Lazarus

lazarus

It's quite ironic how my reasons for signing up to write an article at Hacker Noon was to purge the frustrations caused by social networks of the day. What happens to be the first thing asked of me as a new member?  It is to edit my profile, and add my social media links: Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook etc. The Problems with Social Media It's perfectly reasonable to expect a rising network to leverage from other people's networks, politicians do it, businesses do it, we all do it. But what happens to those individuals who due to the randomness of the world we live in happen to be outside those networks. Are the networks omnipresent to the point that the real isn't as important as the perceived? Say for a multitude of reasons, someone decides to be a contrarian to a rising trend, let's suppose it's a new tech platform he or she happens to hear about called Linkedin.  Can the social & professional implications that result from such contrarian behavior just be written off as collateral damage for an otherwise well oiled social network that helps b2b advertising? The more daunting question is what happens in the future? Who can imagine a world where a child grows up and refuses to sign up for Facebook, Youtube or Linkedin? Will he or she be ostracised into conformity or is their an end in sight to this technological follower fetishism?

If a Tree Falls and it's not on Linkedin, Who Knows?

Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . Oxford—The Master and Tutor of Lazarus here Oxford—The Master and Tutor of Lazarus Mr. Arabin, as we have said, had but a sad walk of it under the trees of Plumstead churchyard. He did not appear to any of the family till dinner-time, and then he seemed, as far as their judgement went, to be quite himself. He had, as was his wont, asked himself a great many questions and given himself a great many answers; and the upshot of this was that he had sent himself down for an ass. He had determined that he was much too old and much too rusty to commence the manoeuvres of love-making; that he had let the time slip through his hands which should have been used for such purposes; and that now he must lie on his bed as he had made it. Then he asked himself whether in truth he did love this woman; and he answered himself, not without a long struggle, but at last honestly, that he certainly did love her. He then asked himself whether he did not also love her money, and he again answered himself that he did so. But here he did not answer honestly. It was and ever had been his weakness to look for impure motives for his own conduct. No doubt, circumstanced as he was, with a small living and a fellowship, accustomed as he had been to collegiate luxuries and expensive comforts, he might have hesitated to marry a penniless woman had he felt ever so strong a predilection for the woman herself; no doubt Eleanor's fortune put all such difficulties out of the question; but it was equally without doubt that his love for her had crept upon him without the slightest idea on his part that he could ever benefit his own condition by sharing her wealth. When he had stood on the hearth-rug, counting the pattern and counting also the future chances of his own life, the remembrances of Mrs. Bold's comfortable income had certainly not damped his first assured feeling of love for her. And why should it have done so? Need it have done so with the purest of men? Be that as it may, Mr. Arabin decided against himself; he decided that it had done so in his case, and that he was not the purest of men. He also decided, which was more to his purpose, that Eleanor did not care a straw for him, and that very probably she did care a straw for his rival. Then he made up his mind not to think of her any more, and went on thinking of her till he was almost in a state to drown himself in the little brook which ran at the bottom of the archdeacon's grounds. And ever and again his mind would revert to the Signora Neroni, and he would make comparisons between her and Eleanor Bold, not always in favour of the latter. The signora had listened to him, and flattered him, and believed in him; at least she had told him so. Mrs. Bold had also listened to him, but had never flattered him; had not always believed in him; and now had broken from him in violent rage. The signora, too, was the more lovely woman of the two, and had also the additional attraction of her affliction—for to him it was an attraction. But he never could have loved the Signora Neroni as he felt that he now loved Eleanor; and so he flung stones into the brook, instead of flinging in himself, and sat down on its margin as sad a gentleman as you shall meet in a summer's day. He heard the dinner-bell ring from the churchyard, and he knew that it was time to recover his self-possession. He felt that he was disgracing himself in his own eyes, that he had been idling his time and neglecting the high duties which he had taken upon himself to perform. He should have spent this afternoon among the poor at St. Ewold's, instead of wandering about at Plumstead, an ancient, love-lorn swain, dejected and sighing, full of imaginary sorrows and Wertherian grief. He was thoroughly ashamed of himself, and determined to lose no time in retrieving his character, so damaged in his own eyes. Thus when he appeared at dinner he was as animated as ever and was the author of most of the conversation which graced the archdeacon's board on that evening. Mr. Harding was ill at ease and sick at heart, and did not care to appear more comfortable than he really was; what little he did say was said to his daughter. He thought that the archdeacon and Mr. Arabin had leagued together against Eleanor's comfort, and his wish now was to break away from the pair and undergo in his Barchester lodgings whatever Fate had in store for him. He hated the name of the hospital; his attempt to regain his lost inheritance there had brought upon him so much suffering. As far as he was concerned, Mr. Quiverful was now welcome to the place. And the archdeacon was not very lively. The poor dean's illness was of course discussed in the first place. Dr. Grantly did not mention Mr. Slope's name in connexion with the expected event of Dr. Trefoil's death; he did not wish to say anything about Mr. Slope just at present, nor did he wish to make known his sad surmises; but the idea that his enemy might possibly become Dean of Barchester made him very gloomy. Should such an event take place, such a dire catastrophe come about, there would be an end to his life as far as his life was connected with the city of Barchester. He must give up all his old haunts, all his old habits, and live quietly as a retired rector at Plumstead. It had been a severe trial for him to have Dr. Proudie in the palace, but with Mr. Slope also in the deanery he felt that he should be unable to draw his breath in Barchester close. Thus it came to pass that in spite of the sorrow at his heart, Mr. Arabin was apparently the gayest of the party. Both Mr. Harding and Mrs. Grantly were in a slight degree angry with him on account of his want of gloom. To the one it appeared as though he were triumphing at Eleanor's banishment, and to the other that he was not affected as he should have been by all the sad circumstances of the day—Eleanor's obstinacy, Mr. Slope's success, and the poor dean's apoplexy. And so they were all at cross-purposes. Mr. Harding left the room almost together with the ladies, and then the archdeacon opened his heart to Mr. Arabin. He still harped upon the hospital. "What did that fellow mean," said he, "by saying in his letter to Mrs. Bold that if Mr. Harding would call on the bishop, it would be all right? Of course I would not be guided by anything he might say, but still it may be well that Mr. Harding should see the bishop. It would be foolish to let the thing slip through our fingers because Mrs. Bold is determined to make a fool of herself." Mr. Arabin hinted that he was not quite so sure that Mrs. Bold would make a fool of herself. He said that he was not convinced that she did regard Mr. Slope so warmly as she was supposed to do. The archdeacon questioned and cross-questioned him about this, but elicited nothing, and at last remained firm in his own conviction that he was destined, , to be the brother-in-law of Mr. Slope. Mr. Arabin strongly advised that Mr. Harding should take no step regarding the hospital in connexion with, or in consequence of, Mr. Slope's letter. "If the bishop really means to confer the appointment on Mr. Harding," argued Mr. Arabin, "he will take care to let him have some other intimation than a message conveyed through a letter to a lady. Were Mr. Harding to present himself at the palace, he might merely be playing Mr. Slope's game;" and thus it was settled that nothing should be done till the great Dr. Gwynne's arrival, or at any rate without that potentate's sanction. malgré lui It was droll to observe how these men talked of Mr. Harding as though he were a puppet, and planned their intrigues and small ecclesiastical manoeuvres in reference to Mr. Harding's future position without dreaming of taking him into their confidence. There was a comfortable house and income in question, and it was very desirable, and certainly very just, that Mr. Harding should have them; but that at present was not the main point; it was expedient to beat the bishop and, if possible, to smash Mr. Slope. Mr. Slope had set up, or was supposed to have set up, a rival candidate. Of all things the most desirable would have been to have had Mr. Quiverful's appointment published to the public and then annulled by the clamour of an indignant world, loud in the defence of Mr. Harding's rights. But of such an event the chance was small; a slight fraction only of the world would be indignant, and that fraction would be one not accustomed to loud speaking. And then the preferment had, in a sort of way, been offered to Mr. Harding and had, in a sort of way, been refused by him. Mr. Slope's wicked, cunning hand had been peculiarly conspicuous in the way in which this had been brought to pass, and it was the success of Mr. Slope's cunning which was