The internet is a giant meme propagation machine. You can try to fight it, but it turns out that is not the best strategy. Let it do its thing and monetize the status layer. This is why video games have become the center of culture and are a $150 billion a year business; $60 billion of that is virtual goods, whereas the entire music industry is... See more

ou are always going to have centralized services in the mix, because it is just a fact that centralized companies make better user experiences than protocols do. I agree with that. I think the question is, do the network effects accrue to the company, or do they accrue to the protocol? In Web1, they accrue to the protocol, in Web2, they accrue to... See more

I am not denying that you will have centralized service providers in the mix to create a better experience. The key is, “Do they get such dominant network effects that users can’t switch?” Then they can abuse their position, and change the economics and the way the algorithms work. You have those centralized intermediaries in there, like an email... See more

With Web1, I am not claiming people are going to directly interact with protocols. You did not directly go and interact with SMTP. You were mediated by client software, like Gmail — back then it was Hotmail — or Outlook. The key difference when you have a protocol there is that the user can switch. If I am hosting with Rackspace, or using email... See more

I do not think it is hyperbole to say the internet is the most important invention of the last 100 years, and very likely might be the most important invention of the next 100 years. It is currently about to be controlled by five companies, and they make all the money and have all the power. I believe we need countervailing technologies that allow... See more

I view the internet today as millions of subcommunities. I think NFTs are a way for subcommunities to have cultural artifacts and create little economies within them. It is a big world, so some of the popular existing ones will go awry, but my bet is that there will be many positive communities.

I own cdixon.org, and I own it because I host it at Netlify. If Netlify becomes evil, I will just switch it over to another place because I control the DNS record. An NFT is architecturally very different from other things on the internet.

I am pretty sure that NFT sales this year will pass all of Web2 payouts to all creative people. Facebook and Instagram pay zero rev share. They make all their money in advertising. How much goes back to the creators?

I am not arguing that NFTs are magical new things that change human behavior, but they are a way for creative people to go direct to their audience and bypass these algorithmic advertising-driven feeds. Thus far, the results are really promising, and I think we are going to see a lot of new ways in which creative people monetize. As you said, that... See more