Vitalik Buterin
@vitalik.eth
I actually think the growth of app layer is exactly the time that good social philosophy is needed *most*. Analogy: imagine that C++ had been made by a totalitarian racist fascist. Would it be a worse language? Probably not. C++ is general purpose, there isn't much surface for bad social philosophy to wreck it (or good social philosophy to improve it). Ethereum L1 is not quite in that position: someone who doesn't believe in decentralization would not add light clients, or FOCIL, or (good forms of) account abstraction; someone who doesn't mind energy waste would not spend half a decade moving to PoS... But the EVM opcodes might have been roughly the same either way. So Ethereum is perhaps 50% general-purpose. Apps are ~80% special purpose. What apps you build depends heavily on what ideas you have of what ethereum apps (and ethereum as a whole) are there to do for the world. And so having good ideas on this topic out there becomes crucially important. https://x.com/owocki/status/1911160442728419681
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binji 🔴
@binji.eth
Can you give an example of what you think is is good social philosophy and bad social philosophy?
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Vitalik Buterin
@vitalik.eth
good (in different ways): railgun, farcaster, polymarket, signal bad (in different ways): pump.fun, Terra/Luna, FTX The differences in what the app does stem from differences in beliefs in developers' heads about what they are here to accomplish.
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binji 🔴
@binji.eth
the latter part is interesting as most developers that enter the space now are interested in accomplishing revenue/making money. so naturally people skew towards things that do that the most irrespective of their beliefs, as it is a market opportunity for them to further their livelihood. if I were a someone who wanted to make money in a way that’s not dumping tokens on retail via an overhyped coin; I would most likely launch a launchpad based on your list, or an unregulated exchange. now, the issue stands — what if everyone else just keeps building that? well, one way to fix that is to help the other types of apps/products find ways to monetize; another way is to ensure you meet developers earlier on the funnel so the belief systems can potentially be altered; but then again, who are we to say what can and cannot be built by someone.
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binji 🔴
@binji.eth
it’s a conundrum driven by revenue spikes and hype chasing; but a conundrum nonetheless
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