Off the Mesh: Recent Episodes
Spacemesh.io
Off The Mesh is the official Spacemesh podcast. We explore ideas in the intersection of blockchain, philosophy, activism, human rights, artivism and art.Follow us to get notified when a new episode is out. Join the conversation on twitter: https://twitter.com/teamspacemesh
SOCIAL MEDIA VS SOCIAL REALITY
https://spacemesh.io/blog/social-media-vs-social-reality/
At Spacemesh, we believe that home miners are the key to a healthy cryptocurrency ecosystem, and that cryptocurrency projects and communities should be doing everything possible to empower them. This is essential for three reasons. Firstly, because it ensures true decentralization and good governance, with many full nodes that make capture of the network by large, minority players unlikely. Secondly, there are many people in this world—especially young people—who don’t have access to the traditional financial system in the form of bank accounts and credit cards, and we need to make sure that they can mine their first Smesh coins from home, permissionlessly. And thirdly, because we believe in self-sovereignty and personal responsibility, and running a full node and contributing to network security by mining are important parts of that.
But despite the importance of home miners, one of the most common trends we see as cryptocurrency platforms scale up is that home miners start to dwindle, since mining from home is no longer profitable. In these cases, effective mining requires massive capital investment and entails economies of scale, creating high barriers to entry that the average home miner simply can’t overcome.
Read more: https://spacemesh.io/blog/spacemesh-for-home-miners/
Blogpost version: https://spacemesh.io/blog/the-future-and-morality-can-t-be-quantified-in-a-lab/
At the dawn of the modern internet, when message boards, IRC, and gaudy low-res personal websites were en vogue, privacy was the name of the game. Giving out your personal details online was highly frowned upon—even giving out your real name was a rarity, let alone your real location, place of employment, or family members.
Since the rise of social media, this is no longer the case. This scrupulous obsession with online privacy has given way to networking sites whose sole purpose is to advertise real details about users to the public. And, of course, to the private corporations that purchase the data of such users.
This is “surveillance capitalism”, the most recent mutation of Capitalism 1.0. And increasingly, an inescapable part of many of our lives. Social media is becoming an integral part of both the social and professional spheres, making “going off the grid” more and more difficult.
...Full article published on https://spacemesh.io/blog/taking-back-our-privacy/
ALL THE WORLD'S A GAME - ARE YOU READY TO PLAY?
Act 4/4
Published on: https://spacemesh.io/blog/all-the-world-s-a-game-are-you-ready-to-play/
ALL THE WORLD'S A GAME - ARE YOU READY TO PLAY?
Act 3/4
Published on: https://spacemesh.io/blog/all-the-world-s-a-game-are-you-ready-to-play/
ALL THE WORLD'S A GAME - ARE YOU READY TO PLAY?
Act 2/4
Published on: https://spacemesh.io/blog/all-the-world-s-a-game-are-you-ready-to-play/
ACT 1/4
Published on: https://spacemesh.io/blog/all-the-world-s-a-game-are-you-ready-to-play/
THE FIGHT FOR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSIONOrignal blog post: https://spacemesh.io/blog/fight-for-freedom-of-expression/
ACT 3/3 of 'A NEW HUMAN CHAIN'.
Full article by Lane Rettig:
https://spacemesh.io/blog/a-new-human-chain/
ACT 2/3 of 'A NEW HUMAN CHAIN'.
Full article by Lane Rettig:
https://spacemesh.io/blog/a-new-human-chain/
ACT 1/3 of 'A NEW HUMAN CHAIN'.
Full article by Lane Rettig:
https://spacemesh.io/blog/a-new-human-chain/
Every Man For Himself
For hundreds of years, we somehow retained the illusion that we are working inside a system that encourages some form of collaboration and a healthy interest in society’s welfare. We held the belief that those who created value would be rewarded by profits and that, conversely, those who created profits were undoubtedly creating value.
In 2008, we had an initial awakening, as slowly it was revealed to us how the entire system - from large investment banks focusing on speculative high risk activities, to the government that ultimately bailed them out - had been assembled around the idea of self optimization. This is also known as ‘doing what’s best for me and screw anyone else.’ We saw some seriously bad behavior being rewarded, and understood, finally, that the current system truly encourages the creation of profits without value. Moreover, as meetings and conversations from inside the higher floors of investment banks were leaked, we clearly saw that things had moved well beyond expressing individual ambition to deliberately doing harm as a way of seeking personal advancement.
