The promise of crypto-networks is to codify human freedoms in software so these freedoms cannot be co-opted👇
Network effects unfurl unchecked and users cannot exit these systems. Central services are easily co-opted. The Internet converged to digital Feudalism and Oligopoly.
Individuals are subject to the whims of digital monarchs who track our every movement and can single-handedly cut us off from the digital economy.
We can do in the digital realm what many have done in the real world: emigrate to new territory
This time, we can encode our values directly into the digital platforms
People repeatedly fight for the same fundamental rights -- freedom of speech and thought, freedom of assembly, freedom from unreasonable search and seizure, a right to privacy, etc.
In fact, there is a risk we regress. Platforms will emerge with value systems far worse than the Internet for individual freedoms.
Because these arguments have failed in the past does not mean these arguments or their proponents will fail again
In the short term, we must make our case using language that people understand.
Privacy aware, decentralized networks protect freedom of speech, create more transparent markets, protect us from unreasonable search and seizure, and help preserve due process
We make progress when ideas on the fringe are free to enter the mainstream.