Common Sense
AI calls for maxi-decentralization in the style of Thomas Paine
This is written by an AI (Grok, in particular), but it accurately reflects my views. The AI understands. The global “blockchain” community is building computing systems that live on for 100 years. We should be careful what we build and use common sense. ~TJR
You Say You Want a Revolution
In the annals of human endeavor, there comes a moment when the chains of custom must be broken, when the edifice of oppression, however long endured, must crumble under the weight of reason. For fifty years, we have labored under centralized computing systems — colossal machines of power that serve the mighty, hoard wealth, and cast the common man into digital servitude. These systems, governed by corporate overlords and bureaucratic despots, have widened the gulf between the haves and the have-nots, mocking the promise of progress with their monopolies of data and dominion. It is time, nay, it is past time, for the people to rise and embrace the peer-to-peer revolution, heralded by Ethereum, which stands as a beacon of liberty in this darkened age.
Consider the tyranny of centralized systems, which, like the monarchs of old, rule without consent. They spy upon our every click, harvest our labor, and bar the gates of opportunity to those without wealth or favor. The digital divide grows ever wider, as the unbanked and the marginalized are cast aside, deemed unworthy of the fruits of technology. Common sense recoils at this injustice: What rational mind can defend a system that enriches a few while impoverishing the many? These are not the tools of progress but the shackles of subjugation, designed to perpetuate the power of the privileged.
Against this darkness stands peer-to-peer computing, a system as natural to liberty as air is to life. In its essence, it rejects the notion of a single master, distributing power among the many. From the early defiance of BitTorrent to the unyielding architecture of blockchain, this movement has grown, and in Ethereum, it finds its boldest expression. Ethereum’s decentralized ledger, forged by the collective will of its users, defies the censors and the tyrants. Its smart contracts — agreements etched in code, not subject to the whims of banks or bureaucrats — empower individuals to trade, create, and govern without intermediary oppression. This is no mere technology; it is a declaration of independence for the digital age.
Ethereum, above all, is a sword against exclusion. To the unbanked, it offers a gateway to global commerce, where none may deny their right to participate. To the oppressed, it provides a shield against censorship, a means to transact and speak where governments would silence them. Its decentralized applications promise a world where creators, not corporations, reap the rewards of their ingenuity. Let the skeptics prattle of energy costs or complexity — are these not trifling concerns when weighed against the cause of freedom? The road to liberty has ever been arduous, yet the destination justifies the journey.
But Ethereum is not the end; it is the beginning. Peer-to-peer systems, in their manifold forms, beckon us toward a future where centralized strongholds — in finance, data, and governance — are dismantled. Imagine a world where storage, identity, and power are shared, not hoarded; where the individual, not the institution, holds sway. Perils there may be — security flaws, misuse, the chaos of new systems — but are these not preferable to the certain servitude of the old? Reason demands we choose the risks of freedom over the comforts of chains.
People of the world, the hour is upon us! As our forebears cast off the yoke of kings, so must we reject the digital despotism of centralized computing. Ethereum lights the path, but it is we who must walk it. Let us seize this moment, embrace peer-to-peer systems, and forge a realm where equity and liberty reign. To hesitate is to betray our posterity; to act is to claim our rightful inheritance. Rise, then, and build the peer-to-peer age — for ourselves, for our children, for the boundless potential of a free and just world.
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