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Off on a Comet! a Journey through Planetary Space by Jules Verne, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . A FETE DAY here CHAPTER XI. A FETE DAY The temperature continued to decrease; the mercurial thermometer, which freezes at 42 degrees below zero, was no longer of service, and the spirit thermometer of the had been brought into use. This now registered 53 degrees below freezing-point. Dobryna In the creek, where the two vessels had been moored for the winter, the elevation of the ice, in anticipation of which Lieutenant Procope had taken the precautionary measure of beveling, was going on slowly but irresistibly, and the tartan was upheaved fifty feet above the level of the Gallian Sea, while the schooner, as being lighter, had been raised to a still greater altitude. So irresistible was this gradual process of elevation, so utterly defying all human power to arrest, that the lieutenant began to feel very anxious as to the safety of his yacht. With the exception of the engine and the masts, everything had been cleared out and conveyed to shore, but in the event of a thaw it appeared that nothing short of a miracle could prevent the hull from being dashed to pieces, and then all means of leaving the promontory would be gone. The , of course, would share a similar fate; in fact, it had already heeled over to such an extent as to render it quite dangerous for its obstinate owner, who, at the peril of his life, resolved that he would stay where he could watch over his all-precious cargo, though continually invoking curses on the ill-fate of which he deemed himself the victim. Hansa There was, however, a stronger will than Isaac Hakkabut’s. Although no one of all the community cared at all for the safety of the Jew, they cared very much for the security of his cargo, and when Servadac found that nothing would induce the old man to abandon his present quarters voluntarily, he very soon adopted measures of coercion that were far more effectual than any representations of personal danger. “Stop where you like, Hakkabut,” said the captain to him; “but understand that I consider it my duty to make sure that your cargo is taken care of. I am going to have it carried across to land, at once.” Neither groans, nor tears, nor protestations on the part of the Jew, were of the slightest avail. Forthwith, on the 20th of December, the removal of the goods commenced. Both Spaniards and Russians were all occupied for several days in the work of unloading the tartan. Well muffled up as they were in furs, they were able to endure the cold with impunity, making it their special care to avoid actual contact with any article made of metal, which, in the low state of the temperature, would inevitably have taken all the skin off their hands, as much as if it had been red-hot. The task, however, was brought to an end without accident of any kind; and when the stores of the were safely deposited in the galleries of the Hive, Lieutenant Procope avowed that he really felt that his mind had been unburdened from a great anxiety. Hansa Captain Servadac gave old Isaac full permission to take up his residence amongst the rest of the community, promised him the entire control over his own property, and altogether showed him so much consideration that, but for his unbounded respect for his master, Ben Zoof would have liked to reprimand him for his courtesy to a man whom he so cordially despised. Although Hakkabut clamored most vehemently about his goods being carried off “against his will,” in his heart he was more than satisfied to see his property transferred to a place of safety, and delighted, moreover, to know that the transport had been effected without a farthing of expense to himself. As soon, then, as he found the tartan empty, he was only too glad to accept the offer that had been made him, and very soon made his way over to the quarters in the gallery where his merchandise had been stored. Here he lived day and night. He supplied himself with what little food he required from his own stock of provisions, a small spirit-lamp sufficing to perform all the operations of his meager cookery. Consequently all intercourse between himself and the rest of the inhabitants was entirely confined to business transactions, when occasion required that some purchase should be made from his stock of commodities. Meanwhile, all the silver and gold of the colony was gradually finding its way to a double-locked drawer, of which the Jew most carefully guarded the key. The 1st of January was drawing near, the anniversary of the shock which had resulted in the severance of thirty-six human beings from the society of their fellow-men. Hitherto, not one of them was missing. The unvarying calmness of the climate, notwithstanding the cold, had tended to maintain them in good health, and there seemed no reason to doubt that, when Gallia returned to the earth, the total of its little population would still be complete. The 1st of January, it is true, was not properly “New Year’s Day” in Gallia, but Captain Servadac, nevertheless, was very anxious to have it observed as a holiday. “I do not think,” he said to Count Timascheff and Lieutenant Procope, “that we ought to allow our people to lose their interest in the world to which we are all hoping to return; and how can we cement the bond that ought to unite us, better than by celebrating, in common with our fellow-creatures upon earth, a day that awakens afresh the kindliest sentiments of all? Besides,” he added, smiling, “I expect that Gallia, although invisible just at present to the naked eye, is being closely watched by the telescopes of our terrestrial friends, and I have no doubt that the newspapers and scientific journals of both hemispheres are full of accounts detailing the movements of the new comet.” “True,” asserted the count. “I can quite imagine that we are occasioning no small excitement in all the chief observatories.” “Ay, more than that,” said the lieutenant; “our Gallia is certain to be far more than a mere object of scientific interest or curiosity. Why should we doubt that the elements of a comet which has once come into collision with the earth have by this time been accurately calculated? What our friend the professor has done here, has been done likewise on the earth, where, beyond a question, all manner of expedients are being discussed as to the best way of mitigating the violence of a concussion that must occur.” The lieutenant’s conjectures were so reasonable that they commanded assent. Gallia could scarcely be otherwise than an object of terror to the inhabitants of the earth, who could by no means be certain that a second collision would be comparatively so harmless as the first. Even to the Gallians themselves, much as they looked forward to the event, the prospect was not unmixed with alarm, and they would rejoice in the invention of any device by which it was likely the impetus of the shock might be deadened. Christmas arrived, and was marked by appropriate religious observance by everyone in the community, with the exception of the