Profile picture
John Backus @backus
, 6 tweets, 3 min read Read on Twitter
Discussed my favorite internet history w/ @eriktorenberg + @tonysheng. Themes:

• How does decentralization evolve?
• "Minimum viable decentralization" and UX
• Tokenization + monetizing decentralization

Full episode: overcast.fm/+LDKfi3AII

Thread w/ timestamped sections 👇
How do we understand the waves of decentralization for p2p? Starting w/ centralized mp3 sharing in '97, why did get BitTorrent + The Pirate Bay in '06?

Each wave's tech + go-to-market behavior was shaped by historical legal action!

Link to section: overcast.fm/+LDKfi3AII/4:05
Why don't we have good _decentralized_ search for BitTorrent? Theories:

• Decentralized search is just HARD
• Netflix + Spotify marked end of people learning how to use more confusing decentralized tech
• Implications for crypto today

Link to section: overcast.fm/+LDKfi3AII/12:…
What p2p file sharing history should we not apply to cryptocurrency?

Robustness and availability, mostly. Uptime, replication, and fault tolerance are harder in adversarial contexts. p2p could afford to be less robust than money can.

Link to section: overcast.fm/+LDKfi3AII/20:…
What can p2p file sharing teach us about crypto tokens?

😩 Tokens = 2nd dimension of product/market fit. Hard!
📈 Private torrent trackers are economies
💸 BitTorrent token → cross-tracker arbitrage, faster speeds, long-run storage

Link to section: overcast.fm/+LDKfi3AII/23:…
What is "minimum viable decentralization"?

Decentralize for legally viability. Going further is a weakness. BitTorrent was less decentralized than Kazaa in '06. Freenet maximized decentralization in 2001 and it's STILL unusable today.

Link to section: overcast.fm/+LDKfi3AII/40:…
Missing some Tweet in this thread?
You can try to force a refresh.

Like this thread? Get email updates or save it to PDF!

Subscribe to John Backus
Profile picture

Get real-time email alerts when new unrolls are available from this author!

This content may be removed anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime, convert it as a PDF, save and print for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video

1) Follow Thread Reader App on Twitter so you can easily mention us!

2) Go to a Twitter thread (series of Tweets by the same owner) and mention us with a keyword "unroll" @threadreaderapp unroll

You can practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @backus see all

Profile picture
Failed early internet businesses seem awfully familiar.

> I basically think all the ideas of the 90s that everybody had about how this stuff was going to work, I think they were all right, they were all correct. I think they were just early — @pmarca

Thread 👇
2004 attempt to build Tinder. Short phone calls instead of texting on a mobile app.
Kozmo (1998 - 2001) – wide-ranging local delivery in under an hour. Seems a lot like Postmates today, minus the mobile app
Read 7 tweets
Profile picture
BitTorrent is a well-tuned game-theoretic system during download and a tragedy of the commons after. Private trackers turn the commons into a poorly tuned centrally planed economy (big improvement).

Let's reframe private trackers in economic terms and tune the system!

Thread 👇
Private torrent trackers enforce upload/download ratio requirements. This is actually an "upload credit" centralized currency in disguise!

For example, a 0.25 minimum ratio requirement can be reframed as a credit system:

Credits = (4 * upload) - download
On private torrent trackers, you can view every file as having:

• File price = upload credits it costs to download
• Resale value = upload credits the user can expect to earn by seeding

Both variables strongly influence how users consume content on private trackers
Read 10 tweets
Profile picture
Interested in decentralization today? Learn what worked in the 2000s for p2p file sharing:

⚖️ Decentralization is a legal tactic used alongside activism
⌛ Decentralizing the wrong things is a waste of time
☠️ Decentralizing everything is suicide by bad UX

Thread! 👇
Decentralization should shadow the law it is trying to avoid. Chronology of popular p2p file sharing apps:

1999: Napster
2002: Kazaa
2005: BitTorrent

Each app degraded its UX and altered its protocol for better legal protection.
Decentralization for legal protection at the expense of UX:

• Napster used p2p to avoid central hosting
• Kazaa decentralized file search, hurting results and quality control
• BitTorrent left search to others (The Pirate Bay). Terrible onboarding but better legal positioning
Read 24 tweets

Related threads

Profile picture
I sometimes feel @georgialibs don't get enough high quality, academic press #history & #sociology books. Using the GA Pines automated system, people who are members of participating libraries can get a number of very good books which have recently come to my attention.
"The oldest living things in the world" by Rachel Sussman gapines.org/eg/opac/record…. This photo essay book is a beautiful, mind-expanding paean to our biosphere. (I realize this is a #science #ecology book)
"Talking to my daughter about the economy, or, how capitalism works-- and how it fails" by Yanis Varoufakis @yanisvaroufakis gapines.org/eg/opac/record…
Read 23 tweets
Profile picture
Midway through Ronald Kahn's wonderful book 'The Future of Investment Management'.

