Permissionless architecture is a double-edged sword.
- There's a reason why centralization exists.
- There's a reason why cancel culture exists.
- There's a reason why KYC/AML exists.
- There's a reason why regulations exist.
The reason is clear.
We set up these filters to optimize the result. The filters theoretically exist to make the system better. The problem is that the filters inevitably get corrupted.
People get drawn to these levers of power and manipulate them for personal gain. "Trusting science" and "Trusting women" is great... until the sociopaths that run this place are fed a new attack vector to exploit. Trust is the most exploited resource in the world. This is literally the only reason why Bitcoin has any value (the Bitcoin ledger doesn't lie).
So when I see a god damn NFT project that sells JPEGS of computer-generated blackface and calls them slaves... the lefty in me is like, "What the actual fuck," and the libertarian in me is like, "Well, what did you expect?"
https://www.vice.com/en/article/5dgw9a/racist-meta-slave-nft-project-rebrands-after-being-called-racist
Such Reporting, much wow.
And then, the conspiracy theorist in me wonder if this is simply a false flag event.
Remember BAYC?
Hm, yeah, it was only a couple weeks ago that cancel culture was looking to throw the Bored Ape Yacht Club under the bus. Because clearly BAYC is racist and has tons of white supremist iconography and yada yada yada. Meanwhile the dev team responds to those allegations rightfully like, "We are just some nerds working out of a basement doing crypto stuff." I actually should have reported on this when it was happening but it was just so dumb that I ignored it after reading the article.
https://www.inputmag.com/culture/bored-ape-yacht-club-nazism-racism-claims-yuga-labs-ryder-ripps
Ripps also points out on his site the similarity between Yuga Labs’ name and that of Kali Yuga, a “popular element of alt right/traditionalist ideology.”
Earlier this year, as Ripps continued to tweet his research, Yuga Labs — which hasn’t taken on his allegations head-on until now — subtweeted him. The company’s name, it tweeted, was taken from a villain in the popular Nintendo 3DS game A Link Between Worlds — a sorcerer who can turn characters into paintings.
Oh you mean the BAYC guys are just basement nerds and not white supremist Nazis? Shocking. It's seriously worth a deep dive because this left-wing conspiracy goes deep and it's one of the most blatantly incorrect ones I've ever seen.
So they proved that BAYC wasn't racist.
Wouldn't it make sense then to create black-flag NFTs that are super overtly racist just to 'prove' the point that NFTs and decentralization are the devil? I mean that's what I would do if I was a piece of shit on a political warpath trying to demonize my enemy no matter the tactic. These things happen all the time. Just look at Rob Reiner. What a piece of shit trash-monster.
Thankfully, the project is not very successful. It’s sold 4 NFTs to 2 addresses thus far, amassing .04 ETH in volume, or $117 at today’s price. It has a Discord with five members currently, some of whom have taken to spamming an image of a pig with poop on its balls.
THEN WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU REPORTING ON IT?
Reporting on this "problem" ironically gives it free advertising. Way to help them out, Vice. Dipshits.
Seriously look at how many people are reporting on a nothing project that made zero dollars. We got @berniesanders in there posting poopballs in the Discord and no one bought any. This is how you know that it IS NOT a black flag event, because a real black flag event would see actual volume (the creator buying the NFTS from himself to give the appearance of popularity).
A dozen different news outlets report on this thing because they have a certain audience and they have a certain narrative they are trying to express. Just like my crypto news feed if filled to the brim with speculative bullshit (Bitcoin must go up $1000 before it can go up $10000), so to are these left-wing outlets filled with bullshit that supports their narrative. That means overtly racist stuff or this idea that crypto "wastes energy" is going to make the front page every time, no matter how actually irrelevant the underlying project is.
WTF!!!!
THIS IS WHY WE CANT HAVE NICE THINGS
The point here is that permissioned systems exist for a reason, and crypto is on the verge of decimating all of the filters we currently have in place. This is exactly why downvotes can't be removed from the Hive ecosystem (although they can be self-regulated a lot better). Many networks are not equipped to handle the coming onslaught that their own permissionless nature fosters. When anyone can do anything, there's going to be a lot of fucked up shit out there.
In fact, I would say these racist NFTs are going to be the least of our worries down the road in this regard. I imagine way worse things will happen than some problematic JPEGS. Of course "problematic JPEGS" could be worse than problematic JPEGS. There's always child porn, pedophilia, rape culture, snuff films, all the crazy ass sex stuff out there that will make its way to blockchain if given the opportunity. Anonymity combined with massive amounts of money is a hell of a thing.
Justin Sun is even on record are saying he bought Bittorrent with the sole intention of "opening Pandora's box" in China. Now look where he is. Sent off the regulator camp at the World Trade Organization. That's what happens when one person tries to stand against the establishment: they get steamrolled. However, when entire uncensorable networks start doing it they will stand triumphant. We already saw it work firsthand with PirateBay and torrenting, and Crypto is a thousand times more robust than some centralized data-aggregating server in a random country.
Conclusion
Beggars can't be choosers. Be careful what you wish for. If we want to create permissionless systems, that's exactly what we are going to get. It will be a thing of beauty. It will be the stuff of nightmares. Pandora's Box does not discriminate. It's too late to shut the box now. This is happening whether we like it or not. We need to pivot accordingly.
It's almost guaranteed that the enemies of crypto will create major false flag attacks in crypto. Be on the lookout for them. Child porn will probably be a big one. At the end of the day, networks that can't regulate themselves will get canceled into the dirt by the establishment. Their ultimate goal will be to regulate these networks themselves, but that's also going to fail. Governance is going to be put to the test, which means Hive is in a great spot.
Return from Opening Pandora's Box to edicted's Web3 Blog