Jew, who made a point of secluding himself more obstinately than ever in the gloomy recesses of his retreat. To Ben Zoof the last week of the year was full of bustle. The arrangements for the New Year were entrusted to him, and he was anxious, in spite of the resources of Gallia being so limited, to make the program for the great day as attractive as possible. fete It was a matter of debate that night whether the professor should be invited to join the party; it was scarcely likely that he would care to come, but, on the whole, it was felt to be advisable to ask him. At first Captain Servadac thought of going in person with the invitation; but, remembering Rosette’s dislike to visitors, he altered his mind, and sent young Pablo up to the observatory with a formal note, requesting the pleasure of Professor Rosette’s company at the New Year’s . fete Pablo was soon back, bringing no answer except that the professor had told him that “to-day was the 125th of June, and that to-morrow would be the 1st of July.” Consequently, Servadac and the count took it for granted that Palmyrin Rosette declined their invitation. An hour after sunrise on New Year’s Day, Frenchmen, Russians, Spaniards, and little Nina, as the representative of Italy, sat down to a feast such as never before had been seen in Gallia. Ben Zoof and the Russian cook had quite surpassed themselves. The wines, part of the stores, were of excellent quality. Those of the vintages of France and Spain were drunk in toasting their respective countries, and even Russia was honored in a similar way by means of a few bottles of kummel. The company was more than contented—it was as jovial as Ben Zoof could desire; and the ringing cheers that followed the great toast of the day—“A happy return to our Mother Earth,” must fairly have startled the professor in the silence of his observatory. Dobryna’s The over, there still remained three hours of daylight. The sun was approaching the zenith, but so dim and enfeebled were his rays that they were very unlike what had produced the wines of Bordeaux and Burgundy which they had just been enjoying, and it was necessary for all, before starting upon an excursion that would last over nightfall, to envelop themselves in the thickest of clothing. dejeuner Full of spirits, the party left the Hive, and chattering and singing as they went, made their way down to the frozen shore, where they fastened on their skates. Once upon the ice, everyone followed his own fancy, and some singly, some in groups, scattered themselves in all directions. Captain Servadac, the count, and the lieutenant were generally seen together. Negrete and the Spaniards, now masters of their novel exercise, wandered fleetly and gracefully hither and thither, occasionally being out of sight completely. The Russian sailors, following a northern custom, skated in file, maintaining their rank by means of a long pole passed under their right arms, and in this way they described a trackway of singular regularity. The two children, blithe as birds, flitted about, now singly, now arm-in-arm, now joining the captain’s party, now making a short peregrination by themselves, but always full of life and spirit. As for Ben Zoof, he was here, there, and everywhere, his imperturbable good temper ensuring him a smile of welcome whenever he appeared. Thus coursing rapidly over the icy plain, the whole party had soon exceeded the line that made the horizon from the shore. First, the rocks of the coast were lost to view; then the white crests of the cliffs were no longer to be seen; and at last, the summit of the volcano, with its corona of vapor, was entirely out of sight. Occasionally the skaters were obliged to stop to recover their breath, but, fearful of frost-bite, they almost instantly resumed their exercise, and proceeded nearly as far as Gourbi Island before they thought about retracing their course. But night was coming on, and the sun was already sinking in the east with the rapidity to which the residents on Gallia were by this time well accustomed. The sunset upon this contracted horizon was very remarkable. There was not a cloud nor a vapor to catch the tints of the declining beams; the surface of the ice did not, as a liquid sea would, reflect the last green ray of light; but the radiant orb, enlarged by the effect of refraction, its circumference sharply defined against the sky, sank abruptly, as though a trap had been opened in the ice for its reception. Before the daylight ended. Captain Servadac had cautioned the party to collect themselves betimes into one group. “Unless you are sure of your whereabouts before dark,” he said, “you will not find it after. We have come out like a party of skirmishers; let us go back in full force.” The night would be dark; their moon was in conjunction, and would not be seen; the stars would only give something of that “pale radiance” which the poet Corneille has described. Immediately after sunset the torches were lighted, and the long series of flames, fanned by the rapid motion of their bearers, had much the appearance of an enormous fiery banner. An hour later, and the volcano appeared like a dim shadow on the horizon, the light from the crater shedding a lurid glare upon the surrounding gloom. In time the glow of the burning lava, reflected in the icy mirror, fell upon the troop of skaters, and cast their lengthened shadows grotesquely on the surface of the frozen sea. Later still, half an hour or more afterwards, the torches were all but dying out. The shore was close at hand. All at once, Ben Zoof uttered a startled cry, and pointed with bewildered excitement towards the mountain. Involuntarily, one and all, they plowed their heels into the ice and came to a halt. Exclamations of surprise and horror burst from every lip. The volcano was extinguished! The stream of burning lava had suddenly ceased to flow! Speechless with amazement, they stood still for some moments. There was not one of them that did not realize, more or less, how critical was their position. The sole source of the heat that had enabled them to brave the rigor of the cold had failed them! death, in the cruellest of all shapes, seemed staring them in the face—death from cold! Meanwhile, the last torch had flickered out. It was quite dark. “Forward!” cried Servadac, firmly. At the word of command they advanced to the shore; clambered with no little difficulty up the slippery rocks; gained the mouth of the gallery; groped their way into the common hall. How dreary! how chill it seemed! The fiery cataract no longer spread its glowing covering over the mouth of the grotto. Lieutenant Procope leaned through the aperture. The pool, hitherto kept fluid by its proximity to the lava, was already encrusted with a layer of ice. Such was the end of the New Year’s Day so happily begun. 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. Jules Verne (1998). Off on a Comet! a Journey through Planetary Space. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022 https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1353/pg1353-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

