[Hivetalk](https://hivetalk.org) is one of my favorite nostr apps, and it keeps getting better!

Bitcoin's culture relies on thorough arguments based on technology and economic incentives. Arbitrary narratives based on fairy tales and optics has never lasted too long. Let's get something straight: - Demand for arbitrary data on the blockchain will NOT exceed demand for monetary transactions in the long run. Shitcoiners will definitely be outpriced. Why are you in bitcoin in the first place if you cannot believe that? - Op_return filters create worse incentives economically (more non-standard, centralized transaction transmission, further mining centralization) and technologically (dumping garbage data in worse places than the trash cans, i.e. longer verification: slower IBD, more orphaned blocks) Virtue signaling will not save you from reality. The hard part is actually **getting rid of the emotional fluff and think hard on the best approach with nuance.** The good part is that whoever is wrong will probably be obvious, since many will indeed run core v30, and we've gathered decent amount of data from the filtered days of course. Moreover, the op_return debate has no fatal impact on bitcoin. I can see some doomsday pessimism telling us otherwise, but this kind of alarmism is similar to a childish Malthusian prophecy to me. I have seen some good technical and economical arguments on the Knots side as well, which I disagree with but soon the rubber will meet the road and in a few years we'll see.

I have a very strong conviction that Nostr cannot be captured by big tech at this point. They can just ignore it. Unless... Let's start at the beginning: Nostr's simple design makes small room for attacks on Nostr itself: closed source software, lack of event verification, proprietary APIs rather than querying relays directly, no relay selection in clients... these type of things are trivial to spot. I also firmly believe that event kinds will in time consolidate and ossify, it's a strong incentive for players in the same industry/area. Decentralized relay management will get stronger too, as best practices form. We have relay selection on the user level with sane fallbacks/defaults as a starting point. Things will be fine on this front as well I think. **The biggest threat right now is not doing the hard work to implement quality software with viable business models supporting the projects.** Big tech has hordes of fiat code monkeys to deliver convenience. They don't have anything else than that though. They cannot do what freedom tech enables. What is your edge? Delivering freedom in a way people can receive it: build it up from sane default options gradually towards sovereignty. You can start with convenience but surface the options with care in due time. This seems to be harder to do than the walled garden model, but actually pays off long-term handsomely: your users will be more educated and thank you for it because you were there when they were in the dark, when they needed you most. They will become your apostles, and network effect might build up. For people who are afraid of "doing nostr in the wrong way" or "cannot find the exact way to do xyz", consider this: No client app is profitable yet. Take everything with a grain of salt other than basic OS principles, freedom tech values and NIP01, which are crystal clear. Use the OS code: look at it, play with it, fork it, think about it. There's no real substitute for that. You can read a million pages of spec, vibe code for ever to fake it till you fail, or go get your hands dirty and master it in no time. Yes, it takes more effort to do, than to consume. Demonstrate Proof of Work. **Don't let fear guide your decisions! Build in a permissionless way, on a permissionless protocol.** If you get dragged down arguing on NIPxyz on github or anywhere else rather than building for your target audience, you lose. You lose because you are relying on futile reassurence instead of passion to deliver value. To ship the future. Don't ever let them steer your ship. The only thing you should be afraid of is opportunity cost of the precious time that distracts you from building. If only a handful of people do this, we will win. Those who read this far might be the ones. Go _build_ the future you want to see in the world.

Evergreen

I agree low time-preference optimism for the world is healthier than prophecies of doom. Since you are Christian here's a question: many early Christians including Paul seemed to have expected the end of the world in their lifetimes. They warned each other about the imminent return of Christ and how they need to lead a *moral* life since the judgement can come any time. This seems to contradict your article, and suggests that high time-preference fear of judgement (or excitement for heaven? I don't know) can instill better morals too. What do you think?

I believe you had good intentions writing this, but ultimately mostly have to disagree with the blanket statement to formalize nostr delopment. A few points: 1. Bitcoin and Lightning both are much narrowly scoped protocols compared to Nostr. Therefore easier to standardize and consesus MUST be achieved because there must be one money. Nostr is not like this. It allows for much more flexibility because people still are discovering what nostr is fundamentally. Anyway plenty of people still don't think BIPs and others are good ways to do this. An example: BIP39 which is used by all onchain wallets basically in use today, is UNANIMOUSLY DISCOURAGED for implementation. Funny huh? 2. Nostr and all protocols will be what people with SKIN IN THE GAME want it to be. It's not just about money. It's about creating useful stuff people want. That takes time, taste and caring. But we have to accept reality: bitcoin has not centralized too much yet, because there were serious actors all over the globe to fight for it. I mean not in comment sections and twitter threads but with projects where they poured their hearts and money into it. If Nostr gets co-opted by the sorts of Google then we failed to outcompete them, and it's so simple. I really don't think that "If only more RFCs had been posted about governance and stuff like that we would have a decentralized oauth." No. The more economic clout wins. No amount of bureaucracy changes that. 3. Capture cannot be solved by centralizing efforts in a generic way. This is an oxymoron. However, running mates rowing in the same boat will indeed try to join their efforts. Look at the de-commerce consortium of @Shopstr Markets , @Eric FJ 🪬⚡️ with Conduit, Plebeian market and others. They have already done what you described, just with bottom up effort, not in a communist top down way. 4. If I want feedback on anything I can ask people I trust, not some self-designated team of experts, and potentially pay for review efforts. No need for pundits shouting from the sidelines. 5. I don't care if the process takes long to form good specs. Centralization doesn't help to speed this up. We have several websites describing most NIPs and people who mostly respond to questions. Communities could help further. Why do we need to formalize grassroots development? What we would get is more corruption as to who merges which NIP into "tHe NIPs rEPo". Probably why @fiatjaf dropped this idea in the first place. Still, I don't really care what kind of process you guys are up to because this is not strict consensus stuff like money has to be. Go for it, just don't think people's precious time will be wasted on centralized Nostr politics rather than building.

For #gitvianostr and nip34 enthusiasts like me: View article →

Ki hitte volna

The most reliable energy source for freedom tech development is if you first and foremost do it for your own (or family or loved ones') sake, not for "humanity". Humanity can do without you, and you don't need to save everyone. Just care for those next to you with low time-preference, and see the magic happen.

Nostr fixes this

SatShoot 1.0.0 Thanks to the latest PR of @rodant Cashu payments and Nostr-wallet funcionalities are back on SatShoot (don't be reckless with ecash yet folks!). All parties, including SatShoot pledge and Sponsored npub splits can be paid with #ecash as well: Although we still need seed backups for Nostr wallets, and constant improvements on multiple fronts, I consider this the real MVP I've been dreaming of long-long ago. Enjoy the Free Market, for real. #freelance #satshoot