vitalik.eth@VitalikButerin 17hIdea: stealth addresses for ERC721s. A low-tech approach to add a significant amount of privacy to the NFT ecosystem. So you would be able to eg. send an NFT to vitalik.eth without anyone except me (the new owner) being able to see who the new owner is.ethresear.chERC721 Extension for zk-SNARKsI feel like you can accomplish this with much lighter-weight technology. Just use regular stealth addresses: Every user has a private key p (and corresponding private key P = G * p) To send to a...6751,5426,238
vitalik.eth@VitalikButerin Aug 4The spikes emerge from good approximations to the circle ratio: 11/7 ~= tau/4 (or pi/2) 11 ~= 7/4 * tau (one full rotation plus 270.25') So tan(11) is high: -225.95 The spikes near 355 and 710 are "echoes" of 11/7 created because 355/113 is an *amazing* approximation of tau/211648411
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vitalik.eth@VitalikButerin Aug 4What's even more interesting is that tan(int) is *not* a random number generator. There's fascinating patterns in the data. One way to look at it is: if tan(x) is very high, x is very close to a 90' or 270' angle. So if tan(x) and tan(y) are high, tan(x + 2y) is also high.11768581
vitalik.eth@VitalikButerin Aug 4I continue to find probability distributions with infinite means fascinating. Particularly how their averages *don't converge* as you sample more values. You can even replicate the behavior deterministically with "tan at integers" as a pseudo-RNG.8484153,122
vitalik.eth@VitalikButerin Aug 2Call out scammers. You get hate in the moment, but time vindicates you. Even if you're some CEO with a "reputation" and need for "professionalism", do it anyway and be savage. People look up to you and your warning will be taken seriously.1,3161,5879,008
vitalik.eth@VitalikButerin Jul 31Why do maximalists keep picking heroes that turn out to be total clowns?Quote TweetDaniel "robust against quantum attacks" Goldman@DZack23 Jul 30Noted cypherpunk Michael Saylor on why Ethereum is inherently unethical because its existence violates securities laws which have their basis in the 10 commandments: (h/t @adjtewck) https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkxt4DSToXV8ECss0KbLtTsPCfRIsm_B43v Show this thread1,7552,0659,224
vitalik.eth@VitalikButerin Jul 30The "metaverse" is going to happen but I don't think any of the existing corporate attempts to intentionally create the metaverse are going anywhere.Quote TweetDean Eigenmann@DeanEigenmann Jul 30as an ex intense gamer I've been struggling for quite some time to formulate how I think about the "metaverse" all the ideas on concepts make sense, communities are moving to virtual worlds etc. but I still do not believe it will happen in the ways VCs are currently fundingShow this thread1,1932,15110.4K
vitalik.eth@VitalikButerin Jul 30Reducing fraud proof time to 24h is safe because an attack would require both blocking challenges for 24h *and* breaking one of the three resolution mechanisms.13277894
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vitalik.eth@VitalikButerin Jul 30Hybrid idea: optimistic + ZK, governance only adjudicates bugs between the two 1. Publish block 2. Wait 24h for fraud challenges. 3a. If no challenge, publish ZK SNARK, finalize. 3b. If there is a challenge, decide based on 2-of-3 of (challenge game, ZK SNARK, governance)Quote Tweetsmartcontracts (_)@kelvinfichter Jul 30But there's no reason why Bedrock can't use a ZK proof System instead . We think Optimistic Rollups currently have massive advantages over their ZK counterparts, but Bedrock has been designed to make a seamless transition between Optimistic and ZK possible.Show this thread2871,0932,195
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vitalik.eth@VitalikButerin Jul 29Present-day rollups are still far from optimal! Great thread by @sanjaypshah Still a lot of room to improve both fixed costs and per-transaction costs. Very much early days in terms of how many optimizations that are easy to find theoretically haven't yet actually been deployed.Quote TweetSanjay Shah @sanjaypshah Jul 281/ @VitalikButerin provided some theoretical estimates of what fixed and variable gas costs might be for rollups. How do theoretical estimates compare to the actual costs? I checked and got some surprising results Show this thread3802421,375
vitalik.eth@VitalikButerin Jul 28Agreeing with the proverb "those who most want to rule people are those least suited to do it" and supporting DAOs being run by transferable governance tokens is a contradiction. Transferable governance tokens are all about giving *more* power to "those who most want to rule".1,1222,0838,609
vitalik.eth@VitalikButerin Jul 27Also an important lesson for the crypto space. Way too much mental gymnastics goes into defending things that a 12 year old applying a simple unnuanced "if it offers 20% APR it's a Ponzi" rule would correctly reject every time.2692611,761
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vitalik.eth@VitalikButerin Jul 27Sometimes the task of an intellectual isn't about trying to outsmart everyone or come up with the synthesis to the world's thesis and antithesis or whatever. Rather, it's about knowing when to just reaffirm simple dumb rules like "invading people bad".Quote TweetBruno Ma es@MacaesBruno Jul 27My new column and one written from the heart: an accusation against the many intellectuals who failed the Ukraine test, a tribute to those who passed it. Please retweet if you like it. Intellectual snobbery is hobbling support for Ukraine https://newstatesman.com/comment/2022/07/intellectual-snobbery-jordan-peterson-support-ukraine Show this thread4384002,325
