Following the merge, we covered Vitalik’s thoughts on the past, present, and future of ETH.
In episode #138, part two, of the Bankless Podcast, Vitalik joins hosts David Hoffman and Ryan Sean Adams to discuss how ETH could impact AI, global sovereignty, and human interaction.
Read our notes below to learn more.
ETH Social Layer
Ryan
● ETH values are too neutral to be a network state, could maybe spawn other network states to be built on top of it.
● Balaji Srinivasan thinks end goal of crypto is the network state and that money is a subset of the network state.
David
● Some ideologies, such as the WEF (World Economic Forum) probably won’t be tolerated on ETH.
Vitalik
● ETH isn’t a subset of a network state, but could play an important role in this idea.
● ETH community political and economic views have become more diversified over time.
● ENS Brantley vote situation proved how ETH governance can be successful.
● People shouldn’t be afraid to express views.
● Vitalik would like to see multiple network states on ETH.
● There could be value in having ETH network states co-located next to each other to promote interaction while still being different.
Two different definitions of globalism:
Nations interacting with each other.
A one-world government.
Role of DAOs
Ryan
● Meaning of what a DAO is has changed over time.
● Some people think DAOs should become more corporate.
Vitalik gives three flaws of Corporate DAOs in his latest blog:
Not better at making decisions.
Would not provide censorship resistance.
Would not be able to provide the infrastructure and resources that nation states do.
● Corporations can be 51% attacked.
● Some people think DAOs should be closer to pure democracy.
● Some support DAOs that split decision-making into pods e.g., Ukraine DAO.
End Goal of ETH
Vitalik
● Goal of ETH has been to insist upon certain values, but leave some things up to the community.
Many visions for what ETH could provide, for example:
DAOs innovate on top of ETH.
Decentralized ID or Proof of humanity could be possible with tools like ENS, seed phrase recovery.
Censorship resistance via on-chain social media could be possible.
Thoughts on AI
Vitalik
● AI technologists expect human-level AI within the decade.
● People in AI industry are optimistic about AI having human values.
● AI is not a threat for the foreseeable future.
● AIs evolve with human thinking patterns.
● Will be multiple types of AIs.
Vitalik wonders how AI could look in the future:
What role will crypto play in an AI world?
Could crypto govern AI?
What forms of governance will survive the advancement of AI?
Can crypto help prevent AI causing more centralization?