Nostr Web Client

I think you’re absolutely correct about piggybacking on the WoT that we use offline. The way I see it, the basic methodology of real life WoT should be transferred into the digital realm as a protocol, and that’s what the tapestry protocol is designed to do. The difference is that our brains are limited to Dunbar’s number, about 150. More than that and we can’t keep track of all of the interpersonal relationships. But digital tools don’t have that problem. So imagine scaling from 150 to 8 billion. That’s what we’re going to do!

Daniel Wigton 1y ago

We scale via institutions. As a Catholic I am not more than 3 steps to the Pope and 5-6 to any other Catholic in the world. The trick is creating software and tools that strengthen our existing governments and institutions while not being controlled by them. p2p networks tend to have a strong anti-institutional flavor that is well-motivated but unworkable. Our institutions, as corrupt as they are, do provide a framework for trust beyond the tribal scale. I'd be delighted to be able to create my own private key, but then be able to pop down to the courthouse to get my public key signed so I could vote, and pay taxes automatically but with software the people created and as such doesn't spy on me.

Reply to this note

Please Login to reply.

Discussion

david 1y ago

“with software the people created and as such doesn't spy on me”

💯 %

This is why the WoT needs to curate our software. Open source is better than proprietary, but open source tools are stewarded: GitHub repos have managers, internet standards are managed by committees, etc. Those managers, committees, etc may be well meaning, but are too sluggish. And sometimes they can be captured. WoT can curate our digital tools in a purely decentralized fashion, just like written and spoken languages. No stewards. No single points of failure.