so painfully grating to the feelings of the archdeacon. That which of all things he most dreaded was that he should be outgeneralled by Mr. Slope; and just at present it appeared probable that Mr. Slope would turn his flank, steal a march on him, cut off his provisions, carry his strong town by a , and at last beat him thoroughly in a regular pitched battle. The archdeacon felt that his flank had been turned when desired to wait on Mr. Slope instead of the bishop, that a march had been stolen when Mr. Harding was induced to refuse the bishop's offer, that his provisions would be cut off when Mr. Quiverful got the hospital, that Eleanor was the strong town doomed to be taken, and that Mr. Slope, as Dean of Barchester, would be regarded by all the world as conqueror in the final conflict. coup de main Dr. Gwynne was the who was to come down upon the Barchester stage and bring about deliverance from these terrible evils. But how can melodramatic be properly brought about, how can vice and Mr. Slope be punished, and virtue and the archdeacon be rewarded, while the avenging god is laid up with the gout? In the mean time evil may be triumphant, and poor innocence, transfixed to the earth by an arrow from Dr. Proudie's quiver, may lie dead upon the ground, not to be resuscitated even by Dr. Gwynne. Deus ex machina dénouements Two or three days after Eleanor's departure, Mr. Arabin went to Oxford and soon found himself closeted with the august head of his college. It was quite clear that Dr. Gwynne was not very sanguine as to the effects of his journey to Barchester, and not over-anxious to interfere with the bishop. He had had the gout, but was very nearly convalescent, and Mr. Arabin at once saw that had the mission been one of which the master thoroughly approved, he would before this have been at Plumstead. As it was, Dr. Gwynne was resolved on visiting his friend, and willingly promised to return to Barchester with Mr. Arabin. He could not bring himself to believe that there was any probability that Mr. Slope would be made Dean of Barchester. Rumour, he said, had reached even his ears, not at all favourable to that gentleman's character, and he expressed himself strongly of opinion that any such appointment was quite out of the question. At this stage of the proceedings, the master's right-hand man, Tom Staple, was called in to assist at the conference. Tom Staple was the Tutor of Lazarus and, moreover, a great man at Oxford. Though universally known by a species of nomenclature so very undignified, Tom Staple was one who maintained a high dignity in the university. He was, as it were, the leader of the Oxford tutors, a body of men who consider themselves collectively as being by very little, if at all, second in importance to the heads themselves. It is not always the case that the master, or warden, or provost, or principal can hit it off exactly with his tutor. A tutor is by no means indisposed to have a will of his own. But at Lazarus they were great friends and firm allies at the time of which we are writing. Tom Staple was a hale, strong man of about forty-five, short in stature, swarthy in face, with strong, sturdy black hair and crisp black beard of which very little was allowed to show itself in shape of whiskers. He always wore a white neckcloth, clean indeed, but not tied with that scrupulous care which now distinguishes some of our younger clergy. He was, of course, always clothed in a seemly suit of solemn black. Mr. Staple was a decent cleanly liver, not over-addicted to any sensuality; but nevertheless a somewhat warmish hue was beginning to adorn his nose, the peculiar effect, as his friends averred, of a certain pipe of port introduced into the cellars of Lazarus the very same year in which the tutor entered it as a freshman. There was also, perhaps, a little redolence of port wine, as it were the slightest possible twang, in Mr. Staple's voice. In these latter days Tom Staple was not a happy man; university reform had long been his bugbear, and now was his bane. It was not with him, as with most others, an affair of politics, respecting which, when the need existed, he could, for parties' sake or on behalf of principle, maintain a certain amount of necessary zeal; it was not with him a subject for dilettante warfare and courteous, commonplace opposition. To him it was life and death. The of the university was his only idea of life, and any reformation was as bad to him as death. He would willingly have been a martyr in the cause, had the cause admitted of martyrdom. status quo At the present day, unfortunately, public affairs will allow of no martyrs, and therefore it is that there is such a deficiency of zeal. Could gentlemen of £10,000 a year have died on their own door-steps in defence of protection, no doubt some half-dozen glorious old baronets would have so fallen, and the school of protection would at this day have been crowded with scholars. Who can fight strenuously in any combat in which there is no danger? Tom Staple would have willingly been impaled before a Committee of the House, could he by such self-sacrifice have infused his own spirit into the component members of the hebdomadal board. Tom Staple was one of those who in his heart approved of the credit system which had of old been in vogue between the students and tradesmen of the university. He knew and acknowledged to himself that it was useless in these degenerate days publicly to contend with "The Jupiter" on such a subject. "The Jupiter" had undertaken to rule the university, and Tom Staple was well aware that "The Jupiter" was too powerful for him. But in secret, and among his safe companions, he would argue that the system of credit was an ordeal good for young men to undergo. The bad men, said he, the weak and worthless, blunder into danger and burn their feet; but the good men, they who have any character, they who have that within them which can reflect credit on their alma mater, they come through scatheless. What merit will there be to a young man to get through safely, if he be guarded and protected and restrained like a schoolboy? By so doing, the period of the ordeal is only postponed, and the manhood of the man will be deferred from the age of twenty to that of twenty-four. If you bind him with leading-strings at college, he will break loose while eating for the bar in London; bind him there, and he will break loose afterwards, when he is a married man. The wild oats must be sown somewhere. 'Twas thus that Tom Staple would argue of young men, not, indeed, with much consistency, but still with some practical knowledge of the subject gathered from long experience. And now Tom Staple proffered such wisdom as he had for the assistance of Dr. Gwynne and Mr. Arabin. "Quite out of the question," said he, arguing that Mr. Slope could not possibly be made the new Dean of Barchester. "So I think," said the master. "He has no standing, and, if all I hear be true, very little character." "As to character," said Tom Staple, "I don't think much of that. They rather like loose parsons for deans; a little fast living, or a dash of infidelity, is no bad recommendation to a cathedral close. But they couldn't make Mr. Slope; the last two deans have been Cambridge men; you'll not show me an instance of their making three men running from the same university. We don't get our share and never shall, I suppose, but we must at least have one out of three." "Those sort of rules are all gone by now," said Mr. Arabin. "Everything has gone by, I believe," said Tom Staple. "The cigar has been smoked out, and we are the ashes." "Speak for yourself, Staple," said the master. "I speak for all," said the tutor stoutly. "It is coming to that, that there will be no life left anywhere in the country. No one is any longer fit to rule himself, or those belonging to him. The Government is to find us all in everything, and the press is to find the Government. Nevertheless, Mr. Slope won't be Dean of Barchester." "And who will be warden of the hospital?" said Mr. Arabin. "I hear that Mr. Quiverful is already appointed," said Tom Staple. "I think not," said the master. "And I think, moreover, that Dr. Proudie will not be so short-sighted as to run against such a rock: Mr. Slope should himself have sense enough to prevent it." "But perhaps Mr. Slope may have no objection to see his patron on a rock," said the suspicious tutor. "What could he get by that?" asked Mr. Arabin. "It is impossible to see the doubles of such a man," said Mr. Staple. "It seems quite clear that Bishop Proudie is altogether in his hands, and it is equally clear that he has been moving heaven and earth to get this Mr. Quiverful into the hospital, although he must know that such an appointment would be most damaging to the bishop. It is impossible to understand such a man, and dreadful to think," added Tom Staple, sighing deeply, "that the welfare and fortunes of good men may depend on his intrigues." Dr. Gwynne or Mr. Staple were not in the least aware, nor even was Mr. Arabin, that this Mr. Slope, of whom they were talking, had been using his utmost efforts to put their own candidate into the hospital, and that in lieu of being permanent in the palace, his own expulsion therefrom had been already decided on by the high powers of the diocese. "I'll tell you what," said the tutor, "if this Quiverful is thrust into the hospital and Dr. Trefoil does die, I should not wonder if the Government were to make Mr. Harding Dean of Barchester. They would feel bound to do something for him after all that was said when he resigned." Dr. Gwynne at the moment made no reply to this suggestion, but it did not the less impress itself on his mind. If Mr. Harding could not be warden of the hospital, why should he not be Dean of Barchester? And so the conference ended without any very fixed resolution, and Dr. Gwynne and Mr. Arabin prepared for their journey to Plumstead on the morrow. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Anthony Trollope (2002). Barchester Towers. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022 https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/3409/pg3409-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

