Blockchain Singularity with Dominic Williams

My guest today is Dominic Williams, the CEO and chief scientist of DFINITY, the company behind the Internet Computer Protocol (ICP). DFINITY aims to replace the traditional IT stack and disintermediate large tech companies with its Internet Computer — a public blockchain network hosted by a collection of independent data centers around the world. The standard behind DFINITY’s Internet Computer — the Internet Computer Protocol (ICP) — allows software to run on the internet in a distributed manner, as opposed to using servers controlled by large companies. This means that according to DFINITY, the Internet Computer Protocol will be the first scalable, cloud-like blockchain platform able to host internet services, websites, and financial systems built exclusively utilizing smart contracts (and with no external complimentary private systems). The Internet Computer is designed to store data, facilitate application development, and enable network interoperability. This makes it possible to develop applications that no one entity owns, controls, or censors, thus creating the opportunity to rebuild popular internet services like social media applications in an open, decentralized fashion. Dominic is a crypto theoretician and entrepreneur. His recent research includes Threshold Relay and PSC chains, Validation Towers and Trees, and USCIDs, and he proposes new ideas such as "The 3 E's of Sybil Resistance". Previously he ran a venture-backed MMO game using his own distributed systems that hosted millions of users. In our discussion we cover the company behind the Internet Computer Protocol (ICP), DFINITY and ICP, optimizing systems for decentralization, smart contracts and new tools of truth, and much more. We begin our conversation by discussing the current problem facing all proof-of-stake chains. We also discuss how DFINITY designed ICP without this single point of failure facing proof-of-stake blockchains. We go on to discuss the similarities and differences between the internet boom of the late 90s and crypto. We talk about how Bitcoin and blockchain are building out a new kind of internet. We also discuss how to build and think about decentralized systems. Dominic does an excellent job at explaining how smart contracts remove the friction within systems and how this will drive innovation within society. Dominic also explains Blockchain Singularity and why it is inevitable that smart contracts will disrupt how society functions. We go onto discuss the governance structure of ICP and how they have created an advanced form of liquid democratic governance. We finish our discussion by discussing why entrepreneurs should begin building on ICP and the importance of Web3.0.

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