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Abstract

Cypherspaces

Cryptographic identity, secure communication, aligned storage, and an open protocol together form a new kind of digital medium. This medium honors the individual as one who may or may not choose to reveal himself. It encourages reliance on relationships through webs of trust and self-hosted infrastructure. As an open protocol it encourages generosity, invites participation, and welcomes new ways of articulating the exchange of different kinds of information. Nostr is as yet untried and will no doubt be revealed to have its own flaws and perverse incentives, but it follows in the footsteps of bitcoin as being a new way of arranging digital technology for human flourishing, rather than for profit.

Outline

"Punk"

  • Cyberpunk is a dark, anarcho-capitalist future in which individuals are marginalized by the irresitible forces of technological and market incentives.
    • "Low life and high tech" (Bruce Sterling)
  • Solarpunk is an appealing vision, but is basically socialistic and focused on ecology.
  • The various "-punk" subgenres are connected by the idea of social disruption. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hopepunk)
  • We are in a crisis, and yes, we do need social disruption.
  • Cypherpunk
    • Cypherpunk manifesto
    • Rooted in reality, not in fiction
      • PGP lawsuit, short history of cypherpunk
    • I'm not advocating for crypto anarchy, but it has great ideas

"Cypherspaces"

  • A "cyberspace" which respects the real-world values of the member by operating within a system oriented to user agency.
  • Plural, because of the pluralism inherent in localism
  • Cypher also means zero - a sign of humility; the digital world is nothing except in service to the material world, and thereby to human spiritual flourishing.

Candidates

  • Twitter, Facebook
  • Mastodon, Bluesky
    • Gleason
    • Zooko's triangle
  • Threads, Truth Social
    • Whitewashed Mastodon
  • Crypto: deso, steemit
    • Crypto is a bad idea, it leans into instrumentalizing relationships
    • It also doesn't scale
  • Others: p2panda

Brief history of nostr

  • SSB
  • Bitcoin (which is cypher-money)
  • Jack Dorsey
  • OpenSats
  • Stats

Bringing it together

  • Cryptographic identity
    • Achieving digital localism in a decentralized setting
      • Implicit: Web of trust/social clustering, spam, recommendations
      • Explicit: Nominal community access controls, infrastructure (relays, but also reticulum, mints, etc)
  • Aligned storage
  • Open protocol
    • Frictional design (Superbloom 225)
    • Embrace of context, contra feeds (Carr, 64)

A call to responsibility

  • Convenience/control trade off balance
  • It's worth it to remain free
  • Let it spread to other parts of life
    • Ethical investing
    • Homeschooling
    • Sourcing food
    • Choosing employment
  • Your choices matter, choose with integrity