Oxford—The Master and Tutor of Lazarus

W﻿elcome back to the #POWERLEADERS series where I get to interview or profile leaders in the tech industry. Those who can't do, teach, so I get to live my love of tech through those doing, making and creating. Next up is , chief operating officer of New Cosmos USA, Inc, the parent company of . He is a well-known leader in the utility space and most recently is leading the charge on natural gas safety products. Ron Lazarus DeNova Detect With generative AI and LLL dominating tech headlines, it's still important to take a look at consumer tech that is impactful to our everyday lives. As a homeowner and parent, I discovered the company and Ron as I was learning more about smarthome safety tech. The company was recently featured as the . first natural gas alarm on the Amazon Sidewalk Let's jump in: SE: What innovations are you bringing to your industry? What sets you apart from your competitors? New Cosmos has been the world leader in gas detection and technology since 1964, introducing the first residential gas alarm in the world and selling over 70 million gas alarms worldwide. I’m proud to say we continue to lead today with our newest DeNova Detect natural gas alarm product line. Our new alarm is the only residential battery-powered wireless natural gas alarm in the U.S. It’s also the only residential natural gas alarm with zero cost of ownership after initial purchase, multi-language voice alerts, and the ability to alert at the 10% LEL threshold. In addition to being first to market, we also just announced that our DeNova Detect natural gas alarms are the first and only residential battery-powered wireless natural gas alarm to integrate with Amazon Sidewalk. RL: DeNova Detect SE: What is a recent win or announcement your company just celebrated? Why does it matter? : We’re celebrating the recent announcement of integrating our DeNova Detect life-saving natural gas alarms with Amazon Sidewalk. This never before seen integration matters because it protects people and property from the dangerous and even deadly impacts of an undetected natural gas leak with accurate, real-time alerts. RL Our alarms detect natural gas emergencies 11 minutes faster than traditional sensors, and alerts are sent in real-time across text, phone, and email. Now, multiple natural gas alarm wireless devices can be connected to each other no matter where the leak is in your house, which means your family and property are protected in ways never offered before. SE: What pain point(s) does your company solve? Natural gas alarms are now an essential part of a Smart Home. First and foremost, we are providing the first battery-powered residential gas alarm. Our thoughtful battery-powered design allows the alarms to be placed close to the ceiling where natural gas rises and accumulates, eliminating the need for an outlet and ensuring more rapid detection. Thanks to Amazon Sidewalk, the seamless connectivity across multiple alarms also ensures you are notified of a leak, no matter where it is in your home or property. This technology provides a new level of safety so families can feel protected knowing they will receive accurate, early warnings, even if away from home. RL: SE: What are your company’s industry major challenges right now? I can’t stress enough how important it is to raise awareness of the dangers of natural gas leaks and the need for industry leaders to provide a common-sense approach to natural gas safety. Another major challenge is the current lack of legislation requiring natural gas alarms. RL: At New Cosmos, we advocate for natural gas alarm legislation similar to nationwide smoke and carbon monoxide alarm laws, which keep people and property safe. I have seen news reports of communities honoring and remembering victims of natural gas explosions. Still, little has been done to move the needle on natural gas safety from a legislative standpoint. It’s time to take natural gas safety seriously to prevent tragedies like these from happening again. SE: What stories aren’t currently being told about your industry that your customers should know? Consumers need to understand that if they want a safe and smart home, they need natural gas alarms, not just carbon monoxide and smoke alarms. RL: The recent residential gas explosions due to winter weather storms are a great example. Residential gas meters were being damaged by ice and snow, which caused gas leaks and even explosions in homes. If residents had natural gas alarms in their homes, they could have been notified of a leak. Also, consumers should note that the NFPA 715 recommends the installation of natural gas alarms in every location where a gas appliance exists, including the clothes dryer, water heater, furnace, gas fireplaces, and cooking appliances. In the US, gas explosions happen every other day, so safety truly starts with your decision to be prepared and protected with a natural gas alarm. SE: How do you envision your business changing in the next 3-5 years? Everyone knows I am deeply passionate about natural gas safety. I envision a world where more people are embracing it, and I believe we are already making that happen. Thanks to the Amazon Sidewalk integration, more people are learning about natural gas safety and how to install natural gas alarms. We’ll be launching the consumer product line this year and really excited for people to have access to this smart home technology that could save their lives. In the coming years, we’ll also see an increasing number of utilities stepping up to provide natural gas alarms to their customers. Finally, as we continue raising awareness of the positive benefits of natural gas safety, more states will pass legislation requiring the installation of natural gas alarms in residential and commercial applications to protect lives. RL: SE: ﻿What changes do you think are necessary for your industry to stay competitive in current economic times? It all comes back to education. The industry must focus on educating consumers on the importance of choosing the best quality natural gas alarm that meet safety and quality standards, like the UL and ETL certification marks. There are companies out there that offer cheaper alarms, but don’t meet the standard or recommended installation locations. For gas alarms, products must meet the UL 1484 Gas Alarm Standard. Consumers should understand that since natural gas rises, having a battery-powered device (not a plug-in) is essential to place near the ceiling. The industry also needs to find solutions to increase component availability. There will be an increase in demand for natural gas alarms due to raised awareness, new legislation requiring gas alarms, and more connectivity options like Amazon Sidewalk. Component availability is essential to meet this demand and keep people safe. RL: SE: ﻿What measures has your organization taken to ensure you're driving towards the most important goals? Whenever there is a natural gas explosion, all I can think about are the lives lost, the families impacted, the communities shaken, and the significant, unexpected costs. This is all preventable if we begin to understand and prioritize natural gas safety more. As a country, we must ban together to get the word out that we already have a solution with natural gas alarms and now we need to implement it. Our current goals are to raise natural gas safety awareness and continue to provide innovative products that save lives. We are currently working with legislators and utility leaders nationwide to advocate for natural gas safety. And, of course, we are developing and launching cost-effective, long-term product solutions such as the most recent first ever gas alarm integration with Amazon Sidewalk and our upcoming ten year consumer product line that can be used by consumers, businesses, and utilities. RL:

POWER LEADER: Ron Lazarus on why natural gas alarms are the tech we should be talking about

