On this episode of the Crazy Wisdom Podcast, Stewart Alsop is joined by ~tiller-tolbus to explore his three current projects: Red Horizon, Sen Chain, and Aegean. The conversation navigates through the intricacies of Urbit, touching on the common threads that bind these ventures together. Tiller shares insights into how Red Horizon is making Urbit more accessible, how Sen Chain offers a unique blockchain integration, and how Aegean envisions a new kind of browsing experience within the Urbit namespace. For more details on Tiller's work, you can connect with him on Urbit at tiller tolbus, or follow him on Twitter at
@tiller_tolbus. You can also learn more about Red Horizon at
redhorizon.com.
Check out this GPT we trained on the conversation!
Timestamps
00:00 Introduction to the Crazy Wisdom Podcast
00:06 Meet Tiller Tolbus: Projects Overview
00:20 Understanding Urbit and Its Projects
01:42 The Vision for Aegean
03:33 Challenges and Realities of Urbit Development
07:03 The Evolution of Urbit's Ecosystem
18:02 The Future of Urbit: Ares and Beyond
20:02 File Sharing and Data Ownership on Urbit
26:58 The Human Mind and Megacorps
27:18 Urban's Vision: Owning Your Stuff
28:11 Urbit vs. Linux: Multiplayer Computation
28:43 Ares: Expanding Data Capacity
30:41 Shrubbery: Addressable Data Paths
34:51 Learning Hoon: Challenges and Rewards
37:11 Philosophical Insights: Nietzsche and Computing
38:24 Idealism in Software Development
41:42 The Ground Floor of Computing
50:57 Urbit's Practical Future
53:51 Red Horizon: Hosting Provider
54:51 Conclusion and Contact Information
Key Insights - Urbit's Vision of a Unified Digital Ecosystem: Tiller Tolbus discusses how Urbit is designed to create a unified digital ecosystem that promotes composability and interoperability. Unlike the fragmented nature of traditional computing systems, where apps often do not work well together, Urbit aims to allow disinterested parties to build components that organically fit together, reducing the need for direct collaboration and communication overhead among developers.
- Red Horizon’s Role in Making Urbit Accessible: Red Horizon is highlighted as a crucial project for making Urbit more accessible to users. By providing a hosting solution that allows users to run their Urbit instances efficiently and affordably, Red Horizon is paving the way for broader adoption of the platform. Tiller emphasizes that this accessibility is key to the future success of Urbit as a viable alternative to centralized cloud services.
- The Importance of Shrubbery in App Development: Tiller introduces the concept of Shrubbery, an application design system that standardizes how data is organized and accessed within Urbit. This standardization makes it easier for different apps to interoperate, addressing one of the major challenges in current app development on the platform. Shrubbery represents a step toward making Urbit a more developer-friendly environment, potentially leading to more innovative and cohesive applications.
- Aegean’s Vision for a New Browsing Experience: Aegean is described as a project that aims to redefine how users interact with the Urbit network. By conceptualizing a browser that navigates the Urbit namespace, Aegean seeks to create a more intuitive and user-friendly way to access and share content on the network. This project highlights Urbit's potential to offer a fundamentally different internet experience, one that emphasizes ownership and control over personal data.
- The Philosophical Foundation of Urbit: The conversation delves into the philosophical motivations behind Urbit’s development, particularly the desire to create a computing system that is both mathematically elegant and practically robust. Tiller and Stewart discuss the importance of having a foundational "ground floor" for software development, one that is stable, clean, and designed to last. This reflects a broader idealistic vision for computing that prioritizes long-term sustainability over short-term fixes.
- Challenges and Potential of Ares in Urbit’s Evolution: Ares is identified as a critical upcoming project that could transform Urbit from what Tiller calls a "toy" into a fully-fledged computing platform. By addressing current limitations, such as the small data storage capacity, Ares promises to enhance the performance and capabilities of Urbit, making it a more serious contender in the world of personal computing. However, the timeline for Ares' completion remains uncertain, reflecting the complexity of such a transformative project.
- The Role of Digital Sovereignty in the Future of Technology: Throughout the episode, there is a recurring theme of digital sovereignty—empowering individuals to have full control over their data and computing resources. Urbit is positioned as a response to the increasing centralization of digital services by major corporations, offering an alternative that prioritizes user autonomy and privacy. This emphasis on sovereignty is seen as both a philosophical stance and a practical solution to the challenges posed by today’s internet infrastructure.
What is Crazy Wisdom?
In his series "Crazy Wisdom," Stewart Alsop explores cutting-edge topics, particularly in the realm of technology, such as Urbit and artificial intelligence. Alsop embarks on a quest for meaning, engaging with others to expand his own understanding of reality and that of his audience. The topics covered in "Crazy Wisdom" are diverse, ranging from emerging technologies to spirituality, philosophy, and general life experiences. Alsop's unique approach aims to make connections between seemingly unrelated subjects, tying together ideas in unconventional ways.