Great idea.
First Qs that come to mind
How does Nostr user experience compare with Twitter?
What client(s) do you use?
From what I’ve seen, current user base is highly concentrated among Bitcoiners. Thoughts on implications this has for user experience and network growth?
What do you think of Twitter blocking Substack links?
Is Block building on/for NOSTR?
You can learn most of these answers just looking at his past notes and replies tbh
Got it. I haven’t reviewed his posts thoroughly. Anything in particular that I *should* ask?
Can you break out questions next time? 1 q per note.
Best way to gain adoption in global south?
How does he foresee zaps being utilized in the global south that would surprise us?
I believe there are many applications for nostr beyond being a "Twitter clone". Value4value (zaps) is a very interesting concept with a lot of avenues for monetizing on a peer to peer basis that may have otherwise been unscaleable. Perhaps #[3] sees it that way as well? Any thoughts or imaginative ideas where we can go from here?
Real time thrift shopping. Find an object in store, list it, walk around and keep listing items. Get paid what you're asking, then check out and ship it to buyer when you get home. Something like that. Or have a list of items people are requesting that they can't get where they're at or are hard to get...
I can see an online marketplace/listing type relay service. Make it a paid relay (one time, sub, or per note) and you can cut out the spam.
Would be great to have a client that allows you to toggle bundled relays with a single click. For example, turn off all your normal social relays and turn on your merchant relays. (Or just make an alt account)
Definite
1. How does Nostr user experience compare with Twitter?
It’s both at parity and far more advanced. Zaps are far more advanced and a leapfrogging. As is logging in with a key pair. As is autopilot relay model in some clients.
2. What client(s) do you use?
Primarily Damus for iOS, gossip for desktop, and a variety of web clients (snort and coracle).
3. From what I’ve seen, current user base is highly concentrated among Bitcoiners. Thoughts on implications this has for user experience and network growth?
Bitcoiners tend to be pretty principled and focused on building tools to enable more self sovereignty, so I think it will turn out very well for individuals. But like Twitter, I think there are many other niches you aren’t seeing yet because you aren’t on those relays.
4. What do you think of Twitter blocking Substack links?
I don’t believe Twitter should block any links. Is this true?
5. Is Block building on/for NOSTR?
Yes.
Interesting re: other niches
#[4] are you aware of any other niches developing on Nostr with their own relays?
Not yet, but might already exist. I think once markets (offers/bids) come in, they will likely prefer separate relays if similar kind used
What niches need to exist, or specifically what niches dont yet exist?
Thanks for this. Yes Twitter has blocked engagement with posts containing Substack links as of ~this morning
A few more Qs:
—What other user niches should I check out here? (i.e. what other communities have a notable presence?)
—Any further response to the Hindenburg report — or any development to know of since it dropped?
—Thoughts on Jason Lowery’s Softwar thesis?
—What have you read recently that’s shaped your thinking on the evolution of the internet?
1. Growing artist community. That will grow faster with zaps and the fact we finally have global permissionless payments on the internet.
2. All of this is public elsewhere b
3. Don’t know it.
Thanks, Jack. I appreciate this. I expect I’ll write up this interview Monday.
May come back to you with more Qs in the future when I’ve gone deeper on NOSTR
Have a great weekend!
—-
For anyone else reading this —would appreciate your thoughts on NOSTR’s development and the evolution of the internet
🫂
This is genius! Great work #[3] - this is the future of transparent and honest journalism. I am resending this note to all relays I am connected to (including my relay ). I think #nostr will be a powerful tool for True and Honest Journalism.
I'm a cartoon character and won a bet with another cartoon character on here for 0.5 Monero. He didn't pay me for a while so I called him a scammer then he paid me and called me a pussy. It's pretty magical here, I'm a fan.
😂😂
Well, here’s a legacy thread that you can read that details my position on ethereum / crypto / web3 / NFTs
Bitcoin is not Crypto.
The revolution will not be premined.
My $0.02 as no one special - the integration of the frictionless payments network (lighting) in the protocol nostr is truly revolutionary, as P2P exchanges are not tracked nor fees taken from it. Absolutely under appreciated.
Nice! If you would like some info from us - team developing Plebstr (multiplatform Nostr client) let us know 🤙
A few links that demonstrate the potential the Nostr protocol has beyond this initial social media use case. Also a reminder that while Dorsey is arguably the most prominent Nostr user at the moment (Snowden has been inactive lately) the protocol was created by @nostr:npub180cvv07tjdrrgpa0j7j7tmnyl2yr6yr7l8j4s3evf6u64th6gkwsyjh6w6.
Music:
https://makers.bolt.fun/story/introducing-zapstr--698
Market:
https://makers.bolt.fun/story/introducing-goodstr--682
Zaps (the movement of money in the value4value model):
Chess:
File sharing and pasting:
Long form content (like Substack):
Virtual hangout rooms (like Twitter Spaces/Clubhouse)
These are just some of the usecases that came to mind. There are more I'm forgetting and many more I'm not even aware of. The rate of development remarkable.
