#05: Prompt & Pray w/ Paul

"What should the next iteration of the internet look like?" 

In this dialogue:

• Paul and his awesome nostr t-shirt
• Are we all just nostalgic?
• Where did the optimism of computing and the information superhighway go?
• We went from interop to pay-to-unlock.
• Do we have to live in the digital gulags forever?
• Homecooked meals and homecooked apps
• Paper straws and the downfall of Western Civilization
• "You need to be okay with people getting rekt"
• If the car would be introduced today, it would be illegal
• Bravery and personal responsibility
• "nostr will only be what diehards will build it to be"
• Bad teleology is built into the current (non-nostr) app landscape 
• "You can get a lot of the upside without holding your own keys”
• “...but you can't get ALL of the upside!"
• Expressiveness and free speech online 
• Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Assembly, and Financial Freedom in Cyberspace 
• Self-publishing vs platform publishing 
• Information calories. Can we count them? 
• Don't make me think! 
• Is not being forced to think part of the problem? 
• Mutiny & bitcoin UX that's too easy 
• Games and costly mistakes 
• The early days: software distribution via print magazines 
• Prompting allows you to define your own teleology 
• Vibe coding and Cursor 
• "The hard part is to figure out what you want." 
• "What should the next iteration of the internet look like?" 
• GenZ doesn't know shit about files and folders
• Why files are great 
• Gigi's SyncThing & Standard Notes setup 
• File-based apps like Smart AudioBook Player
• Reading apps like Pocket, Instapaper, and Readwise Reader
• Saving all the things & linking stuff together 
• Clips of podcasts and videos, e.g. Fountain
• A Commonplace Book to cyberspace
• Creating a "Family Bible" app
• If you want to maximize profits in the attention economy, you have to get users addicted
• (Zaps potentially fix this, as you wouldn’t zap a car crash)
• Let computers do computer work, let humans be humans
• "The end is not being on the computer"
• Solo private / group private / public 
• Liberal vs Conservative sentiment in social environments 
• Whom to care about? 
• Web of trust & our understanding of it
• Forgiveness, Trust, and Repeat Games 
• Tit-for-tat and forgiving tit-for-tat
• Three strikes and you're out! 
• "Choose your gulag" is the alternative to nostr 
• 7-generation thinking 
• 2140
• The Sovereign Individual is embedded in a social structure, always
• I, Pencil 
• Jungle vs Civilization 
• Fiat = because I said so (“Fiat Lux” - Let there be light)
• Do we need leaders in bitcoin? 
• Peterson Fallacy / God vs Bitcoin
• Jesus early followers were the Followers of The Way 
• Zaps are not payments 
• Zaps are not "tips" 
• Bitstein & Pierre: The Reorg 
• Vervaeke: “Where do you go for wisdom?”
• Rough consensus and Pieter Wuille
• "There is no such thing as a leaderless system" 
• Wisdom in cyberspace 
• Can we build wise tools? 
• Prompting the Bible, ChristGPT, and Bible Slop 
• Gell-Mann amnesia effect
• Vervaekes AI argument: The Coming Thresholds and The Path We Must Take
• Where do new ideas come from? 
• Sandwich prompting style (HLDD / LLDD)
• The Tale of John Henry 
• Silicon Sages
• Conscience and The Muse
• Hypermedia and HyperNote 
• Glassholes, Google Glasses, and wearable technology
• Prompting & Praying for An Internet Worth Having

Books mentioned:

• The Bible
• I, Pencil by Leonard E. Read
• Don't make me think! by Steve Krug
• The Sovereign Individual by James Dale Davidson and William Rees-Mogg