balajis
@balajis.eth
Outstanding piece by @js, one of the best I’ve read this year. https://stark.mirror.xyz/n2UpRqwdf7yjuiPKVICPpGoUNeDhlWxGqjulrlpyYi0
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balajis
@balajis.eth
Some thoughts. First, what he calls “programmable hardness” I’ve called “programmable scarcity”, as distinct from “programmable information.” That is, the internet lets you *copy* digital objects easily, but blockchains let you also *transfer* them — by using cryptography to create digital scarcity.
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balajis
@balajis.eth
However, “programmable hardness” may be a better phrase. It combines several concepts under one umbrella: - financially hard, as in hard money - computationally hard, as in NP-hard - legally hard, as in hard commitment - practically hard, as in hard to fake And the visual is “physically hard” as in gold.
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balajis
@balajis.eth
Programmable hardness is a generalization of the hard money that is Bitcoin. It pulls in many adjacent words: - scarcity - difficulty - constraint - commitment - immutable - uncensorable - fixed - permanent - archival - reliable - constant - dependable - trustworthy - transparent - provable - verifiable
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balajis
@balajis.eth
His word “cast” is also well chosen, as it relates the physical aspect of hardness to the temporal aspect of future reliability. - trust the forecast - cast it in stone - and cast that stone into the future Also, cast as in “cast a vote” (a binding commitment) and “cast a shadow” (a line extending out).
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