> His book, The Network State (TNS), puts forth a new social contract enabled by “Web3 technology,” centered on blockchains
I love articles that give me a magic sentence right at the front that tells me I don't need to read any more
I love articles that give me a magic sentence right at the front that tells me I don't need to read any more
2009.
Why do I think that Spiderman has just schooled me on my age.
There's a lot to be said for pseudonyminity.
That's just not the world most people want to live in...
Multi signature wallets exist.
Well... with a traditional bank, everyone knows that in a pinch you can just show up at any branch of your bank, present a government issued ID card and get your money. That doesn't need an user manual or any technical knowledge.
Setting up multi-sig wallets and actually working disaster protection however? That needs a looot of knowledge.
I made this exact argument in discussions with "blockchain" proponents, in discussions of why "code as law" was not good, and got near-universal, vehement disagreement. I suspect that you underestimate how many people argue it.
I wish this were a laughing matter, but it's not. These people appear to be quite serious and quite capable. There's a coalition in play that includes the Project 2025 authors among others, operating at a scope that a lot of people don't fully appreciate. If this coalition holds together, they may be able to execute what many would consider a rather frightening agenda.
Despite its cheesy title, this video ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RpPTRcz1no ) offers an interesting perspective on Balaji Srinivasan and his place in a larger web of influence alongside people like Yarvin, Musk, and Vance. It's eye-opening. She released it back in November and promptly took a lot of flack from people calling her alarmist and conspiracy-prone, and now it's basically playing out in real time.
The Corpos seizing power from a failing democracy, instigating war, and then declaring their own territories and power structures. From which the country, the world, never recovers.
Hey stupid, who is going to work in your factories?
And follow the premise from there.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1549867.Planet_of_No_Ret...
In this world free of geography, who exactly is responsible for keep all of the geographically constrained plumbing in operation while you recline at your desk and enjoy the digital porcelain? And would a board of corporate overlords owning your patch of land really serve you better than a council of local representatives?
Your internet pipes are starting right behind the modem. So is your electricity. The energy mix powering your life depends on the geopolitics of your area, as it might be nuclear/solar/hydro/gas/fuel powered and therefore dependent on your country's stance towards nuclear power plants, renewables, your country's geography, and natural resources. Your power bill at the end of the month also largely depends on that stuff, amongst most other things. Consequently so does your net income and ability to enjoy all that tech.
The content served to you is generally on CDNs nearest to you. A vast majority of the content you produce and consume is extremely related to relatively localized influences, such as your English keyboard, the average search engine results that are biased towards your location, any of the myriad of system settings that accommodate for your local culture, etc. Side-note: as a French (France) citizen in Quebec (Canada) it's been absolute hell trying to actually access the internet I knew back home, because search engines flat out don't show me what I used to get in fr_fr since fr_ca dominates here. (Kagi offsets that a bit thanks to locale being selectable, although there's a dearth of results at times somehow, perhaps driven by differences between what's preferred on the pipes in North America vs Europe).
When and how you access these technologies depends nearly entirely on your local area, as you're generally unlikely to be jogging at 2:30am your time, unlikely to play your games mid-day on a weekday as defined by your country and culture, etc.
And when a storm hits your area, the whole world won't care but your neighbor will have to protect himself and his belongings just as much as you will.
While we are indeed more connected than ever before, the primary things we've connected are our anxieties and rich people's consolidated power. The rest remains profoundly local.
Defense from strongman-style authoritarians and bandits
> How long until we free ourselves entirely from this constraint?
When we overcome the gravity well with several orders of magnitude less energy than required. Then the constraint is still geography, but allows people to spread out.