve probably seen my drawings. I post a new drawing every night and a new stereoscopic photo every morning. Drawing is something I’ve been doing since I was a kid and it is a deeply meaningful practice for me.

But this blog post is not about my drawings. It’s about my other projects, and about how I need your help.

What am I doing?

I’m one of those people who is always starting new projects but struggles to finish any of them. Project ideas arrive at my mental doorstep and I feel a responsibility to take care of them and at least try to give them a chance to become something real in the world. I do my best to find as much overlap between these projects as I can in order to keep as many of them alive as possible, but it can be hard.

For a long time, I’ve struggled to articulate the common thread that ties together all of my various projects into one concise summary. Everything has felt very scattered, and it hasn’t always been clear to me where all of this is headed.

But I think I’ve arrived at a coherent enough explanation that makes sense to me and hopefully it will make sense to you too. Basically, I have 3 primary projects, represented in the triangle image below. Each project supports the others, and each emphasizes a different domain: spiritual, physical, and digital.

Here are the 3 projects.

1. The Church of Collective Providence

The Church of Collective Providence is an idea born out of spiritual frustration. I grew up in a very religious family and have seen how meaningful and supportive religious communities can be. But in adulthood I have struggled to find a spiritual home, and I know I’m not the only one. The idea of the Church of Collective Providence has emerged out of this religious-community-shaped hole.

From the website,

The Church of Collective Providence is an imaginary/real-enough institution established as a social convention for people who wish to join a collective that’s just religious enough to catalyze mutually supportive relationships in service of something greater than oneself, but not so religious that it undermines epistemic humility or individual self-sovereignty.

The Church of Collective Providence is just an idea, but it is an idea I feel called to if for no other reason than to have some place to call my spiritual home. I don’t yet know what will come of this idea, but I have committed to it regardless. Of these 3 projects, The Church of Collective Providence is the least well-defined. It’s unclear what exactly it’s supposed to look like. But I’m fine with that, at least in the short-term. I’m in no rush to make something happen right away with this project. The seed has been planted, and that is enough for now.

2. Tetra [City]

Tetra [City] is a pattern for turning online community into in-person community. Tetra Seattle was started in June 2025 and was originally called Fractal Seattle as part of the Fractal Campus Accelerator Program. Over the course of the accelerator program, it became clear that the type of community building we’re doing in Seattle is somewhat different than what the Fractal NYC folks are teaching in their accelerator program. Tetra [City] is an attempt to specify and differentiate the type of community building pattern we’re establishing here.

3. Harmonic

Harmonic is an open-source social media app that emphasizes social agency over engagement metrics. Essentially, it’s an app that allows groups of people to perform each step of the OODA loop as a collective. The app started out as a simple group decision-making app called Decisive Team, and then it evolved into a team productivity app called Harmonic Team, and now it has evolved into a social media app called Harmonic.

I am optimistic about social media. I have received enormous benefit from social media over the years and continue to do so. But I also recognize that the business model incentives of the big social media companies are not always aligned with the interests of their users, and social agency is not always a priority for these apps.

But social agency is important. So I’m trying to build something that facilitates social agency and brings us closer to fulfilling the promise of the World Wide Web.

Why do I need help?

All of these projects are collective in nature. They require the participation of many people. That’s the main reason I need your help.

But beyond that, my personal circumstances make your help even more essential.

Health struggles

I have been struggling for many years with chronic health issues, namely narcolepsy, hypothyroidism, and depression. These conditions constrain my energy levels and mental clarity quite a lot, to the degree that I have struggled to hold down a job and support my family in recent years, making it necessary for me to start a solo company to have the flexibility to work around my fluctuating symptoms.

Because my energy levels and mental clarity are so unpredictable day to day, I have a tendency to flake out and not follow through on things that I say I’m going to do, making me unreliable. On my good days, I tend to forget how bad it can get on the bad days, and I make plans and promises as if my high energy will continue indefinitely.

I don’t want to use my health issues as an excuse for neglecting my responsibilities, and I don’t want to reify a perception of powerlessness by repeatedly drawing my attention to how much I’m struggling. But I need to be honest with myself and with others about the facts of my situation. At the same time, I also recognize how the story I choose to tell myself about these facts has a significant influence on how the facts unfold over time. So I tend to keep quiet about how much I’m struggling, for better or worse. And if I’m really being honest, I often lie to myself by pretending that things are fine and that these health issues are just all in my head. I know this is not a great strategy, but I’m doing the best I can with what I got right now.

I’m sharing this here because it’s something I need help with and because it’s the main bottleneck on pretty much everything I do.

Lack of experience

While I have experience with software development, I don’t have much experience running a business. I also don’t have much experience as a community organizer of any sort. My approach to all of this is essentially Show Up, Don’t Die, Don’t Quit. But SUDDDQ is merely necessary, not sufficient to succeed in these endeavors. I need help from people who have experience in these domains.

How you can help

I have an obsession with geodesic domes. Geodesic domes are extremely strong structures even though they use very little material. The reason geodesic domes have such a high load-bearing capacity with so little material is because the load is evenly distributed across the whole structure.

How does this translate to the help I am asking for?

Firstly, I’m asking specifically for small favors. No big favors please. I ask that you only support me in ways that feel easy for you and not burdensome. If you offer to provide a big favor, I will either decline the offer or suggest a way to distribute the burden across a larger number of people.