Experts used to say in the early 2000s, after the dotcom bubble burst, that investments in internet companies were officially dead. With the sudden rise of IPOs that turned entrepreneurs into millionaires quickly, web companies seemed well on their way to fame and fortune, before the crash. In hindsight, we can look back at the experience and see that the entrepreneurial ideas were there, but the technology to complement it was not quite yet, as in a thoughtful Guardian piece in 2010. Richard Wray noted We might be facing the same pattern here with blockchain. : “Is blockchain dead?” Author Vildana Hajric starts by citing Meltem Demirors, the chief investment officer of CoinShares Group. Mirroring the technology problem of the internet bubble at the beginning of the 21st century, he proclaimed, “blockchain is dead,” but elaborated on why: Bloomberg posed the question “After two, three years of spending a lot of money on this and a lot of investment dollars going into this, I think the bigger question as an investor is: What’s the scalable revenue model and is there equity value that’s created in these businesses? And arguably the answer is: not yet.” This misses the forest for the trees. While it is true that a lot of money has been poured into blockchain, and the industry has yet to yield equity value on a scale that snags the interest of swarms of investors, that doesn’t mean it’s dead. Like the dotcom bubble that saw the absence of technological means to manifest the concepts entrepreneurs had developed, blockchain is still in its infancy and its ability to enlighten is still very much alive. To be clear, blockchain is not the ultimate solution to every inventory and ledger problem in existence. When the blockchain craze hit full stride over the past two years, the technology was adopted by several companies whose problems could not necessarily be solved through blockchain solutions. But the value is definitely there－just not for every application. Businesses should bear in mind the numerous challenges involved with the adoption of blockchain, especially the technological crimps. For example, in comparison to databases, blockchain transactions can be much slower; test requirements for system function are rather large; and the immutable nature of the blockchain means there is no path to reverting back to older versions. Additionally, for permissionless systems, the public and distributable nature requires incentives for operators to run and upgrade code, while also ensuring that the mechanism for consensus isn’t in the power of a select few. What this equates to is that businesses who want to take on blockchain technology must account for these challenges, and for blockchain proprietary companies, there must be a strong ROI or a greater solution to existing problems in order to encourage more widespread investment and adoption. There are far too many blockchain and crypto projects that don’t provide good ROI and an urgent need, like those which Hajric describes, and the like. These kinds of companies might see initial value in the blockchain adoption craze, but don’t truly have a strong enough goal for adoption. Similarly to what happened with the “internet of things”－which also was proclaimed to be “dead”－just because something can be connected, doesn’t mean it creates enough value to warrant doing so. But unlike the dotcom burst, blockchain technology is ready, but the ideas are not. Investors and industry leaders should also understand this. Creating enormous value with blockchain projects is what is essential to creating a resurgence. The first half of achieving this is through practical, high-value applications on both micro and macro scales that can streamline processes that might otherwise become chaotic or costly. They can also build transparency in situations where the public has felt left in the dark by the largest of institutions. Shipping is one place where blockchain adoption would be of high value. Currently, tracking shipping is rather easy, but finding problems that cause delays is not. $1.2 billion in revenue was lost on 46.9 million orders that were delayed, caused by processing procedures that take up valuable time. A 2017 study found On blockchain, retailers, forwarders, and customers could keep track of the steps in the shipping process with full transparency and the cost of shipping could be reduced to all market participants with blockchain cutting out costly intermediary agents. Additionally, smart contracts, like those used on the Ethereum blockchain, could ensure secured and guaranteed payments to those involved in the shipping process. Real estate is another terrific example of how it can be applied. the problem of inefficient and corrupt land registries in the case of Haiti, where, after a major earthquake, land plot ownership was difficult to identify, severely impeding the recovery process. Oprunenco and Akmeemana highlight In countries with documented deep corruption and/or massive population centers, real estate property rights can benefit from an immutable, transparent history of transactions, because blockchain node history cannot be altered. In turn, such a change would create trust in the authenticity of property ownership without the ability to tamper. Beyond the micro applicability, it’s also important to understand the deeper underlying reasons for the creation of blockchain, which is to build corruption-free public and private institutions. Blockchain is able to combat the lack of transparency, interference, and self-interested motives that legacy institutions were accused of in the fallout of the 2008 financial crisis. With blockchain, entire financial infrastructures could be improved upon both locally and globally. First, on the matter of transparency, transactions undertaken by legacy institutions can be viewed rather easily by the public. So, for example, officials can be empowered to monitor and regulate finance with greater scrutiny. Outside of domestic financial regulation, financial institutions could simplify cross-border transactions and exchanges in a cost effective manner, because of blockchain’s borderless nature. Smart contracts, like those utilized on Ethereum’s blockchain, could help enforce payment between two parties who live in countries that do not have legal agreements. There are many applications for blockchain, but it must be remembered that in the early stages of disruptive technology adoption, it is the most valuable and game-changing ideas that are worth the investment. Just because the hype was there, doesn’t mean that the technology could be unanimously adopted by any company. For the successful resurgence of blockchain and a future where it will disrupt the world of databases, the applications must be right. Investors take note: blockchain is not dead. About Ciarán Hynes Ciarán Hynes is co-founder and Managing Partner at COSIMO Ventures, a deep technology firm specializing in Blockchain. He is also a serial entrepreneur, investor and Board Director with companies including Gecko Governance, Locatible, Nova Leah and Oneiro. He has helped navigate and develop their U.S. infrastructure and expand into the U.S. market. He has over ten years of deep tech market experience and  leverages his extensive network of investors, advisors, government agencies and business leaders throughout the U.S. to bring strategic benefits to these organizations. He has won international awards and has spoken at many prestigious international conferences and events.

The Tech Lazarus: Why Blockchain Never Died 

Tornado Cash Is One Step Away from Full Censorship (and a Solution) 

টর্নেডো ক্যাশ সম্পূর্ণ সেন্সরশিপ থেকে এক ধাপ দূরে (এবং একটি সমাধান) 

Tornado Cash ist einen Schritt von der vollständigen Zensur entfernt (und einer Lösung)

Tornado Cash está a un paso de la censura total (y de una solución)

Tornado Cash est à un pas de la censure totale (et une solution)

टॉरनेडो कैश पूर्ण सेंसरशिप (और समाधान) से एक कदम दूर है

トルネード キャッシュは完全な検閲 (そして解決策) まであと一歩

토네이도 캐시는 전면 검열에서 한 걸음 떨어져 있습니다(그리고 해결책)

Tornado Cash está a um passo da censura total (e de uma solução)

Tornado Cash в одном шаге от полной цензуры (и решения)

Tornado Cash Tam Sansüre (ve Bir Çözüme) Bir Adım Uzakta

Tornado Cash sắp bị kiểm duyệt hoàn toàn (và một giải pháp)

