LF10 - Permissionless Identities

Perhaps I could lean into my weirdness and curiosity, and earn a living from a small group of similarly curious weirdos. It felt like the permission slip I needed to give it a shot.

If decentralized identity were widely adopted, people would be able to carry their full selves with them as they traverse cyberspace: their affinities and experiences reflected by what they’ve created, contributed to, earned, and owned online, no matter the specific platform. This would bring us closer to how things work in the physical world, wher... See more

People will have more agency and control over their lives, knowing that there are countless ways for them to create durable value and monetize that value in whatever way suits their goals and lifestyle. 

Humans need a reputation and a portable identity; without these things, we're just beings with no value or purpose. Right now, the main things that determine our reputation, outside what we say and do, are credentials given to us by institutions (like universities). As it relates to social networks, I see opportunities in unbundling institutional c... See more

Contributors must be able to port their body of work across organizations. In the current labor system, workers are made legible by the institutions they belong to. A worker's entire identity—their work, reputation, relationships—exists in the blackbox of an insular permission-controlled database. Once a worker leaves the organization, their identi... See more