Secondly, I’m asking for the favor of distribution. In order for these small favors to aggregate up to the level of support that I need, there must be many small favors. I ask that you please share this request with people in your network (to the extent that it feels easy to do so, as specified above).

Thirdly, I’m asking that you think creatively about ways to contribute and distribute that also support others as well, not just me. The more mutual benefit there is across multiple people, the more overall support you provide to the structure as a whole.

Specific asks

To get more concrete about what exactly I’m asking for, here are some specific requests organized into increasing levels of involvement. Please remember that I’m asking for small favors only. Do only what feels easy.

Every small favor is a domino that starts a chain reaction.

Level 1

• Prayers. If you pray, pray for the success of these 3 projects for the benefit of all beings.
• Mettā. If you practice mettā meditation, send some mettā my way and to everyone involved in these 3 projects.
• Familiarity. Become familiar with these 3 projects. Read through the following links to learn more about them and the concepts they are based on. Spend some time thinking about how these ideas are relevant to you and the things you care about.
  • The Church of Collective Providence
    • Main website
    • Explainer about collective providence and symmetrical synergy
  • Tetra [City]
    • Main website
  • Harmonic
    • Main website
    • Explainer about acceptance voting

Level 2

• Feedback. Let me know what you think about these projects, what resonates, what doesn’t. Let me know what you think needs improving.
• Sharing. Share these projects with people in your network, especially people you think might resonate with these ideas.
• Participation. Consider joining and participating in whatever way feels right for you. Consider how you might make the idea of collective providence your own, start a Tetra in your city (or join Tetra Seattle if you’re in Seattle), sign up for Harmonic, invite your friends to join you.

Level 3

Just to reiterate one more time, I’m asking for small favors only. Only offer support that is easy for you to provide and does not require any significant sacrifice on your part. The following requests should be ignored if they seem too big of an ask. Only help with these requests if you happen to be in the unique position where it’s not a big deal for you, or if you know someone in such a position and can easily pass along the request.

• Resources
  • Money. I have not done a great job of making money recently. I hope to change that soon, but in the meantime, I could use some help with rent and groceries and other necessities. If you have disposable income that you can spare, you can send me money directly through this payment portal, but only if it’s easy for you to do. Again, small favors only.
  • Healthcare. As mentioned above, my health situation is a bottleneck on everything I do. I also reside in the United States where healthcare costs can be quite complicated and unpredictable. I would be grateful for any resources that might help with my health situation.
  • Housing. My family and I will be looking for a more affordable living situation in the Seattle area in the next few months. Also, part of the long-term goal of Tetra Seattle is to establish common spaces for gatherings and such, and potentially group houses as well. Let me know if you have property or connections that might be helpful.
• Expertise
  • Coaching. If I had the money, I would hire a bunch of coaches to help me figure things out. Please let me know if you offer coaching of some kind (especially in the domain of business) and you’re willing to provide some free coaching time.
  • Open-source software development. I can’t build Harmonic on my own. But before I onboard contributors, I need to clarify the vision and business model so that I can discern between what is needed and what is not. I also need to get a better sense of what exactly I’m getting myself into with this project. If you have experience with running an open-source project similar to Harmonic, I would be very interested in talking with you about your experience.
  • Community organizing. Tetra Seattle is a community organizing project, but I don’t really know much about community organizing. In fact, my approach at this point is basically to treat Tetra as a community organizing study project. I could use some mentors who have perspective and can help point me in the right direction.
• Reach
  • Audience. If you have an audience on social media or other communication channels and would be willing to share with your audience this request or any of these projects, I would be grateful for the visibility boost. If you are on twitter specifically, you can retweet this tweet.
  • Writing. These projects are kinda weird and require explaining. I do my best, but I could use help more clearly communicating these ideas. I would be grateful for writing assistance.
  • Introductions. If you are connected to anyone who might be uniquely positioned to help me out, I would be very grateful for any introductions you are willing to provide.

Sticker distribution network

As a token of my gratitude for your support, I would like to give you a sticker. This may seem like a trivial gesture, but it represents something much more meaningful to me, and I hope it will to you as well. The image on the sticker is a drawing of two figures whose heads wrap around into a singular shape, representing how You and I are not actually separate. We are connected. We are part of the same shape.

The sticker is my way of saying that I recognize you as an important part of this story we are creating together. I would not be able to do these things without your help.

To make it fun, I’m choosing to make the process of sticker distribution into a game.

Rules of the game:

1. Stickers must be handed off directly from person to person. No shipping or placing in mailboxes.
2. You must keep track of the path that the sticker traveled to get to you, i.e. which nodes in the network got the sticker from me to you.
3. (Optional) You can join the distribution network yourself and help pass along stickers to others.

For people in the Seattle area, I can hand you stickers myself, whether it’s at the weekly Office Hours or some other event. I’ll also be at Cascade Camp 2025 and will hand out stickers there. For everyone else, I’ll do my best to catch people in the network who are traveling through Seattle so they can take stickers back with them, and then we’ll need to coordinate further handoffs from there. I will be setting up a group on Harmonic very soon to coordinate and will announce it on Twitter when it’s ready.

🙏 Thank You

Thank you for reading this request for help, and thank you for whatever level of support you choose to provide. May you be well. I send you my love. ❤️