Read Write Own
Building the Next Era of the Internet
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- 10,99 €
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- 10,99 €
Publisher Description
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
‘A compelling vision of where the internet should go and how to get there.’ Sam Altman, CEO, OpenAI
The promise of the internet has been stolen.
Over the last decade, a handful of giant companies like Facebook and Google have seized control of the web – sapping its dynamism and taking its profits for themselves.
But there is a way to take it back.
Here, a leading Silicon Valley investor argues that blockchains – the radically free and democratic new type of software design that underpins ‘web3’ – could return financial and decision-making power to the internet’s users. For the first time, we won’t just read and write on the internet – we will own it, too.
‘A must for anyone who wants to better understand the real potential of blockchains and web3.’ Bob Iger, CEO, Disney
‘A refreshing and radical new take at a time when we need fresh thinking more than ever.’ Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of DeepMind and author of The Coming Wave
‘The most elegant and sophisticated argument for blockchain to date . . . Shines as a history of computing and the internet.’ Fortune
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The illuminating if technical debut from Dixon, general partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, sings the praise of blockchain networks, which he likens to "computers that can, for the first time ever, establish inviolable rules in software" so that, for instance, app stores couldn't arbitrarily raise their cut from app sales. Blockchain has the potential to dilute the monopolistic power of Silicon Valley behemoths, according to Dixon, who posits that, among other benefits, the open-access nature of the technology facilitates greater interoperability. That means data could more easily be shared between programs or platforms, making impossible such maneuvers as Mark Zuckerberg's 2013 decision to deny the now-defunct video app Vine access to Facebook's application programming interface, which made it difficult to share Vine content on the social network and hastened the app's demise. Dixon's detailed discussions add nuance to the oversimplified metaphors often used to describe blockchain ("Any developer in the world can write and run apps, ranging from marketplaces to metaverses, on blockchains.... This is why it's wrong to think of blockchains as mere ledgers for tabulating numbers"), though his complicated explanations of the roles played by "state transitions" and "validators" can be difficult to follow. Still, it's a stimulating overview of blockchain's potential.