A FETE DAY

Once upon a time in our digital Odyssey, we believed that personalization would be our North Star, guiding us to a more intuitive, more bespoke internet. Yet as we chase this, we find ourselves not under an open sky but entangled in a labyrinth of mirrors, reflecting nothing but ourselves. The seductive call of personalization is hard to ignore. Who wouldn’t want their digital universe tailored to their tastes and preferences, a world where algorithms act as personal butlers, predicting needs, and serving up desired content on a silver platter? However, this convenience comes at a price - isolation, sensitivity to the unfamiliar, and a growing trend towards self-centeredness. An Over-Personalized Internet Imagine sitting in a room filled with mirrors, each one reflecting only your image. This room is cozy, comfortable, and custom-made. But as days turn into nights, the reflections start feeling repetitive, the room begins to shrink, and you realize - you are utterly alone. This is the paradox of personalization. Our digital rooms, curated by algorithms, echo our thoughts, amplify our voices, and paint our walls with colors we like. Yet, in the process, they mute the noise of diverse perspectives, dim the vibrancy of shared experiences, and reduce the panorama of human existence to a myopic self-portrait. Basking in the solace of our digital echo chambers, we become increasingly sensitive to anything outside of them. As our patience for diverse opinions dwindles, so does our capacity for empathy and understanding. The world outside our personalized rooms starts to feel abrasive, confrontational, even threatening. The trend doesn't stop there, as the digital spotlight shines solely on us, ego bloats to fill the stage. Concerns for others retreat into the shadows, and a subconscious focus on "I" takes center stage. With our digital assistants fawning over our every whim and need, could we be breeding a generation more narcissistic than altruistic? Paradise Lost Amidst these concerns, a question arises: could the personalized paradise we've been promised be nothing more than an illusion? As we navigate this potential mirage, the comfort of our individual reflections begins to clash with a deep-seated yearning for genuine, rooted connections. Could we consider a shift from personalization to personal growth? As we examine our algorithms, are they serving merely as echo chambers or could they act as windows to the world? Should we demand they help us venture beyond our comfort zones, challenging us to grapple with novel perspectives, unfamiliar cultures, and the rich spectrum of human emotions? Striking a Balance As we fine-tune our digital compasses, what is the balance we seek? Is it a state of equilibrium between convenience and curiosity, between introspection and empathy, between the solitary echo of "I" and the harmonious symphony of "Us"? If the beauty of human existence lies in shared experiences, in the diverse palette of opinions, and the combined melody of myriad voices, are we losing sight of it within our personalized confines? When we stare into our digital mirrors, is our solitary reflection enough? Or should we strive to see the world in all its glory, color, and complexity mirrored back at us? Perhaps the true power of technology isn’t to ensnare us in individualistic mirrored rooms, but to unite us within a shared digital agora, a space that celebrates and fosters our collective identity.

