Epistemology of Crypto and Decentralized Social Media

Who am I

Introductions

  • [[What's your name?]]
  • [[What is your favorite part of the internet?]]
  • [[Who are you on the internet?]]
  • [[How do you socialize on the internet?]]

Why am I running this meetup?

  • My personal vision for what Blockchain Technology was supposed to be did not happen
  • I on boarded a bunch of people to Nostr without a plan for what to do there
  • I will take the points of this discussion and turn it into Blog Post / Essay
  • If someone wants to be a scribe, it would be greatly appreciated

Thesis

I want Blockchain technology to be more than Digital Gold, a tool the new Plutocracy will use to rule the world.

Definitions - Cryptography

  • Hashing for Data Integrity and Validation
  • Public / Private Key Pair
  • Signing
  • Encrypting / Decrypting

Definitions - Decentralization

  • No single server or entity controls the system

Definitions - Federalism

Federalization, refers to the process of organizing or uniting separate entities—such as states, regions, or groups into a single system under a federal structure, where power is divided between a central authority and constituent units.

Definitions - Blockchain

Definitions - Blockchain (My Definition)

Blockchain is a overcomplicated spreadsheet that's really really hard to update, so hard in fact you get paid in Bitcoin if you can update it

Definitions - Social Media

The capacity for individuals to share, tag, and organize media such as images, text, videos with other people.

Question for the Audience

**What does the world look like after Bitcoin replaces the US Dollar?

Bitcoin replace USD?

  • Are people going to pay taxes in Bitcoin?
  • Are banks just going to hold Bitcoin for their Users?
  • What will Bitcoin Plutocrats do to shape the world?
  • No US military means literal Piracy on Global Shipping Lanes
  • A deflationary medium means people may just hoard bitcoin rather than make actual investments leading to a economic depression

Bitcoin replace USD? cont.

  • Bitcoin does not have enough decimal points, on Bitcoin Lightning Network we deal with fees not in Sats but Milisats, Custodian Bitcoin is the only way to scale transactions
  • Given the many failures of DAO's I doubt a real Government's can run on Blockchain
  • The world probably looks like a Cyberpunk Dystopia, City states managed by Oligarchs holding bitcoin, if you disagree speak now

Question for Audience

What is the Blockchain Endgame? Where is Blockchain in 10 Years?

Graymirror Anecdote

In 2020, everyone is relevant. In 2020, anyone can be important.  In 2020, anyone's ideas can spread around the world in seconds.

In 1990, this was exactly what we wanted. In 1990, anyone with a Usenet account could see the future perfectly. In 1990, you didn't even need to be John Perry Barlow.

Graymirror Anecdote Cont.

In 2020, the network would be the government. For the first time, direct democracy would scale.  In 2020, everyone would be their own representative in some planetary assembly. In 2020, we would have real democracy: routed over TCP/IP to everything on Planet Three with two legs that wasn't a bird.

--- Source

Blockchain and Social Media

Blockchain technology with its self sovereign nature, minimal censorship, micro transaction capacity, and reputation tracking would make the perfect combination for a new social media medium. But everyone is still in bed with Big Tech, what would it take for this relationship to change?

Question For Audience

If blockchain has all the features required to bootstrap decentralized social media why hasn't it happened?

Question for Audience

Is the Internet Actually Decentralized?

Centralized Structure of The Internet

  • [[Certificate Authorities]] - 154
  • [[DNS]], [[TLD]] - 1,487
  • [[IP Address]] - ~4.2 Billion 2**32
    • [[BGP]] / [[ASN]] - 80,758

Some Thoughts

  • We need to discuss power specifically
  • Everything in Cyberspace happens to enhance what happens in the real world
  • Media is just memes transfered via Material or Electronic means
  • Blockchain only really exists to coordinate people, that's sorta it

Question for Audience

What should we take away from this conversation?

Takeaways

  • Blockchain Tyranny is a real option
  • The Internet is an Old Boys Club
    • BGP / Autonomous Systems
    • Certificate Authorities
    • DNS
  • The choice not to use a Decentralized Identity and Decentralized Apps is a statement to the systems of power