I evidently missed the memo on we aren’t doing updates anymore? Is that accurate?
Yes… not the weekly… more like daily updates… atm they are turning changes over so fast, it’s in the pre-update thread mostly… very close to next iteration… Pre-Dev-Update Thread! Yay! :D - #4002 by dirvine
Whenever I see these things proposed, I wonder just who they think they will catch. Criminals worth catching will use chat which doesn’t comply, whether by adding their own encrypted layer (just encrypt/decrypt using a 3rd party app on top of chat app) or a custom app.
Maybe they think if they just take everyone’s personal conversations they may some how find some needles in the haystack, but I suspect it would be of very limited value.
Something I was thinking this last while and what Russell Brand was chatting about below. It is near impossible to live your life without state involvement now. What was taken for granted for millennia, the freedom to go about you business largely unfettered by the state, is now all but extinguished.
Without getting into covid, it struck me at how much the law is changing, on a new daily basis. We are expected to obey the new laws and keeping up with them is mandatory. Not knowing the new laws is no excuse and fines will be dispatched for non-compliance.
Obviously, we are in exceptional times. However, pubs in much of the UK close at 11pm because of laws brought in back in ww2, to make sure workers were ready to work the following day. These laws have claws and stick around.
I’m sure someone will say I can move to Somalia or some such soon, but it does feel like we have lost a very real part of being human. Being able to just keep yourself to yourself and not be breaching a swathe of laws, even when you aren’t harming anyone. Regardless of your political leanings, doesn’t this feel instinctively wrong? Shouldn’t it be a birth right to have the freedom of choice where you popped out of a womb?
Anyway, that went deeper than I intended. I’m sitting out in the sun, enjoying some free time between jobs, and savouring the moment. It’s funny how we have gained so much in some ways, yet lost so much in others! 
@dirvine if you are doing some interviews again, Russell Brand really seems to get it and has chatted with some big names associated with many of the things safe network aligns with.
It could be compelling viewing to talk about some of the solutions to these problems, through technology. Some optimism for an audience which feels ignored and concerned could be compelling viewing.
As far as I have read it is mainly the power structures referred to in that video you posted are not happy when they cannot do mass dragnet surveillance, build a shadow profile on everyone.
This community has this problem closer to home than perhaps most realise. About to launch the most private and decentralised networks ever constructed… and 99% of our economic friction point is (and will continue to be if we are unlucky enough that they integrate SN API) channeled through Bittrex. One of the exchanges which is more obviously run by people who are the same as, or extremely closely related to, these actors as described in that video. Selfies, addresses, IP addresses on most of the networks participants. A $5 wrench attack perception vs reality problem. Unacceptable IMO and has been for some years now.
Holding out to see those other proposals on where and how the SN API will be integrated so people can safely move value in and out of the SN without going through a dragnet.
I believe it is still a central part of the aim of Maidsafe for people to be able to farm from mobile devices, cheap SBCs, 5+ year old laptops set up in the shed running a Safe, etc. This turns the ‘99%’ on its head a bit immediately, no? Was this taken out of the plans at some stage and I missed it?
It remains to be seen how far this can go and if the economic inventive will reward small-scale farmers adequately, it is a tricky thing, for sure…
But now we have DBCs, quite possibly. If I’m understanding the gist of things there, we’ll have a very resilient method of onboarding people in an organic, human-to-human way, maybe even one that feels fun and exciting and exploratory.
I personally am hoping very strongly that I’ll be able to make 50 DBCs and give them out to friends and family, and I don’t plan on asking Bittrex’s opinion on the matter. I imagine many others would love to do the same.
This is pretty cool to be sure, but what proportion of new participants can be reasonably onboarded through gifts/charity by the few on the inside? What percentage of new entrants to Ethereum for example had to be gifted it (or work directly for it) vs those that just thought “that sounds cool”, then moved value in from elsewhere (like say Bitcoin). AFAIK the latter is the dominant driver of network uptake and growth when we compare Bitcoin vs Ethereum initial trajectories and growth, and not charity/gifting/mining/farming or direct work, no?
It isn’t just existing holders, it’s a frictionless viral onboarding mechanism. Everyone on the network brings their own social circle into view. It could be very powerful.
Can you think of any other crypto project that has a comparable feature. Look at what it did for facebook, twitter, whatsapp etc via “invite your contacts” style onboarding. We can do exactly the same kind of process through a social app on Safe, but only if the invitations are very low friction:
- I receive an invitation comprising: a download link for the Safe Network App (or third party Safe App) and an invitation code (voucher).
- install and run the app which asks if I have an invitation code
- enter the code, it tells me I have a balance of X and mentions I have enough to invite Y other people, do I want to invite anyone?
- I can do that right away, do it later or not at all
This is a very nice capability, and can be even stronger if people want to offer extras as part of the invitation. E.g. musicians, app developers etc might offer extra incentives to sign up and use their app or service, such as advanced access, extra features enabled when inviting a friend who signs up and so on.
I think there could be a lot of ways to leverage DBCs to amplify adoption. It certainly isn’t limited to N invites per person who is there at the beginning, it can be used by everyone who ever joins to invite yet more people, effectively unlimited.
I do like what your saying and believe it could be a very powerful feedback loop. The only hold up to the loop is that “Everyone” can’t do the inviting, at least at first since mobile will not be able to mine the SNT they need to pass on to their respective circles, and those running farms on desktops/servers may be too few to service the vast mobile market… so its like a jammed cog. The best of both worlds would be optimal: If feasible an easy way to on/off ramp through vast existing decentralised crypto market sitting below the powerful feedback loop system you describe. When mobile farming comes online at some later date then all cylinders are firing.
Edit: I ignored peoples motivation to moving value back out of SN to buy hardware upgrades and the like as well, which would play some role in peoples decisions to run a farm in the first place.
Created by BitTorrent founder Bram Cohen, chia launched for transacting and trading on Monday, having reportedly promted a shortage of hard drives in China as people rushed out to buy the equipment to “farm” the cryptocurrency.
I (sadly) rarely talk to my mother, but today I did. The old woman has no interest in crypto but now she had heard that Tesla had bought Bitcoin and thought that might be good for the currency. I told her I thought Musk was a bit of a clown, but still, I think her awareness is a sign mainstream adoption.
Indeed, my mother is among the least tech savvy humans in the U.S. and has become interested in putting a bit into crypto (years after we told her about it, and only after she saw it on mainstream news feeds).
She’s also extremely guarded about her finances, and would rather trust her financial advisor who is likely raking her over the coals in fees than trust any of her 4 sons financial advice. So while she has expressed interest in crypto, she has yet to actually let me invest any money for her, pending her financial advisor’s “ok.”
So I donated my stimulus check to her, and put it in crypto, and it has since more than doubled. Bet she doesn’t get that out of her investment funds. lol. Her financial advisor might, though. 
I talked to my mother years ago about crypto, she won’t use it, she doesn’t understand it, but she was very happy for me after she asked " but can you turn it to real money" after I was quoting profits.
I gave my sister some pointers on trading maid after my mum and and her invested a btc each.
They are both very happy with the outcome.
That’s could be a long conversation.
Excellent observation. 
