Thread by @urbitlive

Fiat networking is based upon deception, just like fiat money.

Thread:

Fiat “networks” are created on top of the existing internet software stack (Unix/TCP/IP).

The fiat paradigm is also known as the client-server model.

These networks aren’t networks at all. They are massive, central servers owned by companies like Facebook and Google.

All of our data lives on these servers. When we “network” through them, we are really just being served each other’s information from a central server. We never actually connect.

Whoever controls these servers has absolute power on the network, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Fiat networking has given us widespread censorship on the internet. What in reality is more akin to a public utility is bent to serve special interests.

Private data ownership does not and cannot exist on fiat networks. The data has always been theirs and always will be, so long as it is stored on their server.

Possession is nine-tenths of the law.

Fiat networks put the all the world’s data in a few places, making them the ultimate tool for mass surveillance and the destruction of privacy.

This concentration of valuable data also creates large attack vectors for criminals and is leading to unsustainable amounts of data theft. For this reason alone, fiat networks may not be tenable in the future.

All of that data in a few places creates dangerous potential for strong AI, if strong AI is possible, which we do not yet know.

Because most of the information on the internet flows through these servers, fiat networking companies become god-like gate keepers of information. They determine what we see and therefore what we think. It is manipulation at scale.

Fiat networking companies make their profit by owning our data and selling us ads. Their entire UI/UX becomes centered around selling these ads, addicting us and stealing as much of our attention as possible. This has detrimental effects on the individual and society.

Fiat networks are difficult to leave. They own our data and their powerful network effects stomp out competition. It is digital feudalism.

Urbit fixes this. All of this. But that is for another thread.