4 ms·

Urbit is interesting, but this troubles me: > there are only 2^32 (~4B) Urbit IDs, so they cost something. > Ultimately, we want your Urbit ID to feel like a

Urbit is interesting, but this troubles me: > there are only 2^32 (~4B) Urbit IDs, so they cost something. > Ultimately, we want your Urbit ID to feel like a civilizational key. If your Urbit ID were a piece of hardware, you could tap it to unlock a door, swipe it to buy a coffee, and plug it into any computer to log in. Your Urbit ID should be a unique, beautiful object that’s both an address and a wallet. It’s a key to a secret club and the ticket to your digital life. So I guess almost half the current global population is excluded from civilization?

fossuser 6y ago
They talk about that - if they're approaching the limit they'd make changes to produce more IDs. The network has a built in governing body that can do things like that (and they would since restricting access isn't the goal).
- tremon 6y ago
  But if the number of available Urbit IDs can be scaled up and down on an as-needed basis, why did they start with 4B and not, for example, 1M?
  - rtkwe 6y ago
    32-bits is just a convenient round number to wrap everything around.
jlehman 6y ago
Apparently it's taken us ~30 years to come close[1] to this number of users on the current internet. Seems like not an issue for a very long time, and if it becomes one, it can be amended. That said, anyone can get on Urbit for free as a comet. The only real limitations on comets are social in nature—not technological. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_Internet_users https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of...