With this understanding, came the realization that change would not happen on its own. Someone was going to have to make a move in a new direction.
John Nash proposed that success of the individual is utterly intertwined with that of the community. He rejected the ‘every man for himself’ paradigm and encouraged the adoption of one involving teamwork and joint strategy.
Today, over a decade after the 2008 crisis, we see that Nash’s vision is slowly materializing, as more individuals and communities seek a mechanism or infrastructure that can support collaborative projects.
And yet, we are not yet there, particularly in regards to blockchain and digital coin offerings, which have clearly not lived up to their promise. Today, according to BTC Manager, 87% of all Bitcoin ever mined is owned by .05% of total wallets - hardly the utopian image of a new financial system that would replace rampant speculation and corruption with collaboration and fairness.
So is it a case of ‘meet the new economy, same as the old economy?’ Is cryptocurrency on its way to becoming a get-rich-fast game played by the few, while upholding none of the values we had hoped to achieve?
We say no.
Full blog-post and transcript: https://spacemesh.io/blog/adam-smith-was-wrong/
There’s a narrative in Capitalism 1.0 that if someone just has the courage and tenacity to take risks, they can pull themselves up by their bootstraps. That where there’s a will, there’s a way.
Unfortunately, this is more of a myth than a reality, because the truth is that many people don’t even have any bootstraps. Even in the places touted as “lands of opportunity”, the gap between the haves and have-nots keeps widening. Are we supposed to buy into the idea that this is only happening because the have-nots don’t have what it takes to improve their own lives?
Well, there are definitely certain sectors of society that would like us to believe this is the case, but we here at Spacemesh don’t buy it for one second.
Sometimes, the game is rigged in very obvious ways: actual laws that prevent people from improving their lives based on their gender, religion, class, caste, ethnicity, and/or race. Other times, it’s rigged in more subtle ways, with plausible deniability baked in. Indeed, sometimes it’s not rigged on purpose at all, but because of some bug in the very nature of the system.
But whether it’s a feature or a bug, it’s something that’s holding all of us back. Both as a matter of morality and practicality.
On the moral level, it’s simply fair and good that everybody has the same shot at pursuing their dreams. At becoming their best selves. In an ideal world, everybody would have the chance to reach the pinnacle of what they can accomplish, if only they put in the effort.
The way to get closer to that ideal world is by opening up opportunities as much as possible in our less-than-ideal-world. Because by empowering individuals to achieve their potential, we are also empowering them to contribute that potential to the elevation of others. For example, each new small business started by somebody who wouldn’t normally have access to startup capital creates employment opportunities for other members of their communities, who can in turn use their earnings to finance better opportunities for their families. This creates a virtuous cycle.
Time and time again, on both a small and a large scale, we’ve been shown that equal opportunities—or at the very least, the opening up of opportunities to more people—is an enormous driver of human innovation. The great scientific and philosophical advances of the 18th century happened at the same time that industrialization took off in Western Europe. As more and more people moved from farms into cities in order to take advantage of the new opportunities there — both in industry as well as in academia — these cities became like giant collective brains, allowing people from all walks of life to meet and exchange ideas.
Think for a moment about all the human potential that’s currently being poured into just getting by. It takes a lot of brains and tenacity to make it in a harsh and unforgiving world; the poor farmer in rural Bangladesh, who manages to keep her family alive despite the odds, is an extremely smart and competent individual. Now just imagine what could happen if we had those brains working towards something besides the bare necessities of living.
The proof is in the pudding. Over and over again, societies which deny opportunities to their people remain stuck in poverty, while those which don’t stand in people’s way see startling growth. It’s not a coincidence that the places with the fewest hurdles for getting jobs or starting businesses are also the wealthiest, with the highest standards of living. It’s certainly not a coincidence that the fastest-growing economies in the world today—such as those of Rwanda, Vietnam, and India—have removed many hurdles that used to be in place.
This is only the beginning. Iit’s not only governments that deny people opportunities; sometimes, it’s due to factors beyond the control of gov.