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backus's profile
John Backus
John Backus
John Backus
@backus

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John Backus

@backus

Seeking alternative compression. Hopefully wrong on average. Shameless. Started @getcognito and @bloom

San Francisco, CA
Joined August 2012

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    1. John Backus‏ @backus Jul 8

      Decentralization as natural selection Expensive adaptations (large brains) don’t evolve w/o survival pressure from environment. Popular decentralized systems evolve when governments want to install filters: copyright (BitTorrent), anti-money laundering (Bitcoin), content (Tor)

      1 reply 12 retweets 39 likes
      Show this thread
      John Backus‏ @backus Jul 8

      “Decentralization as natural selection” tests if decentralization is necessary: are centralized species extinct/endangered? US AML killed e-gold. Mint/DoJ killed Liberty dollar. Napster/Limewire/Kazaa compelled to install filters. VPNs subpoenad. Lavabit gag order. Server raids

      8:11 PM - 8 Jul 2018
      • 1 Retweet
      • 3 Likes
      • Sar Haribhakti zooko 🤖 Sonya Mann 🎀 Peter Kris
      2 replies 1 retweet 3 likes
        1. New conversation
        2. John Backus‏ @backus Jul 8

          Human brains may have evolved this far b/c we compete to outsmart other humans. Runaway evolution compared to adapting to hunt animals where there is an end. Likewise, peak decentralization would emerge in the most adversarial government conditions. Tech vs tech. True cyberpunk

          1 reply 2 retweets 8 likes
          Show this thread
        3. John Backus‏ @backus Jul 8

          John Backus Retweeted John Backus

          Real hacking is months of research. Boring to watch, not flashy. Likewise, “lowlife and high tech” IRL is more cypherpunk than cyberpunk. Ambitious experts building resilient systems for years. Average Joes reading reddit tutorials on how to buy BTC, install Tor browser, use PGPhttps://twitter.com/backus/status/1016163344678453248 …

          John Backus added,

          John Backus @backus
          Human brains may have evolved this far b/c we compete to outsmart other humans. Runaway evolution compared to adapting to hunt animals where there is an end. Likewise, peak decentralization would emerge in the most adversarial government conditions. Tech vs tech. True cyberpunk
          Show this thread
          0 replies 0 retweets 3 likes
          Show this thread
        4. End of conversation
        1. New conversation
        2. David Orban‏ @davidorban Jul 9
          Replying to @backus

          Check out how centralized Second Life was stopped allowing banks opening branches in 2008 by the US Secret Service. Now decentralized High Fidelity can't be stopped.

          1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
        3. David Orban‏ @davidorban Jul 9
          Replying to @davidorban @backus

          At conferences such as @d10e_conference I often speak about the analogies with the P2P scene and refer to Napster and Grokster https://youtube.com/results?search_query=d10e+david+orban …

          0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
        4. End of conversation

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