"What should the next iteration of the internet look like?"
In this dialogue:
- Paul and his awesome nostr t-shirt
- Are we all just nostalgic?
- Where did the optimism of computing and the information superhighway go?
- We went from interop to pay-to-unlock.
- Do we have to live in the digital gulags forever?
- Homecooked meals and homecooked apps
- Paper straws and the downfall of Western Civilization
- "You need to be okay with people getting rekt"
- If the car would be introduced today, it would be illegal
- Bravery and personal responsibility
- "nostr will only be what diehards will build it to be"
- Bad teleology is built into the current (non-nostr) app landscape
- "You can get a lot of the upside without holding your own keys”
- “...but you can't get ALL of the upside!"
- Expressiveness and free speech online
- Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Assembly, and Financial Freedom in Cyberspace
- Self-publishing vs platform publishing
- Information calories. Can we count them?
- Don't make me think!
- Is not being forced to think part of the problem?
- Mutiny & bitcoin UX that's too easy
- Games and costly mistakes
- The early days: software distribution via print magazines
- Prompting allows you to define your own teleology
- Vibe coding and Cursor
- "The hard part is to figure out what you want."
- "What should the next iteration of the internet look like?"
- GenZ doesn't know shit about files and folders
- Why files are great
- Gigi's SyncThing & Standard Notes setup
- File-based apps like Smart AudioBook Player
- Reading apps like Pocket, Instapaper, and Readwise Reader
- Saving all the things & linking stuff together
- Clips of podcasts and videos, e.g. Fountain
- A Commonplace Book to cyberspace
- Creating a "Family Bible" app
- If you want to maximize profits in the attention economy, you have to get users addicted
- (Zaps potentially fix this, as you wouldn’t zap a car crash)
- Let computers do computer work, let humans be humans
- "The end is not being on the computer"
- Solo private / group private / public
- Liberal vs Conservative sentiment in social environments
- Whom to care about?
- Web of trust & our understanding of it
- Forgiveness, Trust, and Repeat Games
- Tit-for-tat and forgiving tit-for-tat
- Three strikes and you're out!
- "Choose your gulag" is the alternative to nostr
- 7-generation thinking
- 2140
- The Sovereign Individual is embedded in a social structure, always
- I, Pencil
- Jungle vs Civilization
- Fiat = because I said so (“Fiat Lux” - Let there be light)
- Do we need leaders in bitcoin?
- Peterson Fallacy / God vs Bitcoin
- Jesus early followers were the Followers of The Way
- Zaps are not payments
- Zaps are not "tips"
- Bitstein & Pierre: The Reorg
- Vervaeke: “Where do you go for wisdom?”
- Rough consensus and Pieter Wuille
- "There is no such thing as a leaderless system"
- Wisdom in cyberspace
- Can we build wise tools?
- Prompting the Bible, ChristGPT, and Bible Slop
- Gell-Mann amnesia effect
- Vervaekes AI argument: The Coming Thresholds and The Path We Must Take
- Where do new ideas come from?
- Sandwich prompting style (HLDD / LLDD)
- The Tale of John Henry
- Silicon Sages
- Conscience and The Muse
- Hypermedia and HyperNote
- Glassholes, Google Glasses, and wearable technology
- Prompting & Praying for An Internet Worth Having
Books mentioned:
- The Bible
- I, Pencil by Leonard E. Read
- Don't make me think! by Steve Krug
- The Sovereign Individual by James Dale Davidson and William Rees-Mogg
Recorded at 887,644.