Personalization or Personal Bubblization?

ব্যক্তিগতকরণ বা ব্যক্তিগত বুদবুদকরণ?

Personalisierung oder persönliches Sprudeln?

¿Personalización o burbujeo personal?

Personnalisation ou bulle personnelle ?

वैयक्तिकरण या व्यक्तिगत बुलबुलाकरण?

パーソナライゼーションまたは個人的なバブル化?

개인화 또는 개인 버블화?

Personalização ou Bubblização Pessoal?

Kişiselleştirme mi yoksa Kişisel Kabarcıklaştırma mı?

Cá nhân hóa hay Bong bóng cá nhân?

个性化还是个人泡沫化？

Musk’s the new CEO. Trump's tweets return. And, investors strike gold, again. Is this the future of Twitter and an example of what Web 2.0 has become? With Elon Musk as the new owner of Twitter, and soon-to-be interim CEO, it’s just the tip of the iceberg that has people polarized about Web 2.0, and almost everything these days. Now 18 years old, Web 2.0 is comprised of centralized gatekeepers, aka Big Tech companies worth trillions, and is characterized by social networks, user-generated content, and cloud computing. Recently, privacy issues have been in the public eye causing . However, . To further prove this, Elon Musk promised investors part of the $46 billion Twitter buyout, returns up to 10x “ .” multiple problems big tech companies keep on getting bigger if all goes well While Web3 offers its own set of challenges and needs to overcome an image problem that it's a , here are three reasons why it’s important to care about Web3 now: big scam The winds of change are blowing strong. People around the world want real change after COVID-19, and not return to the Before Times of 2019. In fact, 86% want the world to become more sustainable and equitable, according to a poll conducted by the . People want change. World Economic Forum We are living in the most digitally connected chapter in history: about 63% of the world now has internet access and . Moreover, . People are more connected now than ever before. 58% use social media 90% of Americans said the internet was essential during the pandemic 84% of Americans polled by SurveyMonkey think that “ .” BUT don’t know what Web3 is…yet. And, of those that do, . People believe the internet is dominated by big corporations. large corporations and brands have too much influence on the internet most Americans MEN are 2x more likely than WOMEN to know what Web3 is Photo by from Andrea Piacquadio Pexels Whether you're driven by tech or a desire for change, or both, a world post-Web 2.0 continues to be a work in progress, open to participation. In fact, the more people that participate, the more advances Web3 can make. To summarize, Bob Metcalfe, 76, inventor of the Ethernet, recently spoke about “ ” which could unite us globally and provide new pathways to the future to make the world a better place. all kinds of network effects in Web3

