Freedom and security on the asset side is the greatest value that encryption brings to the world.
Author: whiskoy.eth
Cover: Photo by Nathan Watson on Unsplash
I read the preface of the book "Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet" a long time ago. The pursuit of freedom is the unremitting mission of generations, but the outcome of each revolution is inevitable failure. Whether it is the Internet in ancient times or the current encryption space, it seems that the narrative has come to an end. Cryptography still holds true, but the on-chain world that pursues freedom, openness, and democracy will eventually compromise with the reality of swords, guns, sticks, and clubs, or compromise with the daily necessities of life. What is the meaning of encryption today?
I don’t know if this is a problem that bothers practitioners’ identity. When the ETF is expected to be passed, the revolution has already failed, but many people don’t know or care, or pretend to be confused. When I visited Putuo Mountain a year ago, I jokingly said that blockchain is just another religion . The more believers there are, the more money they make. The worse the reality is, the more prosperous the world is in a corner. When the path dependence of the growth era is no longer valid, in the context of stock game, isolating “old money” to open up new casinos has become a good choice.
I found some comfort from jokes and nothingness on this trip to Hong Kong.
In the context of anti-globalization, the essence of blockchain is a reform experiment of the original division of labor and distribution system. The coincidence is that Bitcoin was born in 2008. From this perspective, the essence of blockchain is a game of redistribution of labor and wealth. It is unrealistic to hope that it can create positive externalities. There is no way to break through the hard ceiling of productivity, leverage, and population. At present, I still define AI as a revolutionary technology that is expected to boost total factor productivity next time, but it is too weak and too early. One is a shield of compromise in the context of the existing pattern, and the other is a sharp spear that pierces the real space.
Of course, the improvement of total factor productivity means that production factors are becoming more and more important, replacing most of the labor factors. Those who control production factors will always be rich, and those who lose the competitive advantage of labor are expected to exist in the virtual space as biological batteries. This is another topic, but history never cares about individual fate.
Another perspective on encryption comes from Will Wang's podcast. Encryption exists as an unprecedented asset supply in history, breaking the power of centralized powers to issue "assets" since human civilization. As a result, the terminal individual has one more asset type to choose from, and having a choice is a kind of freedom. From this perspective, the word web3 is wrong. The essence of encryption is not connection but asset supply. It is not feasible to use the Internet's thinking to do encryption. It is like looking for nails with a hammer. The same is true for AI. As a new supply on the productivity side, no one will use it to do things that the "Internet" has already achieved good connections.
Cryptocurrency, as a "cancer" that grew out of problems in the real world's financial system, perfectly fills the needs of some people for transactions. From the underground trade between Xinjiang, Central Asia and Russia, to the export settlement between Yiwu and Africa, to the global asset allocation, cryptocurrencies act as a lubricant in the tide, slowing down the resistance of reality and also fueling the dark corners.
Freedom and security are values in themselves. Those who shed blood and sacrificed their lives for freedom, and the huge amounts of tax money that went into national defense spending, even in peacetime, freedom and security have been constantly paying the price. Freedom and security on the asset side are the greatest value that cryptocurrencies give to the world. Freedom is not about being unrestrained, but about having the right to choose; security has never been considered a commodity until someone puts a gun to your head.
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