1/IMPORTANT thread about Bluesky funding and origins. Many folks know that it was seeded by Jack Dorsey around a libertarian vision of a magical network that wouldn’t need moderation because it would be decentralized and baked into a protocol (somehow).
The people who aided Dorsey in pursuing this vision were other libertarian/post-rationalists connected with effective altruism and other online anarchist movements.
Dave Troy :toad:
in reply to Dave Troy :toad: • • •2/One network called TPOT (‘that part of Twitter’) was instrumental. It carried over into Bluesky’s founding DNA.
Someone made this visualization in 2023, showing the TPOT/EA network quite clearly. EA as you know is part of TESCREAL and the belief systems that have driven Sam Bankman Fried and Elon Musk. SBF also put money into Musk’s Twitter buy.
knowyourmeme.com/memes/subcult…
TPOT / PostRat | Know Your Meme
Aidan Walker (Know Your Meme)Dave Troy :toad:
in reply to Dave Troy :toad: • • •theverge.com/2024/5/5/24149543…
Bluesky confirms Jack Dorsey is no longer on its board
Wes Davis (The Verge)Dave Troy :toad:
in reply to Dave Troy :toad: • • •4/🚨It gets worse. Blockchain Capital LLC was co-founded by Steve Bannon pal Brock Pierce, a major crypto advocate, perennial presidential candidate, and close friend of Eric Adams. Pierce has dozens of other shady MAGA/Russia ties as well.
universeodon.com/@cryptadamist…
⚯ Michel de Cryptadamus ⚯
2024-11-12 21:31:14
Dave Troy :toad:
in reply to Dave Troy :toad: • • •nypost.com/2021/11/23/eric-ada…
Eric Adams flew to Puerto Rico on bitcoin billionaire's private jet
Theo Wayt (New York Post)Dave Troy :toad:
in reply to Dave Troy :toad: • • •6/Possibly Bluesky can address this by discussing their funding in detail, the expectations of the funders, and whether the TPOT/PostRat community is still a principal driver of the vision for the "company." But this all points to another rug pull in progress, and a lot of credulous people hurt.
While it is reasonable that the company acknowledged that Dorsey's vision of "moderation by protocol" was unfeasible, it sets up a highly centralized model that is now subject to capture.
Dave Troy :toad:
in reply to Dave Troy :toad: • • •7/And the next investment they took was from anarchocapitalist cryptobros with ties to Russia? Doesn't add up.
For those interested, here's the original post I shared here back in 2023 re: the TPOT DNA and origins of the network.
easyzoom.com/imageaccess/884cb…
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{{meta.site_name}}Dave Troy :toad:
in reply to Dave Troy :toad: • • •8/From Bluesky's press release:
"[Blockchain's] Kinjal Shah will join our board. Kinjal shares our vision for a social media ecosystem that empowers the people who use it, and we are glad to have her support as we invest in driving the adoption of decentralized social."
bsky.social/about/blog/10-24-2…
Bluesky Announces Series A to Grow Network of 13M+ Users - Bluesky
BlueskyDave Troy :toad:
in reply to Dave Troy :toad: • • •Mg. Moss
in reply to Dave Troy :toad: • • •JP
in reply to Mg. Moss • • •Robert [KJ5ELX] :donor:
in reply to JP • • •Nicole Parsons
in reply to Robert [KJ5ELX] :donor: • • •They are all people deluded in the shared belief that the climate catastrophe & global nuclear war they are building towards is survivable...for those with bunkers.
Nicole Parsons reshared this.
The Nexus of Privacy
in reply to Dave Troy :toad: • • •Thanks for the thread. I agree with your recommendations: Bluesky needs to publish a clear and convincing "trust story"; and peopel should be very skeptical about the long-term possibilities of Bluesky.
Also, on the moderation front, Dorsey was replaced on #Bluesky board by Mike Masnick, who's also very libertarian. Masnick's a lot smarter than Dorsey, and does understand the importance of content moderation. Still, one of the examples Masnick's "Protocols not platforms" paper that inspired Bluesky (and Nostr) uses to discuss about why the protocol approach is better is that it allows Alex Jones fan to still reach his audience: "those who don’t wish to be bothered with his nonsense need not deal with it; those who do wish to see it still have access to it."
knightcolumbia.org/content/pro…
I still see Bluesky as a useful short-term Twitter alternative (Meta and Threads are already doing all the things that Bluesky is likely do in the future, it's a lot easier to get up and going on Bluesky than Mastodon, and Blacksky is the only thing I know of in the decentralized world that's a good path for Black Twitter. Still, even without all the important points you make, and the "we don't have to ban Alex Jones" factor , they're a venture-funded startup, so once they need to monetize they're very likely to turn to an exploitative business model. So while it's situationally useful, it's not a promising long-term base.
Protocols, Not Platforms: A Technological Approach to Free Speech
knightcolumbia.org