The 1st half is solely focused on the evolution of investment management through the last 4 millennia.

And rightly so. Because #history matters.

A quick summary below.

[Retweet if helpful]
Investing as we know it today did not exist before the stock market crash of 1929 & the Great Depression that followed.

Slack regulations, inadequate company disclosures & the general inability to systematically analyse investments kept most investors out of the market.
This state of affairs, however, was soon changed by gurus like Graham, Dodd, Markowitz, Sharpe, Burr, Ross, & others who provided a systematic framework to analyse securities, define risk, & efficiently manage portfolios.
Read 25 tweets
Profile picture
#History/#Art thread – From my recent trip to Madurai/Tirunelveli. On Jain sites (some with a rich history dating back to at least the 3rd cent. BCE), early Pandyan rock-cut cave temples (7th-8th cent. CE) & the amazing Vettuvan koil.

Pic: Mahavira (~8 cent CE), Kizhakuyilkudi
Before I start on the places, the history around all this is fascinating & splits opinion. Is it apt to call the script Tamili/Tamil Brahmi? Did it develop independently in the Tamil country/come with the Jain monks from the north? Were 8,000 Jains actually impaled in Madurai?>
>Were the Saivites overaggressive in promoting their faith? Shall only be happy to discuss on these separately (unless it gets too long/irrational). And I’m not posting every inscription from the places here, despite their importance. Again, shall be happy to discuss them.
Read 40 tweets
Profile picture
#UX spotlight:
@Flipkart's Wishlist.
1. Do not ask me for confirmation when I click to delete an item. Why? Because you've just made me click twice - and move my mouse - when one should have sufficed.
2. Instead, just delete the item from the wishlist and give me an option to "Undo" the action when you show me a confirmation message. OK?
3. Do not show the confirmation message at the bottom of the page, hidden in the footer.
#US @Flipkart
"Who me, Poor?"
MRP: ₹399
Amazon: ₹258
Flipkart: ₹707
🤔🤔
#ecommerce
Read 3 tweets
Profile picture
1) Most of #history is a total lie, designed by people wanting to infer meaning of historical events in a modern context, as a means to elicit a response from you which suits their needs.

This is a story about the #rothschilds from the early 20th century.

#QAnon #GreatAwakening
2) Even within this tweetstorm are probably a lot of missing nuances. Do tell your stories.

I will start after #WWI and the Treaty of Versailles. It never made sense. Why divide #Germany in these pieces and leave it's people impoverished? Isn't this a recipe for resentment?
3) Why did the #Germans, even though a foreign boot never shot a boot on their soil, make overtures of peace to end the #war, while they were poised to win?

Their objectives were met.

Why was the #USA brought into WWI? Why were large payments sent to #communist #Russia? #QAnon
Read 17 tweets
Profile picture
Thread: #ux
Spent the weekend thinking about how a few projects I've come across recently are doing UX theatre, not actual user-centered design. Sadly, it's becoming more prevalent as execs learn the term UX but their teams aren't empowered to do all the work that UX entails.
People pepper their presentations and project charters with claims of user-centered design, but don't talk to users, don't mine data for user insights, don't validate assumptions with users, don't test prototypes or even existing apps/ services/sites with users...
No actual users are involved at any step in the process. But we *think from a user perspective* as in, we role-played using assumptions we made about user behaviour based on our own experiences with the tool.
Read 9 tweets

Trending hashtags

#TeamNutShellReport #IBOR #History #obey #trap #TuesLine #plank #prodmgmt #HUN #murdermonday #art #agile #NotTrue #InternetBillOfRightsNow #Hostages #modernagile #AlternativeInternet #USVIA #MoveEquity #history #palestine #MAGA #cabal #Centralisation #signage

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just three indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member and get exclusive features!

Premium member ($30.00/year)

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!