Jack Dorsey, the CEO of twitter who has been bathed in controversy recently due to the banning of sitting President Donald Trump, had one of the most important tweet storms in history yesterday.
It deserves an entire letter.
——-
If you aren’t subscribed yet, you should be. It’s free for 30 days and I promise to never charge you unless you love this letter.
——-
I’ll pick up his Tweet-storm on the third tweet, it’s important that you understand what he is saying here as it is the future of the internet…
That said, having to ban an account has real and significant ramifications. While there are clear and obvious exceptions, I feel a ban is a failure of ours ultimately to promote healthy conversation. And a time for us to reflect on our operations and the environment around us.
Having to take these actions fragment the public conversation. They divide us. They limit the potential for clarification, redemption, and learning. And sets a precedent I feel is dangerous: the power an individual or corporation has over a part of the global public conversation.
The check and accountability on this power has always been the fact that a service like Twitter is one small part of the larger public conversation happening across the internet. If folks do not agree with our rules and enforcement, they can simply go to another internet service.
This concept was challenged last week when a number of foundational internet tool providers also decided not to host what they found dangerous. I do not believe this was coordinated. More likely: companies came to their own conclusions or were emboldened by the actions of others.
This moment in time might call for this dynamic, but over the long term it will be destructive to the noble purpose and ideals of the open internet. A company making a business decision to moderate itself is different from a government removing access, yet can feel much the same.
Yes, we all need to look critically at inconsistencies of our policy and enforcement. Yes, we need to look at how our service might incentivize distraction and harm. Yes, we need more transparency in our moderation operations. All this can’t erode a free and open global internet.
The reason I have so much passion for #Bitcoin is largely because of the model it demonstrates: a foundational internet technology that is not controlled or influenced by any single individual or entity. This is what the internet wants to be, and over time, more of it will be.
We are trying to do our part by funding an initiative around an open decentralized standard for social media. Our goal is to be a client of that standard for the public conversation layer of the internet. We call it @bluesky
It’s important that we acknowledge this is a time of great uncertainty and struggle for so many around the world. Our goal in this moment is to disarm as much as we can, and ensure we are all building towards a greater common understanding, and a more peaceful existence on earth.
I believe the internet and global public conversation is our best and most relevant method of achieving this. I also recognize it does not feel that way today. Everything we learn in this moment will better our effort, and push us to be what we are: one humanity working together.
Wow. That is a lot to take in, huh?
Regardless of how you feel about Jack politically, or how Twitter has handled Trump, I think we can all agree that this was one of the most transparent and thought provoking tweet-storms in history,
And then, of COURSE, the punchline is… you guessed it…
Bitcoin.
I summarized as much with my tweet a few seconds ago…
I find it VERY interesting, the pivotal moment we are in right now.
It feels to me like this crazy year has forced people to understand a few key important points…
The internet is still VERY young…
Society is still not very prepared for the unintended consequences such a powerful thing can have on all of us.
Every aspect of our lives is shaped daily by this force.
Right now, huge tech companies like twitter, facebook, and google control that very thing that is shaping our lives.
The future belongs to the companies that find a way to de-centralize the internet.
No one wants to be censored.
And honestly, I doubt that good people want to do any censoring!
Jack put it so eloquently in the tweets above, that Bitcoin provides this pristine, 12 year old example of “decentralization gold”.
For those that don’t know….
Bitcoin has no CEO (it’s founder disappeared months after creating it)
It has no board of directors.
There is no one in charge of it.
It is simply beautiful, well designed computer code that has incentivized MILLIONS of people to use it and build upon it.
It’s core “truths” (Absolutely limited supply, The Verification and Security of All Transactions by Decentralized “nodes”, etc.) cannot and will not be changed.
Essentially, all of Bitcoin’s core “beliefs” (if computer code can have beliefs) are unalterable. Unchangeable. 100% resistant to human corruption and greed.
That’s what we need, ALL OVER the internet.
We need to remove the human element.
A few rich people in a room shouldn’t be forced to decide the information diet of billions of people.
We need decentralized applications, companies, and heck, maybe at some point, governments themselves.
I’m not trying to sound like an anarchist or a futurist or anything like that.
I’m just trying to present the truth as it appears to me.
It’s obvious to me that decentralization is the “honey badger” of the internet.
Honey Badgers are known as the “Most Badass Animal on the Planet”.
There’s literally a viral youtube video titled “Honey Badger Don’t Give a F***”
Bitcoin is the first example of the decentralized “Honey Badger”.
It hard coded itself to be 100x better than its closest competitor (Gold) in every way.
It’s more scarce.
It’s easier to transport.
It’s more secure.
It’s easily verifiable.
And remember, these characteristics are HARD CODED, and not controlled by any one person.
It’s like a robot Honey Badger that doesn’t care what you, or I, or even Jack Dorsey thinks.
It KNOWS it’s better than its competitor.
It knows no one can stop it, because there’s no one to stop…
So it just keeps taking market share.
On its way to becoming the next Global Reserve Currency.
Now, before you think I’m crazy AGAIN, just think about it.
De-centralization WILL win.
It’s not a question of “if”, it’s “when”.
Take twitter for example…
Which is better?
A company controlled by a handful of rich people in a room?
Improved by a team of 1,000 programmers?
Or…
The decentralized alternative…
That allows for ACTUAL FREE SPEECH…
That is improved on by MILLIONS of talented programmers due to its open sourced, decentralized codebase.
Oh, and did I mention it will probably be FREE?
And not have any ads?
How do you compete with FREE?
You don’t.
You get crushed.
Jack Dorsey knows this.
He basically said as much in his tweet-storm above.
De-centralization is coming.
It’s already here and quite successful in the form of Bitcoin.
——
I normally end these letters with some sort of “so what”…
What should you DO with this information?
But in this case, honestly I don’t know!
I don’t expect anyone reading this to go out and build the next decentralized platform to challenge the current tech monopolies :)
I just wanted to let you know where we are at, & where we are headed.
Staying informed is the only way to actually benefit from the massive changes that we will see in the coming years.
If 2020 taught me anything, it’s that we are all WILDLY underestimating the magnitude of that coming change.
See you subscribers tomorrow.
Kale
The Future of the Internet.