Bankless year-end summary: encrypted network will subvert the old power system

Original author ：Bankless cofounder David Hoffman

The source of the original ：Bankless

Original translation ： The way of the meta universe

As we sum up the year , I want to take this opportunity to zoom out and refocus .

2021 It was an incredible year for cryptocurrency . This year , The crypto community is right on many things ：

• Inflation pushes people to other forms of scarcity .
• Silicon Valley's business model allows people to adopt new platforms .
• Banks push people to be more debanked .

This year is a huge... For all areas of encryption W, And for all the existing things, it is a huge L.

What happened? ？

At present, the world is undergoing a phased change . As old institutions grow old , The new organization is suffering from the mature growth of managers . The old world, which makes young people feel excluded, is being replaced by new alternatives established by previously disenfranchised people .

On the other side of this transition , Is a brighter future , Have a more equitable social system , Treat all users equally .

Although this last part is not guaranteed , But I hope so .

The beneficiaries of these newly created encrypted networks may easily become the drivers of the next era . Just as baby boomers were gifted after World War II , And millennials are endowed with the same gift of the digital age .

Will our children reject our social structure as we did to previous generations ？

The answer to this key question depends on us .

 

Agreement sinking theory

Agreement sinking theory （The Protocol Sink Thesis） yes Ryan With me Bankless A key idea that we relied on from the beginning . It points out that , company 、 Institutions 、 Individuals and nation states will be based on credible neutral decentralization agreements , Instead of a centralized alternative that favors third parties .

The most decentralized agreement will sink to the basic layer of social trust , It's like a high-density liquid sinking to the bottom of a cup .

ETH  It's honey （Honey）

Let's take a startup as an example .

For a startup , It's safer to build on an agreement with fair rules than to believe that another company won't screw them up . The agreement provides a stronger guarantee for the alternative of business model and centralization . Since the agreement is a public good , So it's easier for startups to adopt the agreements they offer , Instead of competing with them .

You can set up... On the Internet AOL, But you can't be AOL Build the Internet on .

2020 year 2 month ,Ryan writes ：" Banks will not use their own loan pools , But use  Compound". Just last week ,Coinbase  Announce that it will work with Compound Integrate , Provide DAI The rate of return of .Coinbase Using two trusted, neutral  DeFi  Applications ,Compound and Maker, To create its yield product .

Now? ,Compound The yield offered by the agreement is Coinbase Products provided . It's not Coinbase Unique ; The same product can also be made by Binance、Kraken、Gemini Or anything else you want from Compound An organization that earns revenue and passes it on to its customers .

Fortunately, , Individuals are free to gain directly from themselves .

This model indicates that the scalability of the agreement is much better than that of the company . You can set up many companies on the basis of the agreement , And these companies can scale up the products of the agreement to far more individuals than a single entity .

The agreement can reach far more people than a single company .

This is why the design of these protocols is crucial .

Not only will many companies take advantage of DeFi The power of application , And other DeFi Applications will also interact to create their products .

Currency LEGO -- the other one Bankless Of meme.

The deeper an application is in the protocol pool , The more applications and businesses are built on this Agreement .Uniswap  The liquidity of is DeFi application 、DEX  Aggregators, companies, etc . Creating Uniswap The design decisions made at the time affect everyone who uses it ;Compound The set interest rate algorithm affects all companies and individuals downstream of their yield ;MakerDAO  Risk tolerance also affects every published 90 $billion outstanding DAI.

Because these protocols have strong social scalability , The choice in its design becomes extremely important . The potential downstream consequences of good or bad choices can change human processes .

Don't start a civil war

When I enrolled in high school  Facebook  when , I don't know Facebook Will cause civil war , And shake the world's most powerful democracy . We have no way to know Facebook Long term consequences of business models ...... Or all Web2 The consequences of .

However , We have arrived here . We have Silicon Valley giants who can compete with the power of the nation-state ： people , and Web2 Companies and nation states consume it as a commodity fuel .

The way we design social systems is important . Today's seemingly insignificant design decisions can have disastrous long-term consequences . Even the smallest incentive imbalance , It will also create key social cracks in future generations .

If we want these structures for us 、 For our children 、 Play a role for our children's children , A lot of critical thinking must be done on the design of these systems . When the social system tends to one group rather than another , This difference will eventually grow enough to motivate failed groups to remove obstacles and start again .

 

jubilee

"Wiping the slate clean"( Forgive or forget past mistakes , restart ) Is a behavior deeply rooted in human culture . We , As a species , There seems to be no escape from the need to cancel debt and start over .

We have a word to describe it ： jubilee （jubilee）.

A debt Jubilee is when insurmountable social debt is forgiven , The indebted class was freed from the shackles , And be allowed to live a new life . Religious Jubilees take many forms , But it's usually dealing with mass amnesty of sins （ If you believe David Graebe, Debt and sin are similar social structures ）.

