Is this some kind of crypto cult?
It has been labeled crypto-fascism before (but not crypto as in cryptocurrency).
Urbit
111–120 of 309 posts
Re: Urbit
#112> In Urbit OS 1, a community shares a set of modules. (Think of a module like an app without the data lock-in.) One community may choose to chat and share a forum. Another may choose to chat and watch the crypto markets. And yet another may chat, share links, ebooks, and a to-do list. Anyone can develop a module, and anyone can create a community. Sounds awesome, in theory . Website had nothing I could find describin…
Today, Urbit has chat, blogging, a basic weather app, and a lot of programming facilities. Eventually it should be able to run a document editor, and you can do things similar to internet browsing even on today's Urbit. Urbit is a long-term project starting from the foundations and working up the stack. It'll be stable soon, but it probably won't be ready to run something as heavy as a modern web browser for a while.…
Thanks for the in-depth response.
Re: Urbit
#113So if I buy my "last computer" from Urbit a "senate" made up of people who paid them money early on can do whatever they want to my data --- ahem "upgrade the logic" --- without my having any say? I'm not sure if I want some ChromeOS-analogue with automatic updates from the Reddit/4Chan --- ahem early cryptocurrency adopter --- hive mind. > We want everyone to own their own identity and wallet. One way to do this wou…
I'm not sure how you got your first assumption from the rest of your quotations. "[the Urbit] "senate" can do whatever they want to my data" No. The urbit senate can do nothing with your data. Your server holds your data. It is not distributed on the block chain. It is not mirrored by your peers. No one has any access to your data, except where you give them permission. Your final quote refers to the power the senate…
My rough reading of an Urbit document describing the senate [senate] is that the senate has more power than that. For example, the senate can vote on textual proposals and code-based proposes. However, I'm not well-versed enough in Urbitspeak to conclusively state what this document actually says. Can you help me understand it?
[senate]: https://urbit.org/community/governance/
Re: Urbit
#114I have seen Urbit a couple times but never really understood it. From the "Understanding Urbit" page - >Imagine that you can login from anywhere with one name and password. >And when you do, your entire OS appears. >Inside is your whole digital life. All of your communities, conversations, and connections. All of your biometric data and devices. Your entire personal archive in one place that’s secure, private, and de…
Urbit is a front for a nascent cult, kind of like Shen Yun is a front for the Falun Gong [1], or "What the bleep do we know?" was a front for Ramtha's School of Enlightenment [2].
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/dec/12/shen-yun-falun-...
Re: Urbit
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can't find that quote by searching the text of the linked article. I was looking for it because I'm skeptical of the claim that Yarvin supports a society with multiple shareholders of political power. I read the archives of Unqualified Reservations when Urbit was first released, and I was left with the impression that Yarvin supported the rule of literally one person. This is the closest quote I've found so far, bu…
I accidentally omitted a newline between the quote and my commentary, and it's too late to edit now. The Verge: "In one design sketch for Urbit ... has reserved 32 duchies for his exclusive personal benefit." Me: "The founder is an alt-right philosopher... are shareholders and have voting rights." If you search for the first sentence of the quote you'll find it.
Aah, thanks for the clarification.
Re: Urbit
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not sure how you got your first assumption from the rest of your quotations. "[the Urbit] "senate" can do whatever they want to my data" No. The urbit senate can do nothing with your data. Your server holds your data. It is not distributed on the block chain. It is not mirrored by your peers. No one has any access to your data, except where you give them permission. Your final quote refers to the power the senate…
You're right. I misinterpreted. People can buy power, but not of the more serious kind I thought initially. Thanks for the correction.
My pleasure.
fwiw, I don't blame you for your misunderstanding.
The project is quite young and not quite stable/mature enough for the faint of heart.
Having said that, the water's fine for swimming. :)
Re: Urbit
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
Urbit “planet” is like a VM, but running an OS developed completely independently from existing computing words. There is a custom language, a custom network layer, a custom cryptography and custom identity system. There are even custom words for common terms. This has no GUI, but it does has a web interface that you can connect to. From the practical standpoint, you have a linux process running from a data directory…
> custom cryptography Just lost me. > you are only supposed to interact with it by running it and typing commands So, "the last computer you'll ever need" ... other than my phone, because the last time I wanted to type commands on a phone-sized device, was back when I was wet-dreaming over the Sharp Zaurus. Given the artificial scarcity of the IDs and the semi-mystical woo describing the proposition, my spidey-sense…
Each planet can generate 2^32 moons, which are subsidiary processes. Your phone could run one of those.
You can also generate a comet, which is effectively identified by the hash of its public key. Those are free; while eventually planets have some notional advantages, notably a default positive reputation, at the moment there are no downsides.
Re: Urbit
#118Re: Urbit
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well that begs the obvious question, what the hell is an "overlay OS"? It's not an industry standard term and doesn't explain anything.
Overlay OS might not be a great term. Urbit is a program you can run on Linux or MacOS intended to provide a complete personal computing experience on its own. It runs as a virtual machine for now, although it could run as a unikernel on bare metal (good project for a contributor who's interested!). This VM acts like an operating system, in the sense that it loads and runs other applications within itself, and in the…
> Urbit is a program
So what exactly makes it an OS? JVM is a virtual machine but we don't consider it an OS. So why not just call Urbit a virtual machine?
> What percentage of programmers even know how the internet works? A fair number of programmers have a decent sense for some corner of the modern computing world, but even seasoned professionals don't usually know the full structure of the digital world. How does BGP interact with the IP protocol? How do you make sure fsync() actually did what you wanted it to do? How does Linux overcommit_memory work? etc.
Seeing how Urbit runs on OS's such as Linux, uses TCP/IP for networking over the Internet, which itself relies on all those fun WAN protocols like BGP to make it work, it's not really solving those problems, just hiding it beneath another layer of complexity and terminology.
Re: Urbit
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
The best way to describe it is to tell us why we would want to use it. Also, don't say "it's a computer". It's not. A computer is what I'm typing this on - a piece of hardware. So - why would I want to use Urbit? Which problems does it solve? How will it make my life easier? Does it have any features that will make me say "wow, this is so cool!"
I do work for Tlon, if that wasn't obvious. I also find the "computer" terminology misleading, so I'm with you on that. Why would you want to use Urbit? The same reasons you want to use the modern consumer internet, which Urbit intends to pave over and replace with something better. How is Urbit better? Because you'll have all your data and programs on one machine, which you control, using an open source operating sy…
you'll have all your data and programs on one machine
Which machine? The laptop I'm typing this on? It's too small and too unreliable to hold all my data. Some cloud server? Who owns it? How would this be different from storing my data on Google or Apple servers? Some network of machines BitTorrent style? Something else entirely?
What do you mean "no ads"? Internet is funded by ads. Do I pay some monthly fee? How much? How reliable will it be? Why should I trust you with my data? If no fees and no ads, how will this be funded?