I might be misunderstanding the Solid protocol (Very likely). Also I mixed up Mastodon and Diaspora. In both cases, however, you are beholden to whoever runs your instance.

I agree, however, that we need a both strategy. I wouldn't get rid of the whole messy TLS/HTTP/TCP/IP + DNS stack. It is a nice way to authenticate and access widely available services. But it is a nightmare of lock in and for identity and personal data. I think we can use the current paradigm to bootstrap something that looks like a magic p2p network.

So, like you suggested, that is exactly what I am building for myself. It doesn't use Nostr and Solid, because I think they have missed the mark. I am probably wrong, but I have the ability if not so much the time, to give it a try.

The worst outcome will be that I end up with a unique way to sync my personal data across my computers at home that no one else uses.