Oter resources to get a more holistic idea (although still probably not exhaustive):
Apps like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, OnlyFans, etc. won't survive unless they leverage Nostr as their backend. The network effects, integration with lightning, and uncensorability of this protocol can't be ignored.
I'm learning from your questions, Ben. Thank you. I thought Axios would be here first...
Open-source, permission-less, and decentralised protocols - most notably Bitcoin for sound money and Nostr for information - are empowering individuals, regardless of background or economic status, across the world. They provide critical checks and balances on the centralising and monopolising tendencies of states (e.g. CBDCs, social credit scores) and large corporations (e.g. deplatforming, anti-free speech).
I’m excited about where this platform can go. I initially came here to learn and read about what’s happening in web3. I am not a dev, and don’t always understand the nuance, but I work in an industry that was impacted by digital assets and could be changed by the growth of ai, laws surrounding cryptocurrency, & web3. There are very few people IRL I can ask about block and fintech that know what they’re talking about. I love the anonymity on nostr and advocate freedom for its users. In time, I do hope the user base grows & I can find chat streams with people outside of tech.
This is by far the greatest thing to happen this decade and possibly this century for the general masses.
In a matter of months Nostr has gone from something the likes of free speech advocates from early 2020 were told they should build if they wanted to share their conspiracy ideas and wished they had already, to being more advanced and feature rich than a half dozen decades old multibillion dollar social media companies.
Not to mention it brings all levels of identity validation, spam mitigation, true user engagement (no algos), seamless commerce, and more to the table in addition.
In some ways, we're getting back to the 90s and the early days of the Internet: building protocols that are open and enabling a lot of innovation on top of it.
For example, everyone knows error 404 but 402 was there also (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Status/402).
Now, the payments have materialised and are as easy as visiting someone's profile on nostr. It's called zapping or public tips but it can be used for more than tips.
Another aspect of the early Internet was the openness to innovation. Everybody could contribute, and the spirit of building, discovery and awe was there. It was a new frontier where a lot of opportunities were possible before the centralisation and silos.
A third aspect is more generic but you have a community feel on nostr. And, it's a global village at the moment that is respectful, inspiring and supportive.
The fourth one is related to the underlying principles of liberty and openness that are pretty much in question in every part of the world.
Johan Norberg's book Open: The Story of Human Progress is a wonderful explainer of this phase and its importance. A few quotes from my review:
"There are periods in history where different cultures with different religions, ethnicities and locations had rule of law, rapid economic growth and scientific progress. These upturns were often sudden, unexpected and very expansive with population and income growth...
All of them have commonalities that are the basic message of the book: people were open to new and different ideas, innovations, cultures, habits, foreigners, technologies, business models and more importantly to the uncertainty that opening up to something different and strange bring."
https://www.petrikajander.com/open-the-story-of-human-progress/
A lot of the frontiers are closed at this point. Space travel is not accessible yet. Metaverse has not really taken off. Invasive wars are a reality now that has set us back almost 100 years. Money printing and all the rest of the troubles in the economies are also making things look grim.
nostr and AI are examples of new frontiers that are exciting, full of opportunities and are shaping our future in very unpredictable ways.
#Nostr and #Lightning⚡will eat the internet
#4 🎯
Softwar thesis is basically Bitcoin mining is a weapon of defense, and thus protected under the second amendment.
Disconnected from the law and dangerous:
https://www.bitcoinbrief.io/no-the-second-amendment-doesnt-protect-bitcoin-mining/
Pittori, musicisti e artisti digitali, si stanno spostando un po' alla volta qui su #nostr.
Sono questi che dovresti controllare.
substack and twitter are old and done
YES
For the not tech coder person it’s a little challenging. That also keeps it less trashy at the same time. It’s got the best people that made Twitter great for me. The low and slow build is fine with me. Less mistake. Difficulty makes quality. No strength without resistance. But it’s not gonna appeal quick to the masses. That’s the good part I believe 😂
Bitcoiners is one way to describe it. It’s common theme and topic. But seems to be more that that. What that is we need to figure out.
I’m glad I found everyone. Y’all just disappeared on Twitter and it got strange
Adding Lightning to Square payment terminals is the biggest real world impact you can have on Bitcoin right now.
Where is that at?
I don’t believe it’s the biggest impact I can have on bitcoin right now. It would be relatively small in the markets we are in. Biggest impact use case is remittance.
You gotta try amethyst #[4]
What are 'those relays'? I wanna see the niche relays. Would be great to see a relay directory searchable by keywords/topics/niches.
Ben, setup zaps ⚡ so we can send you some sats as show of appreciation for doing this open interview.
Check out guide by #[4]
Agreed! and in nostr, you create as you go. Congrats for kicking off this open interview with Jack!
