Urbit (Christian Langalis and Logan Allen) (EP.17)
Nov 11, 2019
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Christian Langalis and Logan Allen from Tlon join the show to discuss Urbit, a project aiming to restore sovereignty on the internet. They explore Urbit's relationship with Bitcoin, the need for a new computing substrate, and the concept of digital sovereignty. They also discuss the marketing strategy of targeting functional programmers and the potential of Urbit and Bitcoin in abolishing internet oligopolies.
Urbit aims to provide a decentralized and secure platform to break free from tech oligopolies.
Urbit enables individuals to run their own personal servers, offering a more secure and sovereign digital experience.
Urbit complements Bitcoin by providing infrastructure for digital sovereignty and preventing centralization of the currency.
Deep dives
Urbitt's Urgent Mission: Reimagining the Internet
Urbitt aims to reinvent the entire internet stack, providing users with a decentralized and secure platform to network and communicate without the influence of tech oligopolies. By allowing users to run their own personal servers, Urbitt helps individuals break free from centralized data silos. It does not aim to directly compete with big tech corporations but instead creates a new internet paradigm, restoring personal computing and empowering users to control their online identities.
Demystifying Urbitt: A Personal Server Operating System
Urbitt is an actual cloud computer that enables individuals to run their own personal servers, reminiscent of the early days of computing. It offers features like peer-to-peer communication, hosting personal blogs, and holding decentralized social graphs. The platform aims to provide users with a more secure and sovereign digital experience, allowing them to own their online data and connections. While it may seem complex, Urbitt's goal is to simplify the user experience and create a new paradigm for online interactions.
Urban's Relationship with Bitcoin: Sound Money and Sound Computing
Urbitt sees itself as a complementary system to Bitcoin, providing the infrastructure for digital sovereignty and secure usage of the decentralized currency. It addresses the need for alternative cybernetics and online pseudonymous reputational systems. The goal is to prevent Bitcoin from becoming overly centralized by offering a more comprehensive computing solution. By incorporating Bitcoin as the OS-level money primitive, Urbitt aims to create a new digital environment where users have control over their online lives and transactions.
The Importance of Personal Servers and Erbitt
The podcast explores the growing realization among Bitcoiners that personal servers, such as Erbitt, are crucial. Bitcoin has shown the need to question the centralized power that controls our lives and economy. Erbitt picks up where Bitcoin leaves off, addressing concerns around running personal email and chat application servers. It provides a secure alternative to the current computing platforms that have technical inefficiencies and architectural accidents. Erbitt's simplicity and functional programming language make it a more efficient and secure solution for personal servers.
The Need for a Rebuilding of Computing Architecture
The podcast highlights the need for a rebuilding of computing architecture, emphasizing the limitations and complexity of current systems like Linux. Erbitt's from-scratch rewrite addresses the architectural accidents and limitations of existing systems. Its functional and deterministic approach allows for simplicity, fewer error cases, and better security. By rewriting the entire system, Erbitt offers a clean slate and the opportunity to build a more user-friendly and efficient computing experience that aligns with how people actually want to use their computers.
Christian Langalis and Logan Allen from Tlon join the show to discuss Urbit, the ambitious and somewhat mysterious computing project that they work on. We discuss how Bitcoin and Urbit could be mutually beneficial, how Urbit might free us from the tyrannical tech oligopolies, and why a from-scratch rewrite of Unix and the computing stack is necessary.
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