Tornado Cash 距离全面审查仅一步之遥（并有解决方案）

Commonly, we only consider the members of a famous mailing list initiated by Tim May, John Gilmore, and Eric Hughes in 1992 as ‘cypherpunks’. Satoshi Nakamoto was around, too, and that’s partly why the mailing list became famous later. But cypherpunks are much more than people who just happened to be there. They’re skilled coders and privacy activists dedicated to creating new digital tools to foster online freedom and social change. Sometimes, sadly, they even pay a high price for it. That was the case with Julian Assange, and that’s also the case now with the Tornado Cash founders: Alexey Pertsev, Roman Semenov, and Roman Storm. Unlike Assange, they weren’t there for the mailing list in the 90s (they were far too young), but they can be considered cypherpunks for their considerable contribution to online privacy. Also, as with many other cypherpunks, we don’t know a lot about them beyond Tornado Cash and its legal intricacies. We know some things, though. All of them are of Russian origin, and their ages range between 31 (Pertsev) and 35 (Semenov). Pertsev was based in the Netherlands, and his co-founders were in the United States. The latter is also the country in which they registered PepperSec Inc. in 2018. This is a cybersecurity company staffed by white hat hackers —including the founders. Before this, they were doing different projects inside and outside the crypto world —and around Ethereum, specifically. For instance, Storm was a developer in the POA network, an Ethereum-based platform that offers a framework for smart contracts, and it’s now part of the Gnosis ecosystem. Pertsev was an independent security consultant in the meantime. And their lives would change in 2019 when they released Tornado Cash. What is Tornado Cash? Well, it’s apparently a headache for authorities, but it wasn’t done on purpose. In essence, Tornado Cash is a privacy tool on Ethereum that helps users keep their transactions mostly anonymous. When you send Ethereum-based tokens through Tornado Cash, it mixes your coins with those of other users, making it difficult for anyone to trace where your money came from or where it’s going. This way, your financial activities stay private. Here’s how it works: you deposit your cryptocurrency into Tornado Cash, which gives you a secret note. Later, you can use this note to withdraw your funds to a different address. Since your coins get mixed with others in the pool, the connection between your original deposit and the final withdrawal is broken, ensuring your privacy. It’s like putting your coins into a blender with others and then taking it out in a way that no one can tell whose money is whose. Does that sound harmless? It is, in theory. It could work to protect yourself against surveillance, to keep a business transaction secret, or to safely fund a project or group in a hostile territory. Sadly, it also worked for the malicious hacking team dubbed Lazarus Group to launder around $625 million in crypto from a robbery to the Ronin Network in 2022, and likely other illegal endeavors. That’s assuredly the worst use case for the tool, and the creators of this tool are being blamed for it. Money Laundering Accusations The same year of that really big hack and money laundering operation by the Lazarus Group, in August, the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) blacklisted Tornado Cash, alleging it was used for laundering billions in virtual currencies. This led to the suspension of developer accounts and the takedown of their domains. The blacklisting resulted in severe restrictions, including asset freezes and transaction bans, impacting anyone associated with Tornado Cash, even outside the U.S. Shortly after, Alexey Pertsev was arrested in Amsterdam, accused of money laundering through Tornado Cash. Pertsev faced significant legal hurdles, spending over nine months in prison before being placed under house arrest. His trial concluded in May 2024 with a sentence of 64 months in prison, which he is currently appealing. Pertsev's legal team is actively working on the appeal, but it may take several months before a new hearing is scheduled. Roman Storm and Roman Semenov were similarly accused in the U.S. in August 2023. Roman Storm was arrested in Washington but was released on a $2 million bond pending his trial. His trial is set for September, where he will face charges similar to those against Pertsev. Roman Semenov is also under investigation, but he’s said to remain at large. Despite these legal challenges, the Tornado Cash community and various advocacy groups have shown strong support for the developers. Organizations like Coin Center, DeFi Education Fund, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation have voiced their support and are assisting in the legal battles. The crypto community continues to rally behind the developers, emphasizing the importance of privacy tools in the digital age. What’s next? Tornado Cash itself remains operational as a decentralized protocol on the Ethereum network, with significant funds still deposited in the platform. However, all the services related to it that aren’t decentralized (domains, node providers, webpages, user-friendly interfaces) are being blocked by a lot of companies that aren’t willing to face the OFAC blacklisting. Also, if a centralized crypto exchange or stablecoin relates your tokens with Tornado Cash, they may freeze your funds, for the same reasons. In the end, despite it being a decentralized platform available for everyone, there are feasible ways to censor this and other similar services on blockchains. That doesn’t mean the work of Pertsev, Semenov, and Storm was for naught. Besides the fact there are other numerous crypto mixers around, the ongoing legal proceedings against Tornado Cash developers are a wake-up call that highlights the complex intersection of privacy, technology, and regulation around decentralized services. Our online privacy is something worth fighting for, and no centralized party seems really interested in letting us have that right. Creating code for it shouldn’t be a crime. As cypherpunks say in their manifesto, “We must defend our own privacy if we expect to have any.” Obyte, as a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) crypto network, offers a higher level of censorship resistance than any blockchain, and that translates to a higher level of privacy as privacy tools like Tornado Cash cannot be censored. It offers a decentralized, autonomous platform that operates independently of centralized intermediaries such as block producers in blockchains. Unlike blockchain services that can be censored or blocked by block producers due to regulatory pressures, Obyte's decentralized nature ensures that users retain control over their transactions without the risk of third-party interference. All developers are more than welcome to keep the cypherpunk ethos by building here! Read more from Cypherpunks Write Code series: Tim May & Crypto-anarchism
Wei Dai & B-money
Nick Szabo & Smart Contracts
Adam Back & Hashcash
Eric Hughes & Remailer
St Jude & Community Memory
Hal Finney & RPOW
Julian Assange & WikiLeaks
John Gilmore & EFF
Satoshi Nakamoto & Bitcoin
Gregory Maxwell & Bitcoin Core
Ian Grigg & Ricardian contracts
Vinay Gupta & Mattereum Featured Vector Image by Garry Killian / Freepik Photograph of Roman Semenov [right] from X (Twitter) Photograph of Pertsev [center] and Storm [left] from LinkedIn Commonly, we only consider the members of a famous mailing list initiated by Tim May, John Gilmore, and Eric Hughes in 1992 as ‘cypherpunks’. Satoshi Nakamoto was around, too, and that’s partly why the mailing list became famous later. But cypherpunks are much more than people who just happened to be there. They’re skilled coders and privacy activists dedicated to creating new digital tools to foster online freedom and social change. Sometimes, sadly, they even pay a high price for it. That was the case with Julian Assange , and that’s also the case now with the Tornado Cash founders: Alexey Pertsev, Roman Semenov, and Roman Storm. Unlike Assange, they weren’t there for the mailing list in the 90s (they were far too young), but they can be considered cypherpunks for their considerable contribution to online privacy. Julian Assange Julian Assange Also, as with many other cypherpunks, we don’t know a lot about them beyond Tornado Cash and its legal intricacies. We know some things, though. All of them are of Russian origin, and their ages range between 31 (Pertsev) and 35 (Semenov). Pertsev was based in the Netherlands, and his co-founders were in the United States. The latter is also the country in which they registered PepperSec Inc . in 2018. This is a cybersecurity company staffed by white hat hackers —including the founders. Also, as with many other cypherpunks, we don’t know a lot about them beyond Tornado Cash and its legal intricacies. range range PepperSec Inc PepperSec Inc