A bit on web3, community, and the purpose of life - 123dev #51

“It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.” – Walt Disney

Many people believe the future of the internet is web3. The more I dig into it the more I’m convinced it isn’t a technology stack and instead it’s a business model.

It does little to address the shortcomings of existing systems and in many ways harms and alienates more people. Maybe that’s the exact reason it will be the future of the web—that’s terrifying.

When the justification of harm can be rationalized as the fairness of code the writers of the code avoid accountability. A trustless system where personal responsibility decentralizes liability is no way to run a globally inclusive communication platform.

Finding your people can be difficult. What used to be confined to physical locations is now categorized and searchable in your social network of choice. I don’t believe online communities can replace the need for in-person interactions, and people’s interests cannot be confined to a group of categories.

As a developer it’s easy to think your community is a language, framework, or API. While those can help introduce you to other people it’s important to remember we are not our tools.

Community can be much deeper than shared interests. Be your authentic self and let your people find you. Make sure you relate to the human side of community.

This article puts a lot of things in perspective. Especially at this time of year it’s good to remember what matters.

The author asks three questions and explains why they’re important.

I could never remember how to inspect a certificate from a terminal so I have an openssl alias in my shell to query certificates from web servers. This tool has a lot more options and is much easier to remember.

Cloud providers don’t always have the most flexible APIs. To get information you need might require lots of API calls or custom tools. GraphQL APIs can help improve your interface to the cloud, and cloudgraph looks like a really neat option.