3 Reasons Why Everyone Now Cares About Web3

How to think about the internet’s legacy Around 1776, a group of people in the Thirteen American Colonies discovered that by creating a nation, a story of the future United States, that they could join millions of strangers together to fight for a common cause. Stories of these Founding Fathers are at the core of classroom education around the country. The internet is in need of a similar story. Yet as we approach the internet’s 50th anniversary in 2019, a symbolic story uniting the people of the internet is missing from our collective consciousness. Founded on October 29th, 1969, the internet has brought immeasurable benefits to humanity. The United States endures in our minds due to symbols like the Statue of Liberty. The 3 billion people who frequent the internet are in need of new symbols and stories that unite us globally on the network. Luckily, the internet already has a wonderful origin story. But this story isn’t taught in our high schools, and unfortunately, it isn’t well known by the majority of people. The internet wasn’t funded by Silicon Valley venture capitalists. It wasn’t sold off to Apple or Microsoft, and it never had an IPO. The Founding Fathers of the Internet, Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn, gave the internet as a gift to humanity. This wasn’t an accident; it was by design. Early pioneers of the internet: Steve Wozniak, Stewart Brand, Richard Stallman, and Tim Berner’s Lee Early settlers to the internet, hackers like Steve Wozniak, Stewart Brand, and Richard Stallman, advocated that “information should be free,” and that access to the internet could make the world a better place. Fast forward to the early 90s, and you’ll find stories of Tim Berners Lee, who put his revolutionary invention the World Wide Web into the general public domain — free for everyone to copy, no strings attached. Around that time, John Perry Barlow founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which has since become something like the ACLU of the internet. In 1996, Barlow published his manifesto , in which he wrote: A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace “I declare the global social space we are building to be naturally independent of the tyrannies you seek to impose on us […] We are creating a world that all may enter without privilege or prejudice accorded by race, economic power, military force, or station of birth.” John Perry Barlow passed away last year, which led me to wonder, when this first generation of internet pioneers make their exit, what legacy will be upheld in their absence? Author Joi Ito lamented this tide-change in his recent Wired piece “ ” in which he offers the analogy of the early internet generation as being anaerobic bacteria, unable to thrive, and dying out in the mud of time. But allow me to entertain another possibility for the future: What if instead of passively shedding history, we actively work to remember and celebrate it? The Next Great (Digital) Extinction, Facebook is not the internet In the absence of a symbolic story uniting the people of the internet, we are left to tell the stories of Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google as if they are our story. For many, a common narrative has become the idea that these companies are the internet. Let’s take a look at one example: Facebook. Facebook is not the internet — if anything, Facebook is part of the ruling class of the internet. Similar to how the British monarchy once taxed the colonies, Facebook comes with a tax: they harvest your private data and sell it to advertisers. We need a story that endures over generations Looking back to 1773, the key factor that separated The Boston Tea Party from just another mob of angry protesters was our ability to remember it as a small chapter in a larger journey. It wasn’t just about a tea tax. The story of the Boston Tea Party is about one night when a group of people stood up against King George of England, and eventually won their freedom. In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, of Facebook users posted #DeleteFacebook on Twitter. Perhaps this could have been the internet’s “Boston Tea Party” moment. Yet without a better story — a story about building a better society — those who attempted to jump ship found there was nowhere else to go. hundreds of thousands I’m not suggesting that we need to overthrow Facebook to create a compelling history, but that we do need to establish a narrative that is independent of these massive corporations. Over the past decade, the perception of the internet has gone from being a tool advocating , and , to a place fraught with , , and endless reports of in America. global democracy upward mobility Russian trolls Chinese censorship fake news How do we restore the original vision of the internet? And how do we maintain one clear, positive, vision over the next century? Answer: We need a story that will guide us. Like an anchor, a good story can connect us to our past as we move forward into the future. In order to unite the people through the inevitable turbulence that lies ahead — we need a story that represents the 3 billion people, not just the corporations or governments, that live on the internet. Preserving the Legacy of the Internet Legacy is preserved through rituals and story. The legacy of the internet is the story of a tool that was created of the people, by the people, and for the people. This is our history. These stories exist, and we need to start telling them. The United States endures due to its storytelling. Here you see a painting of the historic signing of the Declaration of Independence. I’ve covered the Founding Father’s of the United States faces with those of the internet’s pioneers as a reflection of the absence of paintings, stories, and symbols of internet history. We have three Steve Jobs movies, but where is the movie about the ARPANET? I find strength in hearing stories of the early internet: Stories of ARPA, J. C. R. Licklider, Paul Baran, Vint Cerf, and Bob Kahn, who worked to accomplish one of the biggest, and most audacious of goals of the past century: to create one global decentralized internet for all of humanity. I openly support organizations like , the , the , , and , who are fighting to uphold the original vision of the internet. Mozilla EFF W3C Blockstack Consensys And I’m deeply inspired when I see , the inventor of the World Wide Web, actively fighting to restore power and agency to individuals on the web. This year, California Congressman Ro Khanna, with the blessing of Tim Berners Lee, took a noble step forward for the internet’s legacy by proposing an . We need an Internet Bill of Rights! But why stop there? Tim Berners Lee Internet Bill of Rights — the Bill of Rights, the flag, democracy, and a will to preserve the legacy of our Founding Fathers — If the United States endures as a result of its symbolic stories perhaps the internet should follow suit. Next up: Who Invented the Internet? (and what exactly did they do?) Sign up for early access to the next chapter in The History of the Internet. Thanks to Pippa Biddle and Tobias Rose-Stockwell for reading early drafts and providing countless insights. Extra thanks to One Month: Learn to code in 30 Days .

