[HN Gopher] The Moral Character of Cryptographic Work (2015)
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The Moral Character of Cryptographic Work (2015)
Author : jules-jules
Score : 28 points
Date : 2023-01-20 10:46 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (notes.ekzhang.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (notes.ekzhang.com)
| college_physics wrote:
| It is interesting that this (otherwise great piece) does not
| mention cryptocurrencies / blockchain at all (by 2015/16 this was
| a "thing" already) or the triumph of surveillance capitalism. It
| only goes to show that cryptographic work is, if anything, even
| more critical and influential to how to digital realm will be
| shaped.
|
| From the beginning of time till just a decade or so ago, our
| political, social and economic/financial structures were based on
| certain assumptions about information privacy. These assumptions
| are being violated massively as we speak, Sometimes the
| "experiments" are giant flops, sometimes they are frighteningly
| successful.
|
| The discussion about the global distribution of interconnected
| silicon and who has what access and control over which parts has
| barely begun. What geopolitical segmentation will we see. Is its
| economy going to be free or some sort of digital feudalism? Will
| it encode humanistic concepts or introduce new types of
| segmentation into first/second class humans? etc.
| najdan33 wrote:
| It would be interesting to see a list of what a small player
| (eg. small country) effectively needs to be able to bootstrap
| chip/IC production.
| jgerrish wrote:
| > It is interesting that this (otherwise great piece) does not
| mention cryptocurrencies / blockchain at all
|
| The term "crypto bro", and its societal connotations, is
| relatively new. Even if cypherpunk work is decades old. Google
| Trends shows that.
|
| I recognize that, for most citizens, all cryptography work gets
| tainted by that term, "crypto bro". If I meet somebody at a
| social event tomorrow and tell them I build NFT crypto
| libraries for Woozle, vs. CRC32 crypto libraries for Tooble,
| are they going to differentiate? A lot of the current
| progressive crowd will wrinkle their nose, regardless.
|
| I recognize the trend-makers who coined that term did so with
| political means in mind.
|
| I recognize that they were attempting to say, "We're all part
| of this system. Unrestrained pursuit of work above all else can
| be harmful. By coining this term multiple people are taking a
| social hit."
|
| But I also recognize some may want to re-orient allegences not
| just for the benefit of those we may spend less time with if we
| work more, but to reinforce other power structures.
|
| Decades have been spent iterating on that idea. Good puzzles
| and enigmas take a while to work out.
|
| Anyways, I'm happy they're proud of their work. There are some
| good points hidden in there, even if I'm more hardened to the
| reality now.
| DSingularity wrote:
| It's a classic and a great paper - but it's written for an
| obvious that couldn't care less about morality or ethics. So it's
| sad.
| glasss wrote:
| That's what my thought was as well. The people or groups that I
| think can benefit from reading this simply won't even if I
| presented it to them. They are no where near this type of
| content in their normal lives anyway, and I'm not interested in
| being an activist at all times.
| Ar-Curunir wrote:
| What? This paper is written for cryptographers, and is now
| often required reading in cryptography courses.
| najdan33 wrote:
| > Cryptography rearranges power: it configures who can do what,
| from what. This makes cryptography an inherently political tool,
| and it confers on the field an intrinsically moral dimension.
|
| Admittedly, this is true for other types of innovation as well.
| For example the invention of the decentralized Internet and its
| basic properties. Have the Internet not been decentralized, it
| would not have allowed folks in countries without infrastructure
| and money to build their own networks which are on par with the
| developed countries' ones. Also, free and open source software in
| general.
|
| There isn't anything cryptographic in that and yet it was a big
| power re-arranger in a way.
| college_physics wrote:
| Yes, i think we take it for granted by now but its obviously an
| invented layer and a-priory it might not have been even clear
| if such an architecture is workable at this scale.
|
| The emerging picture is of a (still) wide open canvas where
| cryptography along with patterns like ocap models play the role
| of ink for drawing boundaries.
|
| What is still unclear if all pre-existing social arrangements
| can be re-expressed on this new canvas and where the feedback
| loops between power centers and the technically skilled people
| will lead us.
|
| So far the track record is not good. There are various
| initiatives for moral manifestos concerning digital tech here
| and there, but they dont seem to make much of a difference
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