TL;DR Everything in the world depends on how people talked to each other. Politics, science, technology, products, families, parties, everything, absolutely everything is just an outcome of hundreds, thousands, or maybe millions of conversations. If you want to propagate something through the world, a product, a piece of art, an idea, you need to understand how human works and how the information flows through the human network.Community is deadly overhyped in web3Web3 is a very unique indust...

TL;DR Everything in the world depends on how people talked to each other. Politics, science, technology, products, families, parties, everything, absolutely everything is just an outcome of hundreds, thousands, or maybe millions of conversations. If you want to propagate something through the world, a product, a piece of art, an idea, you need to understand how human works and how the information flows through the human network.Community is deadly overhyped in web3Web3 is a very unique indust...

TL;DR Caring is a social taboo, reluctance is the norm. But it’s not normal.Targeting the largest world problems is easyIt is very easy to spend life on solving global problems that are by definition unsolvable (e.g. global peace, aging, etc). It keeps us busy. It gives us a feeling that we are working on something really meaningful and important so we are superior over other people around. It is also a descent excuse not to think about small problems. It is an easy strategy where we are not ...

TL;DR Caring is a social taboo, reluctance is the norm. But it’s not normal.Targeting the largest world problems is easyIt is very easy to spend life on solving global problems that are by definition unsolvable (e.g. global peace, aging, etc). It keeps us busy. It gives us a feeling that we are working on something really meaningful and important so we are superior over other people around. It is also a descent excuse not to think about small problems. It is an easy strategy where we are not ...

tl;dr Yes we can BUT for a very popular custom use cases such as proving Ethereum blocks. For everything else NO, we can’t.What does that mean: proving real-world use cases?We often think about ZK-VMs in analogy with regular computers: prove whatever. Any program. However, practically speaking, there is no such creature as ‘any program’. Let’s think about it: Generally speaking,Programs are written in different languages.Languages are compiled into different ISAs (for virtual machines).ISAs a...

tl;dr Yes we can BUT for a very popular custom use cases such as proving Ethereum blocks. For everything else NO, we can’t.What does that mean: proving real-world use cases?We often think about ZK-VMs in analogy with regular computers: prove whatever. Any program. However, practically speaking, there is no such creature as ‘any program’. Let’s think about it: Generally speaking,Programs are written in different languages.Languages are compiled into different ISAs (for virtual machines).ISAs a...

I’ve recently told a friend that I feel very lonely when I realize how few people in the world share values similar to mine. He asked me ‘what values’ and I couldn’t pack the answer into a concise telegram message. So here we are: a glimpse into my vision, feeling, and understanding of the world interface. Disclaimer: values might change and it’s fine.RespectThe default respect to everyone’s personal experience, background, and individuality. Deep internal respect to personal space, way of th...

I’ve recently told a friend that I feel very lonely when I realize how few people in the world share values similar to mine. He asked me ‘what values’ and I couldn’t pack the answer into a concise telegram message. So here we are: a glimpse into my vision, feeling, and understanding of the world interface. Disclaimer: values might change and it’s fine.RespectThe default respect to everyone’s personal experience, background, and individuality. Deep internal respect to personal space, way of th...

"Cryptography is serious, with ideas often hard to understand. When we try to explain them with cartoons and cute narratives, I don’t think we make our contributions easier to understand. What we actually do is add in a layer of obfuscation that must be peeled away to understand what has actually been done." P. Rogaway, the paper “The Moral Character of Cryptographic Work” Disclaimer: this write up mostly relies on the legendary Dan Boneh’s course “Cryptography I”. If you have time – watch th...

"Cryptography is serious, with ideas often hard to understand. When we try to explain them with cartoons and cute narratives, I don’t think we make our contributions easier to understand. What we actually do is add in a layer of obfuscation that must be peeled away to understand what has actually been done." P. Rogaway, the paper “The Moral Character of Cryptographic Work” Disclaimer: this write up mostly relies on the legendary Dan Boneh’s course “Cryptography I”. If you have time – watch th...

In American movies, when kids are neuroatypical (have autism or another developmental difference) parents tell them we love you as you are and unconditionally accept, then they help them to integrate into society and learn to be part of it. In the real world, when kids are neuroatypical parents tell them why the hell you can’t just be normal as all other kids. Then it took a life to learn what the hell the average human means by ‘being normal’ and to be honest it’s quite a journey. I remember...

In American movies, when kids are neuroatypical (have autism or another developmental difference) parents tell them we love you as you are and unconditionally accept, then they help them to integrate into society and learn to be part of it. In the real world, when kids are neuroatypical parents tell them why the hell you can’t just be normal as all other kids. Then it took a life to learn what the hell the average human means by ‘being normal’ and to be honest it’s quite a journey. I remember...