A People’s History of the Internet

A crew of unknown men mosey into a chip manufacturer in China and say, “to hell with the blueprints, jam this pencil-tip size chip in the middle of everything; if you do, you get a bunch of money; if you don’t, you fail your next inspection and your factory is done.” In Bloomberg Businessweek’s “ ,” Jordan Robertson and Michael Riley identify the bad actors as “middlemen” and go on to describe how, through the implant, they likely infiltrated the backbone of 30 prominent US businesses, including Apple and Amazon, and those who do business with them. The Big Hack: How China Used a Tiny Chip to Infiltrate America’s Top Companies It made its rounds — Apple and Amazon deny; Bloomberg doubles-down saying they spent a year conducting over “more than 100 interviews, including several current and former senior national security officials and insiders at Apple and Amazon. In all, 17 people confirmed the manipulation of Supermicro’s hardware and other elements of the attacks.” And then nothing. It appears as if Americans are not concerned that a foreign government could have outfoxed Amazon, Google, and our own federal government and walked away with volts of information. When it’s a foreign adversary perpetrating the heist against Americans, we call it espionage; when it’s citizen-on-citizen, we call it cybercrime. Our journalists call the perpetrators, “middlemen” and “hackers.” At this moment in time, our personal data is a resource as life-giving as it is lethal. I’d call anybody in the business of stealing it a thug. Bloomberg recounts how in September 2015, President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping met at the White House to announce a cybersecurity deal: China would no longer support hackers who stole intellectual property from US companies for the benefit of Chinese companies. In the weeks after the deal was touted, we learn, the Pentagon quickly and quietly ushered the country’s leading tech executives and investors to McClean, Virginia to see if anyone could create a product which would identify hardware implants. Bloomberg concludes its article by proclaiming, “In the three years since the briefing in McLean, no commercially viable way to detect attacks like the one on [these] motherboards has emerged — or has looked likely to emerge.” That’s fair — until now. Distributed ledger technology, the technology behind blockchain, changes everything. There’s an Arms Race, and the Bad Guys Are Winning The alleged chip implants allowed The Chinese People’s Liberation Army to gain control of the systems they were put into. Gaining control of mission-critical devices doesn’t have to require chip implants though. Take for example the hack which blew out half of the internet in October 2016 — three guys between nineteen and twenty years old from Pennsylvania and Louisiana compromised a bunch of DVRs and webcams and then directed them to attack the servers which host our favorite websites when they told the devices they no longer belonged to their owners. At the end of the day, in all cases, it comes down to “transmission control.” TCP/IP — which is the abbreviation for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol — is a bundle of protocols developed by DARPA between 1978–1983 and from which the internet spawned. We analogize TCP/IP as the information superhighway; architecturally, it is responsible for connection establishment, management, and reliable data transport between software processes on devices. The problem, though, is TCP/IP, as we know it, doesn’t do anything to govern the processes which run on the hardware it connects. If a central server says, “Hey, I’ve decided Jonathan Manzi’s iPhone no longer belongs to him and belongs to Elon Musk instead” then, presto, TCP/IP makes it happen. How We Can Throw a Knockout Punch with Distributed Ledger Technology When each device is manufactured, it follows a recipe — the list of ingredients is called the BOM, or bill of materials. The parts which can have malicious software loaded on them — for example, the microchips — are, at the finest level of detail, unique due to the properties of silicon. In other words, each has a unique fingerprint. In a distributed ledger framework, each device — take my iPhone — would have the fingerprints of its pertinent parts stored on it — and here’s the kicker — it would have the fingerprints of all the pertinent parts of all other iPhones in the Universe also stored on it. And when a new iPhone is manufactured, my iPhone and all other iPhones in the Universe add the new iPhone’s fingerprints. This way, if through TCP/IP, a treacherous message comes through — Manzi’s iPhone now belongs to Musk — Manzi’s iPhone understands the Universe recognizes Musk’s iPhone as being assigned to fingerprints which Manzi’s phone does not have. It doesn’t allow the hack to happen. To be clear, TCP/IP need not be replaced, we just need to introduce a distributed ledger based protocol to sit on top and coordinate decide-to-device communication. A Status Quo Which Will Be Our Ruin; A Breakthrough to Unite Us As we enter the era of cyberware, every gadget and device is a new battleground. Imagine if an adversary had control of our traffic grids and the delivery rooms of our hospitals. Just like we united globally around technology to create the internet, we must unite again to prevent cybercrime by bolting on a universal protocol for node-to-node coordination on-top of TCP/IP. Jonathan Manzi is the Co-Founder and CEO of Beyond Protocol, Inc., a mostly stealth Silicon-Valley distributed ledger technology venture building “the internet of the new era — the ethical language of machines.”

How Blockchain Could Have Stopped the China Chip Hack and Other Acts by the Thugs of our Generation

“The Building Blocks of Online P2P Marketplaces”

