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Vitalik: Ethereum, Part 2

Naval

Thu Apr 14 2022



Vitalik's Evolution in Ethereum:

  • Vitalik's role has evolved from an entrepreneur to the chief technologist and then to a politician, now being referred to as the elder statesman of smart contract blockchains.
  • He has learned that protocol politics shares similarities with regular politics, involving emergent phenomena influenced by aligned incentives, competition, and diverse opinions.

Ethereum Maximalism and Community Culture:

  • The rise of Ethereum maximalism reflects the need for identity differentiation amidst increasing alternatives to Ethereum.
  • Vitalik aims to maintain Ethereum's cultural integrity while preventing degradation similar to what occurred within the Bitcoin community during its internal struggles.

Lessons from Protocol Politics:

  • Fear, rather than greed, often drives morally questionable actions in mainstream politics, geopolitics, and crypto.
  • Ethical compromises made during pivotal events like the DAO hack and subsequent hard fork resulted from fear-driven decision-making processes.

Influence on ETH and Protocol Decision-Making:

  • Vitalik perceives his influence on Ethereum diminishing over time due to increasing layers of consensus required for implementing changes.
  • Despite decreasing influence, he continues advocating for technical improvements such as EIPs (Ethereum Improvement Proposals).

Blockchain Statecraft and Systematization:

  • Ethereum's culture has become more systematized over time through structured protocol decision-making mechanisms like the All-Core Devs Call.
  • The process involves idea generation, refinement, testing implementation leading to formalized proposals before acceptance or rejection by core developers.

Nomadic Lifestyle and Philanthropy:

  • Vitalik has led a nomadic lifestyle for eight years and plans to allocate his wealth toward impactful causes rather than amassing personal possessions.
  • Fluent in multiple languages including English, Russian, French, Chinese, German, Spanish - reflecting his diverse experiences across various countries.

Personal Philosophy and Advice:

  • Vitalik advocates continuous self-improvement as a guiding philosophy. This includes learning new skills or knowledge each week and avoiding living life on autopilot. Apex of Vitalik's Influence:
  • Vitalik feels his influence on Ethereum is gradually diminishing, with a decrease in the number of people he needs to convince for pushing changes.
  • The decreasing influence reflects the evolving decentralized decision-making process within Ethereum.

Vitalik's Multi-Lingual Ability and Travel Lifestyle:

  • Fluent in English, Russian, French, Chinese, German, and Spanish, reflecting diverse experiences across various countries.
  • Led a nomadic lifestyle for eight years, traveling extensively to places such as San Francisco, Toronto, Argentina, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Singapore.

Philanthropic Intentions and Wealth Allocation:

  • Plans to allocate wealth toward impactful causes rather than amassing personal possessions or engaging in traditional wealth pursuits.
  • Has been generous with philanthropy by giving away significant amounts of ETH.