The first blockchain pop up city was Zuzalu in Montenegro. There was one single green pdf spreaded across the industry and whispers here and there on the secrecy of the event because Vitalik was organising it. The culture of pop up cities was bootstrapped instantly with dozens of events happening every year. However, none of them were already organized by Vitalik even though he participated in quite a few. So what is the reason to come to a pop up city today and isn’t it a waste of time? My p...

The first blockchain pop up city was Zuzalu in Montenegro. There was one single green pdf spreaded across the industry and whispers here and there on the secrecy of the event because Vitalik was organising it. The culture of pop up cities was bootstrapped instantly with dozens of events happening every year. However, none of them were already organized by Vitalik even though he participated in quite a few. So what is the reason to come to a pop up city today and isn’t it a waste of time? My p...

If your beloved zero-knowledge proofs are so awesome – why don’t we have multiple multi-billion companies serving ZKPs for real-world use cases?Timing matters and is not always obviousIt’s not always about solving the problems of yesterday. Not all products are built for clear existing Product Market Fit, especially when it comes to DeepTech. Some technologies take time. Some products are based on intuition and guesses about the future. Think about AI. One of the largest AI companies, Palanti...

If your beloved zero-knowledge proofs are so awesome – why don’t we have multiple multi-billion companies serving ZKPs for real-world use cases?Timing matters and is not always obviousIt’s not always about solving the problems of yesterday. Not all products are built for clear existing Product Market Fit, especially when it comes to DeepTech. Some technologies take time. Some products are based on intuition and guesses about the future. Think about AI. One of the largest AI companies, Palanti...

We stuck between two realitiesThe world is currently blended consisting of the physical realm and the digital realm. People operate sometimes in the first one, sometimes in the second one, sometimes in between. For example, take a nuclear factory where the verification of agreements between nuclear powers also include radiation measurement techniques on a facility. The measurement should be done in a digital realm. But it will be transmitted to a controlling party in a digital realm. How will...

We stuck between two realitiesThe world is currently blended consisting of the physical realm and the digital realm. People operate sometimes in the first one, sometimes in the second one, sometimes in between. For example, take a nuclear factory where the verification of agreements between nuclear powers also include radiation measurement techniques on a facility. The measurement should be done in a digital realm. But it will be transmitted to a controlling party in a digital realm. How will...

The full title should sound like “Why Ethereum Foundation is an absolutely unprecedented phenomenon in human history and why Vitalik should get the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences”.How heavy tech adoption usually worksThere is this phrase “dual use product” – a product that can be utilized for both civilian and military purposes. When it comes to emerging heavy technologies (airplanes, AI, Internet, nuclear power, etc.) – they require huge investments into R&D. By huge, I mean billions and b...

The full title should sound like “Why Ethereum Foundation is an absolutely unprecedented phenomenon in human history and why Vitalik should get the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences”.How heavy tech adoption usually worksThere is this phrase “dual use product” – a product that can be utilized for both civilian and military purposes. When it comes to emerging heavy technologies (airplanes, AI, Internet, nuclear power, etc.) – they require huge investments into R&D. By huge, I mean billions and b...

Before coming to blockchain, I used to work in web2 dealing a lot with DeepTech communications: how to tell the story of the product, how to pitch to investors, enterprise, and governments, how to talk about your technology in a way that people understand it, feel it, and want it. I worked with different projects from BCI and NanoTech to SpaceTech and BioTech. The last three years I am doing the same in blockchain. In this article, some of my thoughts on how we can do it better and why for ou...

Before coming to blockchain, I used to work in web2 dealing a lot with DeepTech communications: how to tell the story of the product, how to pitch to investors, enterprise, and governments, how to talk about your technology in a way that people understand it, feel it, and want it. I worked with different projects from BCI and NanoTech to SpaceTech and BioTech. The last three years I am doing the same in blockchain. In this article, some of my thoughts on how we can do it better and why for ou...

No good actorsWhen it comes to money and power, there are no good actors. It’s a business game where those having power try to preserve and multiply it and those not having power try to acquire it. No one has good intentions, everyone serves personal interests, regardless of wether they are a web3 marketer or a president. When it comes to business the value extracting formula is well-known: Income = Revenue - Costs i.e. earn as much as possible while spending as little as possible. As you can...

No good actorsWhen it comes to money and power, there are no good actors. It’s a business game where those having power try to preserve and multiply it and those not having power try to acquire it. No one has good intentions, everyone serves personal interests, regardless of wether they are a web3 marketer or a president. When it comes to business the value extracting formula is well-known: Income = Revenue - Costs i.e. earn as much as possible while spending as little as possible. As you can...