I used to be much more positive about decentralization. I even wrote this little decentralized side project[0] that did well on HN a few years ago. But lately,

I used to be much more positive about decentralization. I even wrote this little decentralized side project[0] that did well on HN a few years ago. But lately, I've become more cynical about it. I fear it just doesn't map that well to the real world. From an abstract/logical architecture it makes a ton of sense, and would be beyond amazing to have a decentralized, unstoppable, computing platform that anyone can hop on, like Ethereum promises. But there's real computation happening in physical machines somewhere, real fiber connections between servers, real electricity costs, real national borders, real laws, etc. These days I'm much more enthused, I think, by federation, as that seems to map more cleanly onto the real world, putting the ownership and costs and responsibilities on those who control the hardware. I was extremely excited, for example, by sandstorm.io, but it seems like it's winding down lately. I haven't really seen an equivalent that's caught my eye, but maybe I'm missing some. I really do support the "Web 3.0" vision as defined here, and best of luck to them. If they can get that "killer app" that makes everyone want to join, and provide a little defense against detractors trying to use physical means to shut down the logical decentralization, then it would be a revolution for sure. But it looks hard to get there from here, to me. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9531265 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9531265