Designer Talk Hey there! This article was born from a “video recording”, so you can play it or read it. You make the choice. — As designers, there came a point where we ask ourselves common questions like: Text version What is , and what are the differences between design and art? Do most people, consider design a form of art? design See, these questions have always aroused discussions between designers and others. If we analyze the reasons that lead some to see design as a form of art, we might begin by saying things like: “both the designer and the artist create visual compositions.” We could then go on to talk about many subjective interpretations and defend our own personal views, but there would be no intention of finding common ground, so we would never stop arguing about it. That’s because we attach too much importance to the words. When we try to define something by limiting it, we create a division. As we know, divisions often generate conflict. It is no accident that every time someone tries to answer the question: and as a result implicitly answer we witness the birth of long debates. “What is design?” “what design is not,” In the Archaic period, it seems that some people commonly struggled to distinguish the word from the thing. And they ended up perceiving any definition as a representation of reality, rather than viewing it as a communication tool, as a sharing instrument. Well, I’m not here today to look for good reasons to break us up. Instead, by encouraging a viewpoint that goes beyond its words, I’d like to highlight the facts concerning the true nature of design. So, let us begin with a fact which we can all recognize, regardless of what we think of as design. Design with intent Everyday objects unite us in achieving a purpose (an end) according to our needs. so on_._ If we feel tired, a chair allows us to sit down.If it’s raining cats and dogs, an umbrella protects us against rain.If we need to take a note, a pen allows us to write on a piece of paper.AND Anything designed with the intention of solving a problem fits within this category. Of course, you may decide to use the objects listed before in a different way. And that would be your personal decision, moving away from the original intention the object was designed for.Or perhaps, if you have never seen these objects before, you may not understand how to use them. Clearly understanding the cited examples imply that we share the same technological context. Anyway, a design begins with the intention to create an understandable and sharable solution for the largest number of people involved. Design unites people I may think the chair in which I currently sit is aesthetically unpleasant and uncomfortable, but that hasn’t stopped me from understanding and taking advantage of its function. Meanwhile, someone else may decide to sit on the same chair, and they could argue that it is the most beautiful and comfortable chair they have ever used. And we can both recognise that, regardless of the individual user experience generated, this chair remains a designed with the intention that as many people as possible will understand how to use it to sit down. product But what if most people standing in front of a chair did not understand it was a chair? Or even worse, they understand it is a chair, but they can’t figure out how to use it to sit down? In that case, we wouldn’t be in front of a piece of design anymore, but we would only be standing in front of a piece of art, something that was created based on the pure self-affirmation of its creator; anyway that doesn’t mean that the artistic creation in question serves no purpose (although many supporters of art prefer to believe that art doesn’t have a purpose). But when we talk about the aim of a piece, we should stress that art doesn’t share the same intent or purpose as an act of design. And This difference in the intent of creation is a cardinal rule that helps understand and explain what separates design from art. Design vs Art So, can a design be regarded as form of art? The answer to this question lies in the facts we can recognise and observe together, and not in the words we use. You can personally consider any design object artistic. You may, for example, consider an , or whatever other object may pop into your head, a work of art. iPhone BUT — If a designer begins his process with the intention of creating an artwork rather than understanding and seeking a fact, not opinion, based solution to a problem that affects people — he wouldn’t be implementing a design process. Regardless of what he spawns, it won’t be design. The designer has the responsibility and the role to figure out how to produce a solution that is understandable to others and not just himself; a responsibility which is fulfilled by following a design process devoid of any need to for self-affirmation. Now let’s consider a final example to understand this distinction between art and design once and for all. Design is urinal In 1917 the artist Marcel Duchamp took a common porcelain urinal and he signed it with R. Mutt. Then, he presented the urinal as an artistic endeavor, entitled . “Fountain” Fountain by R. Mutt, Photograph by Alfred Stieglitz, THE EXHIBIT REFUSED BY THE INDEPENDENTS — via Wikipedia This piece of art was never shown to the public, and it created a fierce debate. If you studied some of the Art History of the last century, you might know Duchamp and you might also know that this piece of conceptual art is regarded as one of the greatest works of art of the twentieth century. Today there are sixteen copies of this object in the world, since the original one was lost. But if you don’t know Duchamp, the Dada Movement, the ready-made and whatnot, I suggest you to run a search because you may find it quite interesting. The urinal that Duchamp used was a common in those days — a sanitary appliance designed to allow a man to pee quickly while maintaining a high level of hygiene in certain situations. The object also saved water when compared with a traditional toilet, and was thus a solution with a minimum negative effect on the environment. Was the urinal already a piece of art? No. The urinal was, and is, a common everyday object created from a design process, a product developed to resolve certain problems for a specific audience. However, Duchamp took the urinal out-of-context and placed it in a way buried its practical significance beneath a title and a personal point of view. He gave his own purely personal meaning to an object originally designed to have the same meaning for many people. As you have heard before, its no coincident that art is affected as much by its context as the design itself. Therefore, we can recognise that Duchamp gave rise to a work of art and used it to promoted many subjective interpretations. Take for example the philosopher Stephen Hicks, who interpreted the of Duchamp as a provocative statement: Fountain “Art is something you piss on”. So we come to the conclusion that anything, even a design object, can be regarded as form of art. But we also recognise that the latter art, is addressed as a personal intention, as an act of self-expression (merely subjective, as the artist who searches for self-affirmation through the expression). An act of self-expression’s primary purpose is to invite people to reflect, or to inspire them with the expression of a personal point of view. And consequently, by distributing an invitation to reflect, art gives shape to debates, which often end in the division of people’s opinions. However, the intention of design is quite to the contrary; it is to reconcile and connect the maximum number of people involved through the production of a clear and understandable solution to a shared problem. This also means that, unlike with art, any kind of design process won’t simply end with a single person’s thoughts. Rather, it is the result of continued research that seeks to validate any hypothesis and potential solution directly through the people involved. Throughout the entire design process, design will continue to do so as much as is necessary and possible, through a constant iteration. At this point, I can close this long thought ironically, by saying that and Design is urinal Art is fountain :-) Thanks for your time! If you enjoyed this article please tap or click “♥︎” and recommend this and share this with a friend :)

