Decentralizing Trust

Thinking about this post by Locrian.

Or, rather, this post by Locrian intersects some thoughts I've had on internet, decentralization, and the physical world.

Although the internet is immaterial [in a way], if you think hard enough about decentralizing it you end up at odds with the fact that there is a physical structure at the base of it all, which must be maintained.

[see Max L's question]

The Internet (the immaterial parts of it) are able to be 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘺 decentralized (viz. cryptography). The physical world, not at all. And so people online notice every so often 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘤𝘳𝘺𝘱𝘵𝘰𝘤𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 that it's not such a bad idea to have some degree of centralization on trusted (IRL) entities, because the Internet leaks into the real world.

On the other hand this means that I can't connect to the internet unless my ISP agrees to let me do so (and keeps the cables intact), and that you and me can't really propose new TLDs.

I feel like no matter the advances in cryptography and communication tech (LoRA), it will never be possible to get rid of these fundamental centralizations, which are essentially anchors for trust in the real world.

(I imagine your thoughts on this are different if you are an anarchist.)

Instead, the idea that you can "decentralize" these fundamental powers by making multiple, 𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 entities that keep each other in check (something that Paul Frazee kind of clumsily discusses in this article) is much more attractive to me.

Regardless of the form, decentralization makes (IRL) power structures more resilient to power concentration, which is obviously something we should/must strive for, but I do think that you won't be able to solve distrust with a blockchain.

🔙