One issue with decentralized systems is that, from the onset, such systems are most appealing to outcasts of other systems. These outcast groups are more extreme (political views, illicit activity) than those using mainstream systems. This can be an impediment to development and growth of a network.
An example of this is free speech absolutists who are banned from a centralized system like Twitter for harmful content. They naturally flock to a decentralized system to evade censorship (like Mastodon) thereby flooding the new decentralized system with content that repels mainstream users and hinders adoption (Mastodon has unfortunately found a niche with the far-right).
Read The Promise and Paradox of Decentralization by Byrne Hobart.
See also:
- Decentralized systems that work need hierarchical regulation otherwise a small in-group implicitly comes into power.
- The internet has American values encoded like freedom of speech, making certain kinds of content impossible to eradicate.
- Other negative consequences of informal structures like a decentralized system.
- Web3
Links to this note
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Your Spam Folder Is a Glimpse of What Censorship Free Content Looks Like
Centralized systems are criticized for making unilateral decisions about what people can see and not see within their privately controlled network. This leads to strong anti-censorship sentiment and desire for censorship free content where anyone can say anything. However, look no further than your spam folder for a glimpse of what a truly decentralized and censorship free content network could look like.
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Speculation Is What Will Make Web3 Mainstream
The unifying desire to make money through speculation is what will make Web3 successful.
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Nobody Wants to Run Their Own Server
The original idea of the web was that everyone would be both a producer and a consumer. They would run their own server and connect to the servers of others.