What is Design?

Communities in sports and entertainment are about fun… well, naturally! Sports, hobbies, and entertainment are their tools for engaging their audiences. Let's learn from the big names. What do , Lego, and do to build a community for their brands? Nike Twitch Demystifying Nike’s Community Building Strategy What do they do with the product? What is the 'result of the result'? In the case of Nike's shoes and sportswear: they run and train! And this is what Nike Running Club is — a running/fitness tracker. 'The result of the result' is my favorite expression about deeper value behind the 'tangible' result. Say, you can run every morning for great energy, or great looks, or for feeling superior to your peers (non-runners). All different results behind the (what seems to be) same result! Nike Running community result? Well, if they measure their training, they can brag about the result to their followers! In 2022, the Nike Run Club app had 100+ million users, growing membership by 30% per year. They offer activities to unite users: weekly Group Runs, Races, Training Programs, etc. Other engagement boosters: Segmentation: Content is tailored for subcommunities (gender, location, etc.) to enhance the engagement. Community Events: Every March, Nike celebrates the Air Max, one of its all-time best-selling sneakers. The brand treats the community with anticipated releases, design contests, product showcases, and more. Co-creation: Nike engages the community in product design and acts on their feedback. In 2018, a design contest was launched, with the winners’ designs being released on the market. See a detailed report on Nike’s community building here : What is the user's 'success metric' in Twitch’s community? Twitch users are game streamers. They have fun playing games. But what streaming became is gaining popularity among other players (and money). To treat the community with rewards, Twitch created more opportunities for users' meetings and boosted audiences. Twitch conducts a semi-annual gaming convention called TwitchCon. In December 2022 they also announced Twitch Unity Guilds, a program for networking, development, and celebration. Interview with Twitch CMO: https://techcrunch.com/2023/10/27/twitchcon-rachel-delphin-twitch-simulcast-community-feedback-interview/?embedable=true Twitch’s CMO mentioned: “We’ve been able to build something that transcends technology, which is the community.” The secret is that while creating new features, the brand thinks “how to serve a live content creator.” The approach, focused on investing in the community, turned into 7.27 million active streamers in August 2023, and $2.8 bln in revenue in 2022 (4.56% increase from the previous year). LEGO: What is the common value of the community? What do they deeply enjoy and care about? The LEGO community counts thousands of people who use LEGO to express themselves. Building and creating for the joy of it! But how does the brand keep the community involved? For example, in 1998 LEGO noticed that adult hackers cracked the codes of their toys to run various applications. At first, the company reacted negatively. But then they saw them what they were: space fans and train lovers. And they encouraged user collaboration afterwards! How LEGO started embracing hackers after trying to fight them: https://www.marketingsociety.com/the-library/how-brand-communities-influence-innovation-and-culture?embedable=true Another notable initiative is the LEGO Ambassador Programme, where fans are invited to influence product development. The other events are 10 Days of Hyperlapse, Golden Brickies, The Awesome Alliance, LEGO Ideas, etc. With the community-driven initiatives, LEGO launched products like LEGO Studies, LEGO Factory, LEGO Mosaic, and LEGO Vikings. This open-source strategy keeps the brand trusted and loved by many. Ready to build your brand community with the experience of the best entertainment products? Here is the recap of community marketing tactics: Focus on the key uses of your main product, and focus on the result of this action. This is what your community can help your users with (like Nike helps with measuring running progress)! Choose the metrics your users are concerned with. Your community activities may assist with boosting these metrics. If your product is not meant to bring money, maybe it brings social capital or fame, like Twitch. If your users value something deeply like Lego creators value freedom - can you give it to them in your product and/or community? Think about how you could collaborate with your pirates. If you're building your brand community and media presence, I would love to know about your progress and challenges! DM me on , and let's have a quick chat! LinkedIn - Jane

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