balajis
@balajis.eth
Decentralization is abstract. But control is concrete. Who is in control of a digital system? Can someone delete you? If they can, it’s centralized. If they can’t, it’s decentralized.
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balajis
@balajis.eth
Why is decentralization important? Because control is important. Who is in charge Who has root access Who is the system administrator Who has the final say And do you have a say…over who has say These aren’t just abstract technical questions, they are concrete political questions.
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balajis
@balajis.eth
This is why crypto is inherently political. It takes the endless, eternal human question — who is in charge? — and expresses it in code and puts it on the internet. Who is in charge is an intrinsically political question, even if the answer is “no one”.
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balajis
@balajis.eth
Yes, we can layer apolitical use cases on top of a blockchain’s base political assumptions. But these are apolitical in the sense that driving to McDonald’s is apolitical. Why is the road there? Why is capitalism even legal? Those were political decisions that set platform rules. Then we do things on top of that.
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balajis
@balajis.eth
There is another view, that crypto reduces or eliminates the need for politics. This is also true if you define politics as electoral power struggles. It’s taking things out of that arena. But doing that is itself meta-political.
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