I came back to make a re-conclusion. I agree with Yudkowsky (lesswrong.com/posts/tscc3e5eujrsEeFN4/well-kept-gardens-die-by-pacifism). But you just can't replace the culture. That's why people are getting angry, claiming that they've been "deplatformed". Especially considering that more than 90% of people aren't technical. They'll just leave. I respect the abruptness of Balaji's decision, though. Every abrupt decision forces something. It forced people to think differently, much faster than before. To consider alternatives. To create them, perhaps? And that's actually a good thing. It's great that we've been forced to do something instead of just sitting around. Balaji's decision might be exactly the push the ecosystem needed. It forces people to move, to build, to take things into their own hands. But it's also a massive blow to the ecosystem. Most people will simply leave. Some because they disagree with the direction, and others because they'd rather move to a familiar alternative than bother figuring things out. <-> Snapchain The further and most important point is the fate of Snapchain. If it remains decentralized and neutral, favoring no particular client or -> we can still do something with it. The outcome is not catastrophic. As long as Snapchain remains sovereign in that sense, we're totally fine! Every gardener, in some way, will have their own garden to care for. We can move to other clients. We can create our gardens. But it's incredibly hard to convince other people I discovered earlier on this platform to move to my garden as well. There are a few gardens. It'll be hard to bounce back and forth. A few apps, a few websites. Who'll care? I need a single app, that's all. Why am I making life harder for regular non-technical people, people I know, who are used to the coffee shop entrance being on this street? We gather here, every day. Now I need to tell people that I have my own garden. Make sure to visit me, please? That's where technical people and non-technical people part ways. Overcomplication for the sake of technology. What I might've wanted is a stronger and more creative common protocol (talking about the client and API opportunities, not Snapchain itself). The shared ground we can all start from, as gardeners. Miniapps were it, kinda. Used by everyone, with a convenient wallet experience. Crypto App Store, as many called it. Now I'm forced into my own cabin, where I feel isolated. A software problem (a flood of vibecoded slop) meets a social gathering problem. The concentration of people on established platforms (X, Instagram, or TikTok) is tremendous. I'm forced to isolate, instead of mutual aid. Miniapps were a way for everyone to peek into my microworld. See my vision. A form of mutual aid. <-> How can I see the world through other people's eyes? Text has become obsolete. I'm pessimistic about text, as people are less and less interested in reading things. I want worlds, like games. Everything should be a game, perhaps. Everyone should create one. This is a perfect way of self-expression, like making films or music. <-> tl;dr -> social continuity got destroyed. The public culture (post invite-only era) shattered into a multitude of fragments, even without ever having fully taken shape. By the way, the abrupt centralization of the canonical client of a decentralized protocol still feels like an oxymoron to me.
