“And people who saw them dancing thought that people who couldn’t hear the music were crazy.” Friedrich Nietzsche
Even though technology is at its core, Ethereum as a project is much more than just technology. In the rush to create, collaborate, and debug everything, sometimes we lose sight of the bigger picture. To fully understand what is happening, you need to pause, step back, and observe.
The project started as an idea in Vitalik’s mind. Ethereum has now expanded to thousands and thousands of others around the world thanks to the interconnected digital mesh that is the Internet. A sea of minds gathered around the idea of a Turing-complete universal blockchain is creating the Minecraft of blockchain technology as you read this.
Amid all this excitement, we also had to think about how best we could deliver the technology itself while ensuring the vision was not compromised. This post is the first in a series that seeks to explain both the spirit and motivation behind the project as a whole.
Soulsearching: For Profit or Not?
From the beginning, our intention has been to provide technologies that align with the community as a whole and encourage a culture of meritocracy based on trust, openness and respect for everyone, not just fellow ethereans united by a genuine passion for positive world change. .
Over the past few months, discussions have been taking place among ourselves and our community about our organizational model and the nature of this project. It’s been a healthy discussion, and I’d like to personally thank everyone who cared enough to share their thoughts through forums, blog comments, or Reddit posts.
It was an intense and exciting journey. The process forced us to reflect on ourselves and our values while asking what this project really means for all of us. During these long soul-searching sessions, we realized that most dichotomies boil down to one question: For profit or not?
After researching several models and organizations, we came to the conclusion that the only real option to keep the protocol and software as pure as possible was to establish a non-profit structure with a declared mission to develop, maintain, and foster. Explore the potential of this new technology. Motivated not by money but by a brilliant passion for crazy ideas about a free, open and decentralized world. That’s what ultimately makes us happy and most importantly, what makes us get up and tackle this project. We proudly say that today we will build tomorrow.
More details about the selected non-profit structures will be covered in a series of blogs. But this blog post isn’t about the details, it’s about the bigger picture and why We’re doing it first.
continue the experiment
We all have different backgrounds and life experiences, but ultimately we are all connected through these meaningful projects that allow us to explore our passions and ideas through code, art, hardware, or sometimes something completely new.
By design, this project breaks new ground in ways that have never been attempted before. This is, by definition, a trial and error experiment that seeks to continue the experiment started by Bitcoin on several levels. Because this has never been tried before, there are no right or wrong answers or specific experiences to fall back on. We are deep in uncharted territory.
Although we may not yet grasp its full application and meaning, the numerous ideas and initiatives sparked by the core idea itself are inspiring and provide a glimpse into the infinite potential of our minds. Your future “reality”.
I like to view the Ethereum project as a blank canvas on which anyone can create a digital masterpiece. The technology behind it acts as a catalyst for people to unleash their innate playful creativity. If networks and blockchains are canvases, the paint and colors will be the lines of code that run transparently and uncensored on them. Everyone is invited to co-create.
The Genesis Sale represents the next step in the epic journey ahead and a way to bootstrap the Ethereum ecosystem. Then the collective intelligence of the swarm will have its collective fingertips on amazing open technologies that could unleash waves of innovation across the Web and the Ethernet Web. Once technology like this becomes available, the centralized and corrupt monopolies that suck the blood and tears of humanity will decline rapidly.
door to greatness
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then do it. Because what the world needs is people who come alive.” howard thurman
Most of us are aware that our current planetary operating system is driving us toward extinction as a species. Finance seems to be the current paradigm through which humanity must escape from crisis. Civilization Type 0 by Civilization Type 1.
When technologies like Ethereum exist, we almost feel like we owe it to ourselves and our fellow species to explore its potential to find solutions. We have the power at our fingertips to create the future we want through code and intentional action. If you don’t like something, contribute to what you like. We believe it is important to follow our hearts instead of meaningless external rewards, especially at this critical time. Perhaps this is how we can open the door to our greatest potential on both an individual and collective level.
I think it’s likely that Sir Timothy Berners-Lee couldn’t have imagined something like Bitcoin running on top of his Hypertext Unified Network Protocol in the early 90s. Just as we cannot fully grasp the significance of the ongoing cryptocurrency renaissance at this point, with its ubiquitous digital mesh connecting more than two billion minds.
How far can we go?
What is the limit?
Are there really limits in the first place?
Starting with the raiders and the hunters, we reach a point where we can consider the nature of the infinite. We can understand the idea that we are made of trillions of atoms vibrating together on a pale blue dot, all permanently connected through a digital planetary grid of consciousness. We are learning to dream with an open mind just as we dream with our eyes closed. We are on the verge of transforming the world with our minds, through atoms and dancing lines of code on the edge of singularity. The exciting part is about to begin.
How many rivers will you have to cross to find your way?