IntroductionEthereum is often described as a “world computer.” It is a convenient metaphor — but also one of the most damaging misunderstandings in the history of the protocol. Calling Ethereum a world computer reduces it to an infrastructure for executing applications, competing in the same mental category as cloud providers and internet platforms. It frames the protocol as a decentralized AWS: a global machine whose main goal is to process as many transactions as possible, as cheaply as pos...

IntroductionEthereum is often described as a “world computer.” It is a convenient metaphor — but also one of the most damaging misunderstandings in the history of the protocol. Calling Ethereum a world computer reduces it to an infrastructure for executing applications, competing in the same mental category as cloud providers and internet platforms. It frames the protocol as a decentralized AWS: a global machine whose main goal is to process as many transactions as possible, as cheaply as pos...