Philosophy of the app layer

Submit
vitalik.eth@vitalik.eth

I actually think the growth of app layer is exactly the time that good social philosophy is needed *most*. Analogy: imagine that C++ had been made by a totalitarian racist fascist. Would it be a worse language? Probably not. C++ is general purpose, there isn't much surface for bad social philosophy to wreck it (or good social philosophy to improve it). Ethereum L1 is not quite in that position: someone who doesn't believe in decentralization would not add light clients, or FOCIL, or (good forms of) account abstraction; someone who doesn't mind energy waste would not spend half a decade moving to PoS... But the EVM opcodes might have been roughly the same either way. So Ethereum is perhaps 50% general-purpose. Apps are ~80% special purpose. What apps you build depends heavily on what ideas you have of what ethereum apps (and ethereum as a whole) are there to do for the world. And so having good ideas on this topic out there becomes crucially important. https://x.com/owocki/status/191116044272…

warpcast.com

Philosophy of the app layer

AI summary of the linked article

The author argues that the growth of the app layer makes good social philosophy especially important, because apps are largely special-purpose and their design depends on what people think Ethereum and its apps are for. The argument contrasts C++, a general-purpose language that would likely be no worse if built by someone with bad social views, with Ethereum L1, which is perhaps 50% general-purpose: a person who doesn't believe in decentralization would not add light clients, FOCIL, or account abstraction, though the EVM opcodes might be much the same. Apps are described as roughly 80% special purpose, so having good ideas about their purpose becomes crucially important.

No comments yetWhat caught your eye? Start the discussion.