Thread by @cdixon

The reason I like the phrase “computers that can make commitments” is that it expresses the full generality of the blockchain app design space.

cdixon.org/2020/01/26/com…

(I realize it hasn’t caught on yet - I think it will eventually :))

There is nothing inherently financial about blockchains. Finance happens to be a design-rich subdomain, because blockchains can make commitments about scarcity, ownership, immutable code, etc.

But you can also make other kinds of commitments. For example, ENS makes commitments around how its namespace works and is governed.

You can’t have a situation like this with DNS where a private equity firm tried to control the entire .org tld icdsoft.com/blog/the-org-c…

We’ll soon be seeing social networks and marketplaces that make commitments to users, developers, and creators. This will include commitments to fair and consistent rules and economics for creators and developers.

A secondary effect of a system that can make commitments is that people are willing to invest in and around the system, in the same way people are willing to invest in a country with a predictable rule of law.

No matter how many smart people a big company employs, the vast majority of smart people don't work for them (Joy's Law).

Making credible commitments is an important prerequisite for winning the hearts and minds of the developers and creators.

This is how web1 won, and how web3 will also.