(2022-07-31) Brander Redecentralization

Gordon Brander on Redecentralization. A few more thoughts on how decentralization enables permissionless innovation, and what it might mean for today’s web.

My takeaway: Perhaps there is a rule of thumb here? If you decentralize, the system will recentralize, but one layer up.

What if we reimagined the web from Paul Baran’s point of view?

First, where is the web lacking these qualities today? In general, the web has recentralized around:

Trust

Data

Infrastructure

Attention

Domain names

*the web binds trust, data and infrastructure to domains through the same-origin security policy.

As a result, attention gets driven toward domains, which control trust, data, and infrastructure.*

So what might an r-selected web look like? One that decouples data, trust, infrastructure, and names?

Content addressing is the big little idea behind IPFS. With content addressing (CIDs), you ask for a file using a hash of its contents.

for me, the real magic of content addressing is credible exit. If everything is CIDs, you can take your data with you. It’s not trapped by SaaS silos.

UCAN decouples trust from origin

We love UCANs enough that we’re building rs-ucan, an open-source Rust implementation.

I think the wallet app paradigm is the way to go. Apple thinks so too.

Petnames decouple names from origin

Where does it recentralize?

It might even be that aggregation is amplified by decentralization, since aggregation is a function of demand, not supply

Keys are free, so centralization is likely to happen around Sybil-resistance, identity, reputation. Information is free, so centralization is likely to happen around spam, moderation, search, ads, discovery

Overall, I think I see the outline of something protopian, rather than utopian.