4 ms·

While I agree with the second, this is an implementation "detail" of the routing layer. Universal multicast is much more interesting as an usage, though I am no

While I agree with the second, this is an implementation "detail" of the routing layer. Universal multicast is much more interesting as an usage, though I am not sure about the feasibility. As far as human-assignable names go, I am not sure. "pet names" would be a good fit: you "pin" a service using your name or someone else's. Sure, you can also use a ready-made mapping from words to binary like https://what3words.com/inferior.chapels.nerve https://what3words.com/inferior.chapels.nerve for instance, but I feel like picking one is a separate endeavor with its own pitfalls (not everyone speaks English, etc). You're asking for a solution to Zooko's triangle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zooko's_triangle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zooko's_triangle

dsr_ 5y ago
I'm willing to throw away "decentralized" in the "DNS is centralized" sense in order to have a meaningful alias system. If I can't talk about a service in normal conversation, it will be difficult for me to tell people about it. "You should check out correct horse battery staple" vs "You should check out news.ycombinator.com" -- one of those requires me to maintain a meaningless mapping in my head, and the other contains structure and clues even if it isn't "Hacker News".
- MayeulC 5y ago
  If that's the case though, why not keep DNS for now, especially for the initial handshake? Then, similar to HSTS, the browser could remember the mapping and use the DNS name as a pet name for the target. Another alternative would be to use "phonebooks". One could trust a few trusted websites for the initial handshake: "oh, just google battery horse to find my blog". Or: I'm linked on John's blog. That goes well with pet names, but is a bit more involved. In any case, as long as the underlying identifier is secure and unique, you can just share that trough other means (links, Qr codes, messages, etc).

dsr_ 5y ago

I'm willing to throw away "decentralized" in the "DNS is centralized" sense in order to have a meaningful alias system. If I can't talk about a service in normal conversation, it will be difficult for me to tell people about it. "You should check out correct horse battery staple" vs "You should check out news.ycombinator.com" -- one of those requires me to maintain a meaningless mapping in my head, and the other contains structure and clues even if it isn't "Hacker News".

MayeulC 5y ago
If that's the case though, why not keep DNS for now, especially for the initial handshake? Then, similar to HSTS, the browser could remember the mapping and use the DNS name as a pet name for the target. Another alternative would be to use "phonebooks". One could trust a few trusted websites for the initial handshake: "oh, just google battery horse to find my blog". Or: I'm linked on John's blog. That goes well with pet names, but is a bit more involved. In any case, as long as the underlying identifier is secure and unique, you can just share that trough other means (links, Qr codes, messages, etc).