Big Tech Proves Ethereum was Right
How to fight censorship by creating decentralized applications
If you think Ethereum is just a cryptocurrency, you missed the point. Ethereum is a platform that is resistant to censorship by corrupt governments and institutions. It also provides a cryptocurrency that can be traded in exchange for goods and services without fear of asset forfeiture or seizure. The founders of the project believe that web 3.0 must be resistant to censorship and turnkey tyranny. For years developers have debated whether Ethereum's fear of censorship was just hyperbole. While ideologues are cheering the coordinated shutdown of Parler, libertarians realize that Ethereum’s basic premise was right. There is too much power today in the hands of too few people.
A corporate culture that believes in censorship does not lend itself to upholding libertarian values.
To focus on Parler alone in the context of this debate would be a mistake. In China, Amazon, Google, and Apple regularly sensor content. To believe they uphold their own standards, objectively, is laughable on its face. This coordinated censorship is known as the Great Firewall of China. These companies bow to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to access the Chinese market. This process is rinsed and repeated in each authoritarian market in which big tech operates. This means the internet is not experienced equally by everyone. It’s a fractured echo-chamber created by government sensors and enforced by Google, Amazon, and Apple (among others). There is nothing illegal about these activities (as of today), but it should alarm people who want equal access to information and opportunity in an egalitarian society. A corporate culture that believes in censorship does not lend itself to upholding libertarian values. Societies that adopt censorship will not trend towards openness (this is objectively true based on history). The founders of Ethereum realized this far before anyone else, and this secret is going to propel their platform to new heights in 2021.
You can’t pick winners and losers in a decentralized system.
Ethereum solves the centralization problem by creating a peer to peer network that is censorship-resistant (authoritarian governments with bullets and bombs can still take countermeasures). Nodes in the Ethereum network can host files, perform video streaming, and provide compute. Ethereum also includes DNS, which can interoperate with traditional domain names. This provides a nearly complete platform for developers to build decentralized applications (Dapps). While these networks are still largely underpowered compared to Amazon and Google, they are at an inflection point. If the libertarian developer community invests in building Dapps, we can fight censorship and open the internet to millions of oppressed and marginalized people. But we can’t build an open system that discriminates against content we don’t like while still allowing open access for everyone(like those calling attention to the internment of Uyghurs by the CCP). You can’t pick winners and losers in a decentralized system.
If you are interested in building Dapps as a hedge against censorship (and maybe a path to self-enrichment), you can use the following tools to get started.
- “How to Build Ethereum Dapp with React.js · Complete Step-By-Step Guide” by By Gregory McCubbin · November 25, 2020
- “Running Ethereum Full Nodes: A Guide for the Barely Motivated” By Justin Leroux Nov 7, 2019
If you are a developer who cares deeply about openness, you need to invest in running Ethereum nodes. Ethereum can only deliver on its promise if developers add compute capacity to the network. There are financial incentives for doing this, but the vast majority will likely break even. Running nodes can speed up development cycles, which is another form of incentive. Also, consider installing the new web browser from unstoppable domains.
Ethereum can not be stopped by attacking its advocates. No one person or organization controls the network. You can not destroy 11.5 thousand nodes (and counting) with laws and censorship alone. The ideologically possessed do not want to help those they claim to love as much as they want to destroy those they hate. This will include many worthy causes, people, and platforms if action to fight censorship is not taken. Some self-reflection should reveal Ethereum is a worthy cause that warrants a break out year in 2021.
At the time of this writing, I own $100 worth of Ether which I use for development purposes.