Before this, they were doing different projects inside and outside the crypto world —and around Ethereum, specifically. For instance, Storm was a developer in the POA network, an Ethereum-based platform that offers a framework for smart contracts, and it’s now part of the Gnosis ecosystem. Pertsev was an independent security consultant in the meantime. was a developer was a developer security consultant security consultant And their lives would change in 2019 when they released Tornado Cash. What is Tornado Cash? Well, it’s apparently a headache for authorities, but it wasn’t done on purpose. In essence, Tornado Cash is a privacy tool on Ethereum that helps users keep their transactions mostly anonymous. When you send Ethereum-based tokens through Tornado Cash, it mixes your coins with those of other users, making it difficult for anyone to trace where your money came from or where it’s going. This way, your financial activities stay private. Tornado Cash Tornado Cash When you send Ethereum-based tokens through Tornado Cash, it mixes your coins with those of other users, making it difficult for anyone to trace where your money came from or where it’s going. Here’s how it works: you deposit your cryptocurrency into Tornado Cash, which gives you a secret note. Later, you can use this note to withdraw your funds to a different address. Since your coins get mixed with others in the pool, the connection between your original deposit and the final withdrawal is broken, ensuring your privacy. It’s like putting your coins into a blender with others and then taking it out in a way that no one can tell whose money is whose. Does that sound harmless? It is, in theory. It could work to protect yourself against surveillance, to keep a business transaction secret, or to safely fund a project or group in a hostile territory. Sadly, it also worked for the malicious hacking team dubbed Lazarus Group to launder around $625 million in crypto from a robbery to the Ronin Network in 2022, and likely other illegal endeavors. That’s assuredly the worst use case for the tool, and the creators of this tool are being blamed for it. It could work to protect yourself against surveillance, to keep a business transaction secret, or to safely fund a project or group in a hostile territory. Money Laundering Accusations The same year of that really big hack and money laundering operation by the Lazarus Group, in August, the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) blacklisted Tornado Cash, alleging it was used for laundering billions in virtual currencies. This led to the suspension of developer accounts and the takedown of their domains. The blacklisting resulted in severe restrictions, including asset freezes and transaction bans, impacting anyone associated with Tornado Cash, even outside the U.S. blacklisted blacklisted Shortly after, Alexey Pertsev was arrested in Amsterdam, accused of money laundering through Tornado Cash. Pertsev faced significant legal hurdles , spending over nine months in prison before being placed under house arrest. His trial concluded in May 2024 with a sentence of 64 months in prison, which he is currently appealing . Pertsev's legal team is actively working on the appeal, but it may take several months before a new hearing is scheduled. Shortly after, Alexey Pertsev was arrested in Amsterdam, accused of money laundering through Tornado Cash. significant legal hurdles significant legal hurdles currently appealing currently appealing Roman Storm and Roman Semenov were similarly accused in the U.S. in August 2023. Roman Storm was arrested in Washington but was released on a $2 million bond pending his trial. His trial is set for September, where he will face charges similar to those against Pertsev. Roman Semenov is also under investigation, but he’s said to remain at large . remain at large remain at large Despite these legal challenges, the Tornado Cash community and various advocacy groups have shown strong support for the developers. Organizations like Coin Center, DeFi Education Fund, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation have voiced their support and are assisting in the legal battles. The crypto community continues to rally behind the developers, emphasizing the importance of privacy tools in the digital age. Despite these legal challenges, the Tornado Cash community and various advocacy groups have shown strong support for the developers. advocacy groups advocacy groups Electronic Frontier Foundation Electronic Frontier Foundation What’s next? Tornado Cash itself remains operational as a decentralized protocol on the Ethereum network, with significant funds still deposited in the platform. However, all the services related to it that aren’t decentralized (domains, node providers, webpages, user-friendly interfaces) are being blocked by a lot of companies that aren’t willing to face the OFAC blacklisting. Also, if a centralized crypto exchange or stablecoin relates your tokens with Tornado Cash, they may freeze your funds, for the same reasons. significant funds significant funds are being blocked are being blocked In the end, despite it being a decentralized platform available for everyone, there are feasible ways to censor this and other similar services on blockchains. That doesn’t mean the work of Pertsev, Semenov, and Storm was for naught. Besides the fact there are other numerous crypto mixers around , the ongoing legal proceedings against Tornado Cash developers are a wake-up call that highlights the complex intersection of privacy, technology, and regulation around decentralized services. feasible ways feasible ways numerous crypto mixers around numerous crypto mixers around the ongoing legal proceedings against Tornado Cash developers are a wake-up call that highlights the complex intersection of privacy, technology, and regulation around decentralized services. Our online privacy is something worth fighting for, and no centralized party seems really interested in letting us have that right. Creating code for it shouldn’t be a crime. As cypherpunks say in their manifesto, “We must defend our own privacy if we expect to have any.” As cypherpunks As cypherpunks Obyte , as a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) crypto network, offers a higher level of censorship resistance than any blockchain, and that translates to a higher level of privacy as privacy tools like Tornado Cash cannot be censored. It offers a decentralized, autonomous platform that operates independently of centralized intermediaries such as block producers in blockchains. Unlike blockchain services that can be censored or blocked by block producers due to regulatory pressures, Obyte's decentralized nature ensures that users retain control over their transactions without the risk of third-party interference. All developers are more than welcome to keep the cypherpunk ethos by building here! Obyte Obyte Read more from Cypherpunks Write Code series: Read more from Cypherpunks Write Code series: Tim May & Crypto-anarchism Wei Dai & B-money Nick Szabo & Smart Contracts Adam Back & Hashcash Eric Hughes & Remailer St Jude & Community Memory Hal Finney & RPOW Julian Assange & WikiLeaks John Gilmore & EFF Satoshi Nakamoto & Bitcoin Gregory Maxwell & Bitcoin Core Ian Grigg & Ricardian contracts Vinay Gupta & Mattereum Tim May & Crypto-anarchism Tim May & Crypto-anarchism Tim May & Crypto-anarchism Tim May & Crypto-anarchism Wei Dai & B-money Wei Dai & B-money Wei Dai & B-money Wei Dai & B-money Nick Szabo & Smart Contracts Nick Szabo & Smart Contracts Nick Szabo & Smart Contracts Nick Szabo & Smart Contracts Adam Back & Hashcash Adam Back & Hashcash Adam Back & Hashcash Adam Back & Hashcash Eric Hughes & Remailer Eric Hughes & Remailer Eric Hughes & Remailer Eric Hughes & Remailer St Jude & Community Memory St Jude & Community Memory St Jude & Community Memory St Jude & Community Memory Hal Finney & RPOW Hal Finney & RPOW Hal Finney & RPOW Hal Finney & RPOW Julian Assange & WikiLeaks Julian Assange & WikiLeaks Julian Assange & WikiLeaks Julian Assange & WikiLeaks John Gilmore & EFF John Gilmore & EFF John Gilmore & EFF John Gilmore & EFF Satoshi Nakamoto & Bitcoin Satoshi Nakamoto & Bitcoin Satoshi Nakamoto & Bitcoin Satoshi Nakamoto & Bitcoin Gregory Maxwell & Bitcoin Core Gregory Maxwell & Bitcoin Core Gregory Maxwell & Bitcoin Core Gregory Maxwell & Bitcoin Core Ian Grigg & Ricardian contracts Ian Grigg & Ricardian contracts Ian Grigg & Ricardian contracts Ian Grigg & Ricardian contracts Vinay Gupta & Mattereum Vinay Gupta & Mattereum Vinay Gupta & Mattereum Vinay Gupta & Mattereum Featured Vector Image by Garry Killian / Freepik Featured Vector Image by Garry Killian / Freepik Freepik Freepik Photograph of Roman Semenov [right] from X (Twitter) Photograph of Roman Semenov [right] from X ( Twitter ) Twitter Twitter Photograph of Pertsev [center] and Storm [left] from LinkedIn Photograph of Pertsev [center] and Storm [left] from LinkedIn

