An open letter to all #nostriches on the future of the nostr protocol and freedom tech with the intent to start a discussion that will benefit all.

I will start off with what may be considered either a very bold or a very boring statement: The biggest fight for freedom in the near future is going to be how to fund freedom tech. This open letter is not going to point out the obvious flaws in our current electronics hardware production model. I am wanting to focus on the adoption, growth, and sustainment of mostly the software layer of permission-less systems that grant individuals sovereign control of their own data, securing both their stored value and their privacy (if they so choose).

A majority of users of the internet are living in a very heavily subsidized market and those subsidies have so distorted the market that literal billions of people have no real idea how much it should cost to nearly instantly send and receive data from any point in the world to another. One exception to this, and it us only a partial exception, are those with a pay-as-you-go plan for data. They are more aware of costs, but, with hardwired data (which wifi is connected to) or even direct satellite connections without data caps becoming more and more ubiquitous, the tendency is for data costs to continue to drop, but, they will never not be zero. Much of these costs are covered by governments, through either taxation, bonds, or money printing and also by big tech companies that are funding the massive power and hardware infrastructure necessary to run the internet in the original command and control model that was specified. These costs are obfuscated by several layers of abstraction which are vital for people to understand before they can fully embrace freedom tech. The abstractions from the costs of running the internet have created a huge market distortion. Subsidization and centralization are the key elements causing most to never think much about the costs, much like a black hole distorts space so severely that no light can escape once it passes the event horizon. This ignorance of the costs is likely intentional, and it is very hard for most people to break free from that way of thinking. This distortion, that of thinking that goods and services should be "free" is at the root of many other insidious societal issues we all face. It must be challenged and subsumed by the truth. (And we can and should debate what that is, in this case!)

If we, as the intrepid users of what could very well be the freest of all freedom tech, do not actively and intentionally engage in building a real market for these services, the distortion of the centralized, concentrated players will doom most efforts to build systems that respect freedom and privacy before they can come to fruition. This is the biggest issue I see with the whole of the nostr protocol if it is to be a growing, thriving place for all notes and other stuff to be transmitted by relays.

To the devs:

Whining about costs to people who have no idea what the costs actually are makes you look like a raving lunatic talking about how your frog-slime capture system is really better than the fish-slime capture system. Another mistake is beating them about the head for "not knowing" about basic economic principles and just how distorted the internet we are all using is. Most people don't have a clue and many of them will also not care that the internet sucks and they are being sold. Build better products and services that are desirable, and take the time to explain up front that this cannot and should not be "free" of cost. Yes, it takes a lot of effort, but explaining the practical applications of value for value will only make those that adopt to the new systems, products, and services more savvy and better customers in the long run.

To all the users of the nostr protocol:

It would behoove you to learn that you are living in a market bubble that will eventually burst, and if you wish to have not a crappy fall-back but a front row seat to the future of open, permission-less freedom tech, you had better learn to budget for services rendered at a fair market rate. Learn to provide value for others and receive value on return, and if you do that, the cost of using the nostr protocol will most likely be covered by that alone.

I'd very much like to hear your take on these thoughts, as I am always concerned with founding principles and strong foundations. I don't see that often enough in the context of onboarding new #nostriches. Not educating them in these things is a mistake, as the sticker shock of what these kinds of services should actually cost when one is not being exploited by an evil corporation that is actively attempting to addict you to their products to turn your time and attention into something they can sell will absolutely turn people away, thus sowing the seeds of failure that will eventually choke the life out of this wild and wonderful place.

#plebchain #grownostr #nostr #nostriches #sovdata #devs #development #dev #marketing