Forget the moral rhetoric for a moment and consider this logically. 🖖

There is a real cost to the moderated platform model, especially when the moderation is also coming from the centralized entity responsible for the platform's growth.

The devs are busy building moderation tools to suppress [hateful] speech. Consequentially there is no time for building QoL (quality of life) UX improvements nor innovation.

In a moderated platform model, the world that the community lives in is built within defined borders that shrink over time. Unsustainable policing and anger await.

In a FOSS decentralized protocol model, the moderation is delegated to each individual user. Consequentially the Devs' time are not occupied by building tools to suppress speech. Nor are they beholden to any central entity's corporate goals. They have the freedom to build however and whatever they chose. Users are thus availed the freedom of choice.

Coupled with the freedom to simply and instantly migrate their profile to any client they wish, users have a very influential voice as to what gets created and the projects the devs choose to pursue.

In a decentralized protocol, the world the community lives in stretches as far as the eye can see. Seemingly limitless possibility and optimism await.

When those in a community are constantly suppressed, the population collapses or revolts.

When those in a community are constantly supported, the population rallies and flourishes.

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What is NOSTR?

Tell Below!! (wrong answers only)

What is the best way to explain Nostr to newbies in ~5 lines of text? The best answers get some money of variable quantity.

I spent the first 20 years of my adult life wasting it in "political action". I stood for parliament in New Zealand, was part of a group of three who wrote the founding philosophy of another party (still existing), and finally ended up forming my own party.

However, in the mid-90s, after reading "How I found freedom in an unfree world" by Harry Browne, I entered a period of intense self reflection which ended up with me abandoning political action completely. In fact, the last time I voted was in 1997.

Since then I have come to realise that democracy is a charade, a sham - a smoke and mirrors operation.

We are offered the opportunity to vote every three to five years, casting our lot for typically one of two political parties. The belief is that by doing so we have a meaningful say - via our elected representatives - in the future of our country.

Of course all this is tosh. It doesn't really matter who we vote for or which party wins. At the end of the day no meaningful change ever happens - just fiddling on the margins.

Over the years I have come to realise the real power is beyond public politics, beyond voting and beyond accountability. In particular, since Covid there has been an obvious global coordination of policy - at least in the West. None of this policy ever reaches the ballot box and changing parties doesn't undo any bad policy.

The most infuriating thing is how we are propagandised into believing we live in "free" societies when the truth is the absolute opposite.

The revolution must continue. It started with the separation of church and state. We are now in the separation of money and state phase, closely followed by the separation of communication networks and state.

But to be fully free we must also acknowledge that the way we are currently governed is unsustainable and contrary to all the requirements of a free society.

We live in exciting times.

I will continue to support damus iOS for the forseeable future, but to do things such as zapraisers and zap-to-unlock, i will need a different platform to build on. This is why I started an alternative, cross-platform client back in december that works on linux+mac desktop, android and web. This should also be the fastest client, it uses rust and low level graphics apis.

Building a client like like this is much more difficult, but will be worth it in the long run. Damus iOS will continue to be where I spend most of my time, and we plan on making it the best iOS onboarding experience for nostr, but if we’re going to build a new circular economy for bitcoin in cyberspace, the apple appstore isn’t the place for this.