Cypherpunks Write Code: Pertsev, Semenov, Storm, and Tornado Cash

সাইফারপাঙ্কস কোড লিখুন: Pertsev, Semenov, Storm, and Tornado Cash

Cypherpunks schreiben Code: Pertsev, Semenov, Storm und Tornado Cash

Código de escritura de Cypherpunks: Pertsev, Semenov, Storm y Tornado Cash

Cypherpunks écrivent du code : Pertsev, Semenov, Storm et Tornado Cash

साइफरपंक्स कोड लिखते हैं: पर्टसेव, सेमेनोव, स्टॉर्म और टॉरनेडो कैश

サイファーパンクがコードを書く: ペルツェフ、セミョーノフ、ストーム、トルネード キャッシュ

Cypherpunks 작성 코드: Pertsev, Semenov, Storm 및 Tornado Cash

Cypherpunks escrevem código: Pertsev, Semenov, Storm e Tornado Cash

Шифропанки пишут код: Перцев, Семенов, Шторм и Торнадо Кэш

Şifrepunklar Kod Yazıyor: Pertsev, Semenov, Storm ve Tornado Cash

Cypherpunks viết mã: Pertsev, Semenov, Storm và Tornado Cash

密码朋克编写代码：Pertsev、Semenov、Storm 和 Tornado Cash

Cryptographic Ransomware Encryption Detection: Survey: Author's Declaration

The World Wide Web, thank you Sir Tim, was conceived as a technology designed to be “ ” It has devolved from that into a (cyber)space of moated castles, Disneylandish . a powerful source for social change and individual creativity. cathedrals, not bazaars While very entertaining and very useful in many ways the hegemonic Web platforms present as artificial rather than organic, hierarchical rather than egalitarian. The Big Platforms are owned and managed by a handful of dominant, supervalued, companies. Prominent are Alphabet (Google’s parent) and Meta (Facebook’s parent). Low cost and high profit, they are great at informing and entertaining us. Meanwhile, however, in consequential ways they are beggaring those who provide the content and the users who consume that content. The top platforms are richly paid to channel advertising. To us. The Web has evolved into a massive, and massively profitable, advertising engine. As such, the Web now might be (and is becoming) seen as a form of de facto feudalism, digital imperialism, and digerati aristocracy. The attention of us billions of serfs is the product sold to advertisers. No coercion there. More like… seduction. Note, this critique does not imply a call for legislation or government regulation. Both tend to be blunt instruments that land much harder on startups than on the hegemons of the digital megaverse. It calls for transformation. Which will come, as always, , as Microsoft dethroned IBM, Google (partially) dethroned Microsoft, Facebook (partially) dethroned Google, Apple (partially) dethroned Facebook, and so forth. from more innovation How did we get here? Can we, and if so how can we, once again unleash the imprisoned lighting ( ) of the colonized Web to create a new golden age of innovation and equitable prosperity? h/t Emma Lazarus Enter the blockchain. First, though, who am I to judge? I am one of the few surviving Original Gangsters of the Supply Side/Reaganomics revolution. We, relentlessly mocked by the right (“voodoo economics”) and the left (“trickle-down economics”), got policies enacted that, over time , pushed the Dow from 814 (on that day in November 1979 that Reagan officially declared his candidacy for the presidency) to its current flirtation with 40,000. Our voodoo doubled real per capita GDP (from $30,000 to $60,000). It raised nominal American and world GDP by a factor of ten. Pretty good voodoo. That said, what’s the next act? The juice from the original equitable prosperity policy formula -- of stabilizing the dollar (slaying the inflation dragon for two generations and cutting the top marginal income tax rate from 70% to, initially, 28%) -- got wrung out around the time Bill Clinton left the building. I was and am enthusiastic about reducing counterproductively high marginal tax rates across-the-board. Yet much of what ensued in the name of supply-side during the 21st century is a cargo-cult version of supply-side’s successes of the ‘80s and ‘90s. The post-Reagan/Clinton grotesque caricature of authentic supply-side economics has left the economy limping for a generation. Cumulatively, over 20+ years, sub-par growth rates are crippling. They leave us with an economy, both national and personal, far lower than what consistent 3+% supply-side growth rates would have delivered over time. As , compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world.  A one or two percent differential compounded over 20 years makes a huge difference. Einstein probably never said Is there a new, plausible, way to re-ignite vibrant, widely shared, rising living standards? As Nobel Prize winner Paul Romer has pointed out, the secret sauce is innovation. Tech. Enter A16z’s , “a General Partner and has been at Andreessen Horowitz since 2012. He founded and leads a16z crypto, which invests in web3 technologies through four dedicated funds with more than $7 billion under management.” Chris Dixon Dixon has delivered a splendid new book . It lays out in clear, practical terms how the wild wild Web was lost. And how to set it right in such a way that everyone, including us serfs, can prosper. Read Write Own: Building the Next Era of the Internet As , prosperity is too important to be left to the economists. Enter Dixon. war is too important to be left to the generals How to restore sizzling, equitable, prosperity? The blockchain. The blockchain is a revolutionary form of software which, when more fully developed, portends to allow most of the value created by the community and by its cultural creatives to be enjoyed by the full community and its cultural creatives. Not (as now) exclusively, or at least primarily, by the corporate royalty and tech aristocracy. At long last, Dixon gives us a presentation of the blockchain and its properties imbued with an enthusiasm leavened with shrewd practical insight devoid of hype. Dixon is one of the Masters of the Digital Universe (as coder, entrepreneur, and investor). He knows whereof he writes and has written the first really great, comprehensive, book on the blockchain, . Read Write Own: Building the Next Era of the Internet Eureka! Dixon provides an overview in his introduction. He there provides us a World-Wide-Webb-telescopic-eye view of the three eras of the internet, of a new movement, of seeing the truth and determining the internet’s future. Part One, “Read Write”—treats the early internet, which was effectively read only, and Web2, allowing us surfers to write and post through websites, blogs, podcasts, social media and so forth. He explains why networks matter and lays out a trenchant taxonomy of the two dominant incumbent networks (protocol, like the internet and email, and corporate, such as Google and Facebook) and their properties. In Part Two, “Own,” Dixon then goes on to explain what blockchains are, what “tokens” are, and what the – radically great – properties of blockchain networks are… or could and can be. “Own” is a short word with huge implications. Ownership is what has been lost, and which can be restored via a (better) blockchain. In Part Three, “A New Era,” Dixon explains and explores the fundamentals of the business model, community-created software, and take rates (meaning the vigorish that the corporate network proprietors extract from their communities, a process he aptly calls “attract and extract”). He lays out how building networks with token incentives can dramatically change the way the world works for the better, making it more prosperous, cultured, and equitable. He presents vividly the attendant “tokenomics” … and how to restore popular, rather than corporate-autocratic, governance. In Part Four, “Here and Now”, he contrasts the culture of the computer (blockchain as compute platform) with the casino (cryptocurrency), concluding with “What’s Next” … showing how mobile computing, starting with the iPhone, changed everything. He then lays out “some promising applications.” Dixon concludes with a pragmatic vision of the reinvention of the internet… and what grounds his cause for optimism. Until Dixon, in many years of my searching, like Diogenes with his lantern, I had encountered not one single really good, comprehensive, book on the blockchain. (I may have missed one, admittedly, for instance, not yet having gotten to Alex Tapscott’s critically acclaimed .) Web3 There I rested, baffled. So much sizzle. So little steak. So, together with a brilliant acquaintance, I helped write one: . That said, it mainly was focused on the potential finance applications of the blockchain, not the Big Picture. Redefining the Future of the Economy: Governance Blocks and Economic Architecture I thereafter co-authored a second book on this subject, , a compilation of ten superior policies designed to let the sector thrive while protecting the public. Blockchain With American Character It took a long odyssey to arrive at Dixon. I wandered around for years asking people vastly smarter than me what the blockchain was good for and seeking examples of killer applications (“use cases” in the prevailing jargon). In response, I got oodles of hype. And almost no satisfying answers … with one exception, though a largely unpublished one. noteworthy Cometh now Chris Dixon. I am not the only one impressed. Sam Altman, the godfather of ChatGPT, blurbs Read Write Own: “Read this book to understand a compelling vision of where the Internet should go and how to get there.” Shark Tank’s Mark Cuban: “Chris Dixon succeeds at explaining how crypto technology is vital to our technological future and how we all can benefit much as we have from the internet.” And many more captains of industry, tech titans, and nouveau billionaires discovered Dixon’s writings before I did. My own modest credentials? I have been working within and with the Blockchain ecosystem for, well, eons. One of my LinkedIn verticals is aggregating some of the most interesting stories about NFTs. Ralph Benko’s Cryptozoic Eon Geology nerds will recognize the original to be the pre-Cambrian era … before the trilobites and dinosaurs... comprising 80% of Earth’s geo-history. Are we trembling at the verge of the blockchain’s equivalent of the ? Cryptozoic Eon Cambrian explosion Dixon thinks so. So do I. Call me yet my odyssey through the blockchain ecosystem has brought me into contact with creatures and cultures as exotically beautiful and, sometimes, as weird as those encountered by Odysseus during his long return to Ithaka. Nobody My own pilgrimage: Senior advisor to the fabulous Perianne Boring’s Chamber of Digital Commerce, one of the sector’s earliest and most distinguished cheerleaders. Long-time active member of the Federal Blockchain Working Group. Privileged to present more than once at the conferences of the , the preeminent association of officials and international career civil servants. Government Blockchain Association Serving, for two years, as the senior counselor to the American Blockchain PAC, with its advisory board chaired by who generously contributed the introduction to . The breakthrough nature of Stornetta and Haber’s discovery is decisively evidenced by the fact that three of Satoshi’s eight footnotes referenced his and Stuart Haber’s . blockchain-co-inventor Dr. W. Scott Stornetta Blockchain With American Character seminal paper The high privilege of working with one of Satoshi’s earliest Bitcoin core devs (and major contributor to the Android OS) in establishing a DC think tank devoted to smart energy policy, . Jeff Garzik Washington Power and Light Voted Contributor of the Year in 2022 at for my blockchain writings in six categories: politics, economics, science, art, philosophy, and (with Greg Meredith) scaling. HackerNoon My blockchain-related efforts have migrated primarily to the , rather than policy, side. enterprise My primary focus is on the use of rho calculus (a refinement of Robin Milner’s Turing Award-winning pi-calculus) to deploy a blockchain that, unlike the dominant platforms, scales. Bitcoin does a mere 7 transactions per second, Ethereum, 70 transactions per second. Inadequate for practical utility. And expensive to operate. And storable. (Currently it costs almost half a million dollars to store one iTune on the dominant incumbent chains, hence the referenced data are mostly stashed behind someone else’s firewall, not at all optimal.) And searchable. (Currently the dominant blockchains are largely opaque, like the Web before search engines.) And secure. So … now what? Dixon is a true Master of the Blockchain Universe. Not (like me) a practiced propagandist. Thus he buries his lede on page 179: “The stakes are high. As I’ve argued here, blockchain networks are the only known technology that can re-establish an open, democratic internet.” Hello Congress my old friend, I’ve come to talk to you again…. This re-establishment is a very big deal indeed. What’s next? For the tantalizing promise of the blockchain to be realized we need smart policy that protects the public while not stifling innovation or exporting this cutting-edge tech, and the potentially trillions of associated dollars, to Berlin, Singapore or Zug. Imagine how worse off America would be today if Congress and our regulators had effectively deported the headquarters of the big Web success stories, like Google, to Europe or the Pacific? The need for a savvy legal and regulatory environment is something that legislators, regulators, and the ethical actors within the industry (like Dixon) all agree upon. Yet Washington has thus far proved mostly thrown, acting like the primates upon encountering the monolith at the beginning of . 2001: a Space Odyssey We’re at the precipice of deporting Web3 and its associated power, prestige and wealth. That may be about to change. The blockchain’s thought leaders are at long last gearing up to help guide the footsteps of the Washington elite back onto the Paths of Righteousness via smart policy, smart legislation, and smart regulation. Some very smart leaders of the blockchain ecosystem are now promising to , a modest investment in support a multi-billion dollar sector. invest $78M in lobbying and advocacy in 2024 The open question? Will they deploy their resources effectively? Or be taken in by the wily Beltway Bandits? What to do? Those of us who remember C.P. Snow’s seminal understand that the “physical scientists” (which would include software engineers, notwithstanding that software is, so to speak, metaphysical) among whom I count myself as a very lesser figure do not really understand the “literary intellectuals” (among whom I also count myself in a very minor way). The Two Cultures And The Scientific Revolution This misunderstanding causes a terrible disconnect. As Snow reported, in 1959: “They have a curious distorted image of each other. Their attitudes are so different that, even at the level of emotion, they can’t find much common ground.” This can be countered… if the blockchain thought leaders know how to adopt an effective approach. There is abundant potential common ground. Dixon’s book offers a “ ” – the brain’s bridge connecting the left (logical, dominating the physical scientists) and right (narrative-based, dominating the literary intellectuals) hemispheres – to enable both sides to understand each other. corpus callosum To their mutual, and our, great benefit. There’s a simple way to expedite this process, one with a high ROI. Were the thought leaders of the $78M blockchain advocacy effort to allocate an absurdly small fraction (less than 1%) of their dedicated resources to distributing two copies (one for the Congressperson or Senator, one for his or her most relevant legislative aide) of Read Write Own, the impact almost surely will be disproportionately valuable compared to the low cost of such an operation. How do I know? I’ve pretty much single-handedly gotten (non-blockchain related) legislation passed through the House. Twice. There are a lot of smart, idealistic, people working on Capitol Hill, many actively interested in the blockchain and in its tantalizing potential. Put Read Write Own in front of them! The power of can hardly be overestimated: Joseph Pulitzer’s principles “…put it before them briefly so that they will read it, clearly so that they will understand it, forcibly so that they will appreciate it, picturesquely so that they will remember it, and, above all, accurately so that they may be wisely guided by its light.” The late supply-side chief propagandist Jude Wanniski’s book “The Way the World Works” played an outsized role in igniting the worldwide wave of unprecedented equitable prosperity driven by supply-side economics. This arcane fact is mostly long forgotten. That said, I was there and remember. In the , “And I only am escaped alone to tell thee.” words of Ishmael Read Write Own, properly deployed, very well could catalyze a comparably magnificent equitable prosperity transformation. Putting Dixon’s Read Write Own in front of the right eyeballs in the right way on Capitol Hill, could very well release the djinn of “the only known technology that can re-establish an open, democratic internet” from its lamp. Which eyeballs? Don’t try to guess. Simply trust the process known as “ as described by James Surowiecki. the wisdom of crowds” Flood the zone and let the implicate order take it from there. And then … let a new golden age of equitable prosperity, via the road thereto so ably mapped out by Dixon, foment well-designed policy and thereby foster the next great manifestation of equitable prosperity for America. And the world. Read. Write. Own.