At some point , The social structure has become too entrenched and undemocratic . Society feels as if it has entered a dead end , The only way out is to step back .

The books were erased ; Capital is destroyed .

The competitive environment is leveled , Human beings start again .

This is the Protestant reform 、 The French Revolution 、 The Communist revolution 、 What the Cuban revolution and many other wars fought for . The masses are increasingly intolerant of the elite , Wipe the books clean .

When society becomes too unequal , Vulnerable people refuse to move forward with the elite . They rebelled . They forced the elite to distribute their wealth , Until things are fair enough to move forward again as a collective society .

The social structure on which social operation depends determines the speed at which human beings reach this state . The seriously unbalanced social structure will soon tilt towards social unrest , A balanced social structure will stabilize things for a longer time .

You've never heard of TCP / IP or SMTP Lead to civil war . and Facebook There have been almost two civil wars .

The goal is not to step back

Society takes a small step forward every day . We all get up in the morning , Drink coffee , then " Work ". This work is adding a little progress and innovation to the global collective every day .

Social progress is expensive . Moving the weight of the whole society requires the social machine to move at the speed of a snail ; Even the smallest innovation , It also requires a lot of collective labor .

And all this can be overthrown in a revolution . Society is always facing the threat of disintegration . If enough people in society think we have made progress in the wrong direction , It is difficult to correct the direction to maintain the progress that has been made . If there are enough people in society who think we are moving towards a dead end , Then we will begin to split into different groups ...... And this is often violent .

Human progress is two steps forward , The story of taking a step back . Sometimes if you're lucky , We can take three steps forward . But if we're not lucky , We'll take three steps back . If we really screw up , We may also accidentally trigger a full reset （ Big filter theory ）.

Agreement is the foothold of progress

Steve - Jobs once said ：" The computer is the bicycle of thought ". The tools we create enable us to do more at less cost . This metaphor can be extended to the whole society ; Where humans need tools , Society can use protocols .

The constitution is an agreement to organize a United National Republic

Agreement is a tool of social organization . With a good agreement that can be recognized by the whole society , We have " lock " The way to progress . We can rely on the agreement to exist forever , Even if what we build on it comes and goes .

The Internet is a good example . All societies agree ： The Internet is good . Now we have it , We have a new way to coordinate global resources , This is something we've never had before . It is important to , We can never lose the Internet . It won't paralyze , It can't be shut down either .

The agreement will help to expand the scale of human progress , Because we're all in the same arena . Agreements adopted worldwide allow humans to " Stand on the same line ". When we follow the same rules , We can all make progress more effectively .

If you want to walk fast , Just walk alone ; If you want to go far , Just go together .

Those who shout 'WAGMI' People know this ; At least I know that .

Expand trust through agreements  

Looking at the progress of human story from a macro perspective , Expand trust in a larger population 、 The scale of coordination and business , Can be regarded as the primary goal of mankind so far .

If someone asks us ： What are you doing here ？ Or vice versa , Human beings first need " Be coordinated ", So they can start making " What is our collective purpose ？" The answer to this question .

Either way , Our primary goal as a species is to create social coordination agreements , To help coordinate humans on a large enough scale , So we can start working collectively for a common goal .

We exist to kill Moro .

religious 、 Monarchy 、 nation-state , And now the encryption network is the progress of social coordination technology . As the latest and most advanced social coordination technology , Encrypted networks have the ability to create large-scale social coordination , And beyond anything we've ever seen before .

That's why we're all here . This is it. ' The meaning of everything '.

Human beings are kind , But our system is flawed

Human beings are extremely sensitive to fairness . Morality is built on our DNA Medium . We have a highly specialized radar , Can sense someone and other members of the group " atypism " The situation of .

Editor's note ： It's not unique to humans ！ This characteristic is found in all social creatures , Including bats 、 monkey 、 baby .

In the thousands of years before abundant resources , For us , It is extremely important to be able to identify who among us does not support us . Whether this can be done well is a matter of life and death .

We survived as a species , Because we're all constantly checking if anyone could " Thumb a lift " Or consume more than its fair share .

But it's a laborious job . Personal to personal inspection is not well extended . contrary , We must create a system of governance and coordination , To expand fairness and justice . Religion advocates altruism and kindness ; A monarchy serves its people ; The government levies taxes on the consumption of public resources .

Although each system generally produces more positive results than previous systems , But every system also brings its own failures and shortcomings . No system is perfect , But humans are still trying to find systems with fewer defects . Human beings are born good , But then we must adapt and coordinate our social structure . The defects we see in collective society are not because human beings have defects themselves , But because our social structure projects its defects on our behavior .

Humans can only be as good as our structure allows . We've been looking for a more balanced system , Because the more balanced the system is , We can achieve more comprehensive global equity .

