V God: The contradiction I have been thinking about

Vitalik Buterin

22-05-17 12:19

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Original author: Vitalik Buterin

Original translation: czgsws, 0x9F, rhythm BlockBeats

This article is sorted out from V God's views on his personal social media platform, and rhythm BlockBeats sorted and translated it as follows:

There have always been many well-known contradictions in my thoughts and values. I have been thinking about these problems but have not yet fully resolved them:

I am eager to see Ethereum become a system more like Bitcoin, valuing long-term stability, including cultural stability, but I realize that achieving this goal requires a lot of actively coordinated short-term changes, which is contradictory.

I tend to reduce dependence on individuals and try to build fixed systems that stand the test of time, while I also appreciate "active players" and their role in helping the world move forward, which is contradictory.

I’m eager to see Ethereum become an L1 that can survive in truly extreme situations, but I realize that there’s a contradiction between the two, and that many key applications in Ethereum currently rely on very fragile security assumptions.

I’m passionate about things like decentralization, but I realize that there’s a contradiction between my identification with the intellectual elite rather than “the people” on many (though definitely not all) specific policy issues.

I’m eager to see more countries adopt radical policy experiments (such as crypto-states), but I realize that more centralized governance is often the most likely to take action on these things, and there’s a contradiction between the two.

I’m eager to see more diversity in interesting cultures, but I realize that maintaining a culture that’s different from the mainstream often seems to require some form of madness or grouping, which are things I hate ideologically, and there’s a contradiction between the two.

I dislike many modern financial blockchain "apps" (e.g. $3M "Bored Ape"), but I reluctantly accept the fact that these things are an important part of keeping the crypto economy running and paying for all the DAOs and governance experiments I like.

I long for crypto to go beyond finance, but I realize that finance (including payments + sovereignty) is still the most successful crypto application category to date, especially popular with third world residents, human rights activists and vulnerable groups, which is a contradiction between the two.

I have a conflict between my desire to make L1 as simple as possible and my desire to make the entire ecosystem as simple as possible. (Because a simple L1 usually "exports" its complexity to higher layers of the stack, and users have to accept it.)

I have a conflict between my desire to be a positive-sum mediator who can be everyone's friend and my desire to stand firmly on the side of good against evil when we face real evil.