Urbit: The Internet Failed. (originally presented here: https://personalclouds5.eventbrite.com/)

1. Urbit
Thursday, September 26, 13

2. The Internet Failed
•web apps 2013 == online services 1993
• online service == cloud information appliance
• web app == special-purpose cloud computer
•you’re using the Internet as a modem
• the Internet was not designed to be a modem
• therefore, the Internet has failed
Thursday, September 26, 13

3. Full Stack Failure
•full stack: server OS, network, client OS
• Unix/Internet/Mozilla is one system, not three systems
• let’s fix just the Unix/Internet part for now
•Unix is not a personal OS
• it’s a 747, not a car
•the Internet is not a social network
• it’s an antisocial network
• what we call “social networks” are really social servers
Thursday, September 26, 13

4. Respond to Failure
•20C stack is totaled; layer over it
• absolute semantic isolation
• this is why your web app can’t talk to your OS
• Urbit:TCP/IP == TCP/IP:PSTN
• everything short of a clean slate will fail
•design a new stack for an alien planet
• keep two things: (1) crypto algs, (2) ASCII/Unicode
Thursday, September 26, 13

5. Urbit: Nock/Hoon/Arvo
•Nock: every node runs the same program
• permanently frozen; formally defined in 374 bytes
•Hoon: self-defining functional language
• vaguely like Haskell; defines itself in 7500 lines
•Arvo: deterministic OS
• P2P network with global immutable namespace; 5000 lines
•public domain, no illegal math patents
Thursday, September 26, 13

6. Economics
•Bitcoin is money; Urbit is land
• social value of true names: finite identity == no spam
• phoneme-mapped addresses - shorter is better
• 32 bits: ~tasfyn-partyv, ~sivbud-barnel, ~fadter-fasted
•Solving “Zooko’s triangle” (mostly)
• secure; decentralized; human-memorable (not meaningful)
• allodial title == cryptographic ownership
• hierarchical distribution != feudal slavery
Thursday, September 26, 13

7. Adoption
•Path to world domination
• first, fun toy for geeks
• no one < 30 has seen a general-purpose social network
• second, platform as a service
• one-tier application server
• third, personal cloud
• Dropbox, Github, Facebook, Wordpress == apps, not OS
• far, far in the future: the client
Thursday, September 26, 13

8. Status
•Alpha; fully self-hosting
• needs optimization, documentation, general polish
• network works but is fragile; no continuity yet
Thursday, September 26, 13