The Longevity Prize@longevityprize Jul 19.@vita_dao is excited to announce "The Longevity Prize" in collaboration with @foresightinst and @mfoundation - a crowdsourced longevity prize to unlock progress in longevity research. https://longevityprize.comvitadao.comAnnouncing "The Longevity Prize"We are announcing The Longevity Prize in collaboration with Foresight. A series of prizes to honor and accelerate progress in longevity and rejuvenation. The longevity prize encourages novel...346290776
vitalik.eth@VitalikButerin Jul 16Lots of responses around consumer sentiment and investor sentiment so far, but relatively little around worker sentiment. Surely worker sentiment is the most important here? The morale of the people actually producing stuff?Quote Tweetvitalik.eth@VitalikButerin Jul 16Is there any economic research on how morale affects economic growth? It feels like everyone agrees that in military contexts, morale is absolutely critical. So surely it should have a significant impact in regular life too. But I haven't seen anyone trying to talk about this.9085372,789
vitalik.eth@VitalikButerin Jul 16Is there any economic research on how morale affects economic growth? It feels like everyone agrees that in military contexts, morale is absolutely critical. So surely it should have a significant impact in regular life too. But I haven't seen anyone trying to talk about this.1,9101,46810.9K
Josh Stark@0xstark Jul 140. Fun piece of history about this: the deposit contract the community used was just the first one to be uploaded w/ the verified bytecode as far as I know, no one even knows who deployed it! It wasn't "official" until the community opted to use itQuote TweetBitcoin is Saving@BitcoinIsSaving Jul 12If Ethereum is decentralized, why is there one official ETH2 deposit contract? 152151681
(((E. Glen Weyl))) Glory to Ukraine@glenweyl Jul 14Replying to @VitalikButerinWhile overall I like this post. there is one very fundamental point on which I think it is just completely wrong and unfortunately much else turns on it. I hope you'll agree with me once I clarify and if not I am very happy to be on it as I think it is basically verifiable.14256278
vitalik.eth@VitalikButerin Jul 14Experimenting with gitcoin bounties to crowdsource improving my blog. Goal: add dark mode. (Note: read carefully. The requirements include actually going through the posts and making sure they look good in dark mode, and editing if they don't)Quote TweetK V. TH (,)@owocki Jul 14anyone wanna earn a cool 1 ETH to add dark mode to http://vitalik.ca ? https://gitcoin.co/issue/29104Show this thread3862041,148
vitalik.eth@VitalikButerin Jul 13YYYY-MM-DD is the only correct date format. * It's an ISO standard: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601 * It's unambiguous (is 03/05/22 March 5 or May 3? No such problem here!) * General-purpose sorting sorts dates correctly * East Asian countries like Japan use it ("2022 5 3 ")Quote TweetTerrible Maps@TerribleMaps Jul 121,2761,1306,748
Balaji Srinivasan@balajis Jul 13Good review, go read. May write more, but my quick response (and I think Vitalik would agree) is that the network state concept is flexible enough to accommodate these proposed edits. It's very much a toolbox rather than a manifesto.QuoteTweetvitalik.eth@VitalikButerin Jul 13What do I think about network states? This one somehow ended up VERY long, but.... oh well, enjoy! https://vitalik.ca/general/2022/07/13/networkstates.html 120141910
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vitalik.eth@VitalikButerin Jul 13What do I think about network states? This one somehow ended up VERY long, but.... oh well, enjoy!vitalik.caWhat do I think about network states?4707943,143
vitalik.eth@VitalikButerin Jul 12Also, small grammar nuance: in English when talking about things like proof of stake, we don't say "it's a security", we say "it's secure". I know these suffixes are hard though, so I forgive the error.4063133,274
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vitalik.eth@VitalikButerin Jul 12It's amazing how some PoW proponents just keep repeating the unmitigated bare-faced lie that PoS includes voting on protocol parameters (it doesn't, just like PoW doesn't) and this so often just goes unchallenged. Nodes reject invalid blocks, in PoS and in PoW. It's not hard.Quote TweetNick@NickDPayton Jul 11Dear Proof of Stakers, The fact that you can vote on something to change its properties is proof that it's a security. Love, Bitcoin6517124,294
vitalik.eth@VitalikButerin Jul 7There's a lot to be learned from this approach. Commit yourself to a direction that still leaves you lots of freedom to maneuver as you get more data and realize you were wrong about specific things.243150905
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vitalik.eth@VitalikButerin Jul 7IMO @bryan_caplan does this well. Very passionate libertarian, but he puts his biggest focus on libertarian ideas where he can come up with lots of evidence that they could actually do a lot of good for people. Open borders, housing reform, worrying less about education...16781584
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vitalik.eth@VitalikButerin Jul 7Motivation truly is important. You can keep going longer and focus harder on the mission if you can internally narrativize your intellectual life as a glorious search for freedom, enfranchisement of the weak, human progress, etc. Such energies can't be thrown away completely.2562311,206
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vitalik.eth@VitalikButerin Jul 7... because there are other options. A particularly important option is "data-driven choice of idea-driven ideas". Ideology generates hypotheses and provides motivation, but then you check them against reality, and be prepared to dismiss or de-emphasize some as a result.13571470