Dropping In (001.1 GRIF)
“STOP being a pussy!”
I don’t remember it perfectly. I can reconstruct it vividly.
This is the power and beauty of our memory. It’s volatile and subject to influence beyond our percpetion but it works. We retain enough to replay stories that are true enough.
Memory is also terrifying.
The pieces of information, the visuals, and the sounds we carry with us create a kernel that guides our action. This means we are each directed by our own low fidelity copy of the past.
The value we attach to memory changes with time. We layer new information and experience to understand a fading past.
In doing so, we create new realities that ignore the astonishing degradation of the original experience. If we lack an objective anchor, the degradation risks detaching us from our primal existence. Thoughts will overwhelm and turn memory to a daemon in the valley.
The ideal of a verifiable truth that is beyond trust is invoked by ardent supporters of Bitcoin, an immutable, timestamped ledger. A global database to stand as a single source of truth is their dream.
While it sounds appealing, it isn’t what moved me.
Andy M. sat with me on a busy street corner to explain data integrity and how an individual user controls an entry in the blockchain. We got to an edge case that confirmed anything can be secured and therefore controlled via the ledger.
Control. Discrete, direct control of data is what lit me up. I fell in love with the idea that a digital album can have the same ownership and control properties as a physical record.
It sounded like a method to turn into the wind.
A generation ago we learned that computers are perfect copying and distribution machines (thanks John). Now I learned that connecting peer-to-peer wasn’t the problem. It is the solution to the collectivisation of our data and ongoing technological infringement of our humanity.
I will share thoughts, complete and incomplete, as I build on the ideas that have possessed me since that day at the Pride of Paddington. While this is a matter of security and technology, I understand the implications through culture, music, and economic incentives.
So to Bernie, I am ready to drop in.
Sg