More comprehensive global equity will produce a long-term sustainable balance , Let society develop on this basis . It allows us to think before the microscopic changes in the starting position of individuals have meaningful and different results for the whole society , Take many collective steps .

Encryption Renaissance

Our favorite Bankless One of the episodes is 《 Encryption Renaissance 》.

Why? ？

Because it's not about code , It's not about money . It's about people .

The encryption Renaissance tells a story as old as time . ingrained 、 The hierarchical social structure is the oppression of the individual . Corruption and captivity make these systems old and useless . The new system is built out of the need to get rid of the control of the old system . These new systems are essentially decentralized and de licensed ; Like a virus , They got rid of the clutches of the former elite .

A new world was created , A brighter future is created , For everyone to share .

Then the wheel turns . This new future is growing in scale and level . Its innovation has become slow , Because its way is deeply rooted . It becomes huge and difficult to surpass . It changed from utilitarianism to plutocracy , Deprive those who come too late of their rights .

The younger generation can only endure this oppression for a long time , Final , They found a way out , The tools used are decentralization and de licensing .

A small window of opportunity

For exploring the earth , We were born too late , And it's too early to explore space . Fortunately, , We live in the best time to explore the digital field .

Encrypted networks will subvert the old power system . Good or bad . It will be updated with 、 A more vivid power structure replaces the old power structure , Although there is no guarantee that they will " Better ".

But it all depends on us .

Whether the encrypted network is quickly burning its candle , Or burn more sustainably for more generations , Will be determined by the choice of the first generation who built these structures .

When we build these new power structures , Whether we design them in this way , To protect our interests ？ ok , Why don't we ？ We built them ...... Isn't that what baby boomers are doing to their institutions ？

Do we model these systems just to benefit us ？

perhaps ...... When we design these structures , Whether to leave space for future generations ？ Future unborn generations will eventually need to be incorporated into our fancy new social structure , What do they do ？ If we don't make room for them now , Then they will resist as we do against the current incumbents .

From the perspective of investment , This should be the way to maximize profits . If we can find a way to include future generations in the rising space , We can last longer 、 Work harder .

As a society , The longer we can go without triggering the Jubilee , The more total wealth you can create . Our goal is not to have a jubilee , And we now need to think about this before the encrypted network we are building takes shape .

The window of opportunity is small , It depends on how we adapt and adjust these systems , In order to achieve long-term balance for as many generations as possible .

Bankless It's zero level technology

Bankless I'm here to tell this story .

religious 、 nation-state 、 Encrypted network .

What all these have in common is people . People form religion 、 Elect their representatives 、 Also download specific node software and operate specific chains .

It is the people of the world who maintain the social structure we create .

L1 Blockchain is supported by people L1 Blockchain supports L2 Rollup. stay L1 Where blockchains are synchronized via the Internet , People synchronize through stories .

Humans run in stories . This is how we operate . Stories are the tools we use to generate common understanding among a large number of people , It is through the story , The world will adopt disruptive new technologies . Give me a scientific explanation or technical demonstration , Maybe you can convince me . But tell me a story that I can empathize with , I'm more likely to be convinced .

Bankless It's storytellers .

Bankless The reason for having 15 Ten thousand subscribers , monthly 150 Ten thousand downloads , And thousands committed to spreading Bankless Information people , It's not because we provided good technical details and valuation indicators . This is because while we are doing these things , It shows how encryption can make the world a better place .

significance ; Importance ; Purpose .

Like everything in our social universe ,Bankless It's a narrative . It embodies a set of specific beliefs about the future , And imagine a story about how we got there .

Bankless It's the story we tell , The aim is to spread knowledge and awareness of these magnificent new social structures we have found , And the means we need to protect them .

Inflation ; be in office ; Polarization ; Digital scarcity ; Rent seeking ; Bank ;DeFi;Web3; transparency ;Facebook → Meta;Metaverse;NFTs; Self sovereignty ; Long term thinking .

These are all part of a larger story , We think Bankless You can tell it .

More and more people download this story into their brains , Then willingly assume the responsibility of managing kindness in the agreements we use , We can become more successful , Richer .

Bankless To make you rich , But not at the expense of later generations . We want you to 、 The future and the future of your children can be rich .Bankless To promote a fair and balanced social structure , And help improve the social structure that still needs some work .

Bankless Here is to expand the rabbit hole of the encrypted network . When developers in this industry dig rabbit holes deeper ,Bankless Digging it wider , So that more people can understand why they want to go down first . The sooner we get more people to adopt encryption protocols , The faster we can find a fair and balanced agreement , Achieve long-term balance for future generations .

When you use encryption protocols , You have adopted the values of encryption . It is our responsibility to ensure that the value of encrypted networks is consistent with those who adopt them in the long run .

Don't trust those short termists and nihilists .

Decentralization is important , We plan to fight for it .

We're heading west . This is a forward position , Not for everyone .

But thank you for joining us Bankless The journey .