Here Comes Web3: Chris Dixon’s Read Write Own

এখানে আসে ওয়েব 3: ক্রিস ডিক্সনের পড়া লেখা নিজস্ব

Hier kommt Web3: Chris Dixons Read Write Own

Aquí viene Web3: Lectura y escritura propia de Chris Dixon

Voici le Web3 : Lire, écrire et posséder de Chris Dixon

यहाँ आता है वेब3: क्रिस डिक्सन का पढ़ें लिखें अपना

Web3 の登場: Chris Dixon の Read Write Own

Web3 출시: Chris Dixon의 읽기 쓰기

Aí vem a Web3: Read Write Own de Chris Dixon

А вот и Web3: книга Криса Диксона «Читайте, пишите сами»

İşte Web3 Geliyor: Chris Dixon'ın Oku Yaz Kendin Yaz

Đây là Web3: Tự đọc và viết của Chris Dixon

Web3 来了：Chris Dixon 的 Read Write Own

Anyone who watches the market will know that has been on the rise for years. From IMB to , some of the world’s biggest firms have dived head-first into the space, ushering in renewed public interest along with this financial support. web3 Apple 2024 is on track to be a pivotal year for the space as it could act as a bridge towards future growth. Grand View Research that web3 will see a compound annual growth rate of 49.3% from 2024 to 2030. Needless to say, anyone invested in web3 will want to pay close attention to the companies that operate within it in 2024. predicts But what companies are poised to come out on top? After all, the web3 space is as big as it is innovative and between the cryptos and the DAOs and the NFTs, the market is brimming with possibilities. Even among these, the following companies have stood out as the ones to watch: Yard[hub] is a web3 venture studio dedicated to turning ideas into ventures employing a hands-on, iterative methodology. This studio not only provides financial backing but also imparts expert guidance to its portfolio startups, aiding them in evolving into robust web3 enterprises. YARD Hub believes that startups flourish under the tutelage of its seasoned in-house teams, enhancing their chances of achieving the right product/market fit. YARD Hub As explained by YARD Hub co-founder Sergei Lagutenko, the studio covers a broad spectrum of expertise, from business analytics and product management to marketing and business development, steering startups clear of common pitfalls that lead to failure. Additionally, YARD Hub has introduced the Growth Camp, a web3 accelerator program, now inviting applications for its second cohort slated for Q2 2024. This program offers startups access to elite mentors, partner benefits, and six comprehensive learning tracks. YARD Hub's portfolio presents an intriguing opportunity for those keen on tracking the emergence of top-tier web3 companies. U2U Network stands at the forefront of the Web3 revolution as a pioneer in modular blockchain and Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN). Leveraging advanced Subnet technology, the U2U Network introduces a modular approach to blockchain, enhancing scalability and flexibility. This innovative framework allows for the creation of specialized Subnets, tailored to specific applications or industries, thereby solving traditional blockchain limitations, reaching up to 500,000 Transactions Per Second (TPS) with under 650 ms finality time. U2U Network In the realm of DePIN, U2U Network excels by offering a suite of decentralized services, including Decentralized Private Network (DPN), Decentralized Identity (DID), Decentralized Storage, etc. These services embody the essence of DePIN, providing on-demand, decentralized solutions that empower users and foster a more secure, efficient, community-owned digital ecosystem. U2U Network's commitment to modular blockchain technology and DePIN positions it as a key player in shaping the future of decentralized digital infrastructure. As we move into 2024, U2U Network is a top Web3 company to keep a close eye on. Chainalysis stands out as a significant player in the web3 landscape this year, operating as a blockchain analysis firm. Over the years, Chainalysis has been putting out some of the most insightful and groundbreaking blockchain-related research you’ll find anywhere. For example, Chainalysis has been at the forefront of investigating the activities in the Silk Road marketplace, even helping authorities recover over a billion dollars from it. The company also blew the whistle on the activities of the North Korean hacking collective, the Lazarus Group. Chainalysis 2024 is gearing up to be a year of growth for both the blockchain and web3 space and we can trust Chainalysis to be at the forefront of researching it. The company started off the year on a high note covering the activities of the spot Bitcoin ETFs and as the halving and other activities unfold in the space, the industry will turn to Chainalysis for its track record of efficient research. File Coin , a notable web3 project to keep an eye on this year, has been a prominent figure in the field for several years now. It functions as a blockchain-based cooperative for digital storage and data retrieval, offering users the ability to store and access their data independently of centralized entities. This capability grants users crucial privacy and control over their information, which aligns with the ethos of the web3 environment. In the first weeks of 2024, File Coin released Glif, a liquid leasing protocol, which raised $4.5 million in a seed funding round, amidst plans to launch a rewards program for users. File Coin All this excitement has had a positive impact on FIL, the native token of the ecosystem, with some predicting its value to hit $50 per unit by the end of the year. As web3 comes to the forefront, more users will want to take control of their data and privacy and File Coin seems more than equipped to meet this need. In conclusion, the year 2024 holds immense promise for the web3 landscape, poised to act as a transformative bridge toward future growth. With a projected compound , the momentum behind web3 is undeniable. As the market brims with possibilities, investors and enthusiasts must monitor the evolving landscape closely. The web3 space embodies innovation and potential, fueled by a myriad of technologies ranging from cryptocurrencies to decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). These advancements signify a paradigm shift towards decentralization and democratization of the internet. As we navigate this era of unprecedented change, it's imperative to remain vigilant and adaptive, embracing the transformative potential of web3. annual growth rate of 49.3% forecasted by Grand View Research

Top Web3 Companies To Follow in 2024

2024 সালে অনুসরণ করার জন্য শীর্ষ ওয়েব3 কোম্পানি

Top-Web3-Unternehmen, denen man im Jahr 2024 folgen sollte

Principales empresas de Web3 a seguir en 2024

Principales entreprises Web3 à suivre en 2024

2024 में अनुसरण करने योग्य शीर्ष वेब3 कंपनियां

2024 年に追随すべきトップ Web3 企業

2024년에 주목해야 할 최고의 Web3 기업

Principais empresas da Web3 a seguir em 2024

Лучшие компании Web3, за которыми стоит следить в 2024 году

2024'te Takip Edilecek En İyi Web3 Şirketleri

Các công ty Web3 hàng đầu nên theo dõi vào năm 2024

2024 年最值得关注的 Web3 公司

Subjectivity and the Evolution of AI Philosophy  

সাবজেক্টিভিটি এবং এআই দর্শনের বিবর্তন

Subjektivität und die Entwicklung der KI-Philosophie

La subjetividad y la evolución de la filosofía de la IA

Subjectivité et évolution de la philosophie de l'IA

विषयपरकता और एआई दर्शन का विकास

Stories, News & Mentions about LAZARUS

Lazarus’s Stories on HackerNoon