The Future is already here - Cyberpunk, or Etherpunk? You choose.

This is a reminder for the Ethereum community.

“Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts... A graphic representation of data abstracted from banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the nonspace of the mind, clusters and constellations of data. Like city lights, receding...”

―William Gibson, Neuromancer

I just would like to say something to those losing faith in the community. Cyberbalkanization is a real thing. People are either too far left or too far right when it comes to dramatic situations. Especially with the recent hoo-haas going on with the DAO fiasco, with common complaints about the purity of Ethereum. Not here to discount legitimate complaints, but I would like to discuss this being more in the middle-ground.

Early-adopters are no doubt a somewhat centralized arrangement. Sovereign beings banding together, rolling with the punches, growing with each other. There is no way around initial centralization. Ethereum started out as an idea. It is still a work-in-progress and we could all better work together to continually forge Ethereum into a decentralized platform for innovation - made by the community, for the community.

I am trying to brainwash you. Big mistake if you think social influence is not part of consensus.

We should reverse-engineer from a consensus-desired state of the world. How do we do that?

Look at this somewhat funny picture I found on a Bernie Sander's meme page recently -

A friend commented that the entire upper left quadrant are ideologies that only sound good on paper. Personally, I think categorizations like this are undeserving of the human spirit. And it's clear that humanity falls into the entire spectrum. However -

I think a truly sovereign person's ideas could be the mindful dictator that the world needs. Not a dictatorship arising out of violence / coercion, but through constant social collaboration. Such a dictator could be some form of invisible, background-process that incentivizes individuals according to a combination of local + global community values. Different cultures, different values. Such a dictator can be non-human.

Could be something - like a monolith, as ancient as the creation of the cosmos itself. More of us just needs to tap into that hidden or occulted knowledge - one may call it Natural Law. And then make tools out of it to complement our dynamic social lives. I see this as Ethereum - a platform to diversify and codify the manifestations of value. Especially when it comes to the things that we care about.

"The future is already here – it's just not evenly distributed."

―William Gibson, Neuromancer

Technology distributes itself, and is always from point-source. We need progressive, active debates on best practices to develop the tools and knowledge to empower users. The system can only become more decentralized with each passing day. And deal with duality! Deal with it. We will always live in overlapping layers of both centralized and decentralized realities. Freedom is simply the acceptance of chaos. Chaos is a teacher. It teaches us, through apophasis, on what not to do. Ethereum is then also a tool to manage chaos, making it beneficial for our social / antisocial lives. It can be multi-layered. Isn't that the goal?

When it comes to supercharging mining decentralization, perhaps we can develop this thing I've outlined in my previous post.

Here's one immutable truth: Technology is always rooted in centralized beginnings.

Ethereum will distribute itself far and wide until it becomes invisible, especially with the coming of the Internet of Things. What Ethos will Ethereum bring about? It will be up to us to decide. Less hubris will be good.

"The future is there... looking back at us. Trying to make sense of the fiction we will have become.”

―William Gibson, Pattern Recognition

Words fail me when I attempt to describe the boundaries of decentralization and sovereignty. Our identities are fluid. The lines are blurry between space and identity, centralization and decentralization. Nerdwriter on Youtube articulated this quite well in depth:-

Here's a video from 1952 as a humble reminder, and to augment the very human needs on both sides of the coin:-

Our identities are continuously forged by our surroundings as we build them. Even for Ethereum.

Personally, I am putting faith in Vitalik Buterin and the rest of the early-adopters to lead the charge. They have the brains and fortitude for it. Ethereum is still a baby. And I'm slowly learning on to develop and tinker with the technology, thanks to the community. I hope some of my writings can give back, even if a little.

Cyberpunk, or Etherpunk? Your choice.

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