A long long time ago, when my beard was still all one color, as I traveled through Nepal and Southeast Asia I would often hear: "oos-sthe-oos-sthe-ho". While I can't seem to find the exact phrase, that is what is sounded like: "oos-sthe-oos-sthe-ho". Same Same But Different. It was a common Nepali phrase to explain something that, well, was the same but different. Whether it was a menu item, a place, an animal, or an object, it was: same same but different.

Now after four years of banging my head against the wall I can say same same but different about nature, ecosystems, natural capital, finance, technology, art, and law. Likewise are all the other concepts and disciplines that are needed to undo the human induced global changes while simultaneously creating a regenerative and resilient future.

Even after all the work that has gone into trying to explain what BASIN is, and now SITUS, I still struggle to quickly and succinctly explain it. Whether this be a protocol, a hyperstructure, a network, a system, or a framework, BASIN and SITUS reduce risk and ensure resilience by protecting and restoring ecosystems and the benefits they provide in perpetuity.

Despite countless whiteboard sessions, back of napkin sketches, deep conversations, flow charts, graphic visuals, and help from lots of smart and thoughtful people, it makes sense to conclude: same same but different.

The reason is, no matter which way I looked at it and approached it, it always came back to the core concepts of stocks and flows, spatial and temporal, and fungible and non-fungible among others. Yes, binary, I know. But it seems to work, especially when overlaid on each other. Of course context matters but so does context switching while being cognizant that complex is not the same as complicated. It can be a grid but it can also be concentric. It is all relational.

For now, I will spare you the details of each of the nine contexts. The core concepts are emergent. Look down and across, from the outside in, and vice versa. No matter which way I look at it, fractals are everywhere. To me, this makes sense, it is all part of nature.

Just like anything in life, we can call something by one name but it is really many things. With the quest of oversimplification abandoned, I am now at peace. And with the why and what behind us, I am excited to show you the practical "how", to show rather than tell.

The contracts are live, the frontend / UI for the Situs app is almost ready. I am excited to bring it all together: from BASIN to Ensurance to all the Onchain Groups (OG's) that will be a part of the Situs Protocol.

To get early access, simply join the /situs channel.