Original Title: 16 insights from New York Times bestseller Read Write Own
Original Author: a16z
Translation: Scof, ChainCatcher
This article selects some brilliant insights from Chris Dixon's new book (Read Write Own: The Trends and Potentials of Blockchain Networks Opening a New Chapter in WEB3), translated from related tweets by a16z, here is the original translation:
Looking for deeper insights into the world of technology, business, and startups? Want to understand the history and future of the internet? Need a concise explanation of cryptocurrency and the blockchain movement and its significance? We have the answers ready for you.
Here, we have selected the sharpest excerpts and most provocative viewpoints from (Read Write Own), this New York Times bestseller. This book is densely packed with information, deeply analyzing the hidden structures that determine how money and power flow within networks. The author Chris Dixon, founder and managing partner of a16z Crypto, draws on his decades of experience in investing in startups to reveal how the networks that dominate our lives operate and how to restructure these networks to truly empower internet users.
(Read Write Own) discusses viewpoints that provide a new way of thinking about business and life—from cultivating innovation to seizing the opportunity for disruption to boldly betting on non-mainstream directions. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman describes this book as 'a compelling vision of the future of the internet and how to achieve it.' Whether you are passionate about the crypto space, just starting to learn, or simply curious about the tumult in this field, this book can bring you value.
Here are the most compelling excerpts from the book, each containing important insights:
1. The Nature of 'Permission'
In business, seeking permission is not as simple as getting a 'yes' or 'no' answer from parents or teachers; it is not as clearly defined as traffic lights establishing rules for passage. In the business realm, permission often becomes a guise for tyranny. Dominant tech companies exploit the power of 'permission' to hinder competition, disrupt markets, and extract profits.
2. Software as Art
The expressiveness of software is incredibly rich; rather than viewing it as a product of the engineering field, it is better seen as an art form. The plasticity and flexibility of code provide a vast design space, the breadth of possibilities being closer to creative activities like sculpture or novel writing, rather than engineering practices like building bridges. Like other art forms, practitioners in the software field continuously innovate new genres and movements, fundamentally expanding the boundaries of possibility.
3. The Problems Blockchain Solves
Blockchain's ability to make strong commitments to its future behavior enables the creation of entirely new networks. Blockchain networks address many issues found in early network architectures: they can connect people, build social networks, while empowering users more than allowing corporate interests to dominate; they can support markets and payment networks, facilitating commercial activities while significantly reducing intermediary costs; they can also give rise to new forms of monetizable media, interoperability, immersive digital worlds, and artificial intelligence products that reward creators instead of exploiting them...
Asking 'What problem does blockchain solve?' is akin to asking 'What problem does steel solve compared to wood?'. You can build buildings or railways with either wood or steel, but steel allowed us to construct taller buildings, stronger railways, and grander public works in the early industrial revolution. Similarly, blockchain enables us to create fairer, more durable, and resilient networks with broader prospects compared to today's network systems.
4. A New Era of the Internet
Our current decisions will determine the future of the internet: who builds, owns, and uses the internet; where innovation will occur; and what the usage experience will be for everyone. Blockchain and the networks it supports unleash the extraordinary power of software as an art form, while the internet becomes the canvas for its creation. This transformative movement has the opportunity to rewrite history, reshape humanity's relationship with the digital world, and redefine possibilities... This is an opportunity to create an ideal internet rather than passively accept the inherited internet.
5. The Supreme Status of Networks
Network design determines fate.
Networks are an organizational framework that enables billions of people to interact in an orderly manner. They determine the winners and losers in the world, and their algorithms dictate the flow of funds and attention. The structure of a network not only guides its own developmental direction but also determines the concentration of wealth and power. Given the scale of today's internet, even seemingly trivial software design decisions can have far-reaching ripple effects. When analyzing the power dynamics of the internet, 'who controls a network' is the most central question.
6. Protocol vs. Enterprise
The difference between protocol networks like email and corporate networks like Twitter is that the network effects of email belong to a community, rather than a company. No company owns or controls email; anyone can access it through software created by independent developers supporting the underlying protocols. Developers and users can freely decide what to develop and what to use. Decisions affecting the community are also collectively determined by the community itself.
7. The Impact of New Technologies
There are mainly two ways people use new technologies: (1) to do things they already can do, but now can do faster, cheaper, simpler, or with higher quality; (2) to do entirely new things they could never do before. In the early stages of new technology development, the first type of application is usually more popular, but the ones that truly have a lasting impact on the world are often the second type of applications.
8. The Internet Controlled by Enterprises
The structure of corporate networks is very simple: a single company controls the core, providing centralized services for the network. This company has absolute control, able to modify the terms of service at any time and for any reason, decide who can access the network, and determine how funds flow.
The reason corporate networks are centralized is that ultimately all rules are determined by one person, typically the CEO.
9. Blockchain as a Non-Consensus Bet
Blockchain is unique. It is a non-consensus bet. While many (including myself) recognize its potential, mainstream institutions often overlook it. In fact, the prevailing view in the tech industry is that only those technological improvements that existing giants are already paying attention to are important, such as larger databases, faster processors, larger neural networks, and more compact devices. This view is too shortsighted.
10. How Hobbies Drive Future Industries
Unlike mainstream technologies, 'exogenous' technologies often emerge from the fringes. They are driven by hobbyists, tech enthusiasts, open-source developers, and startup founders, born outside the mainstream. These efforts often invest less capital and formal training, leveling the competitive landscape to some extent with industry insiders. However, the lower barriers also lead insiders to overlook these technologies and their proponents.
Hobbies are catalysts for future industries. Hobbies often represent the efforts of the smartest people when not constrained by short-term economic goals. I like to say that what the smartest people do on weekends will become the daily routine for others ten years later.
11. The Simplicity of Tokens
What tokens 'are' is far less important than what they 'can do'.
Tokens can represent ownership of any digital asset, including money, artwork, photos, music, text, code, game items, voting rights, access rights, and even anything people might think of in the future. With some additional building blocks, they can also represent real-world items, such as physical goods, real estate, or dollars in a bank account. Anything that can be represented by code can be wrapped in a token for purposes of buying, selling, using, storing, embedding, transferring, or any other use.
If these sound overly simple or even trivial, that is precisely the intention of token design—simplicity is a virtue.
12. Owners vs. Users
The concept of ownership is so deeply ingrained in our lives that it is hard to imagine what the world would be like without it.
Imagine if the clothes you bought could only be worn in the occasion they were purchased; if you couldn't resell or reinvest in your house and car; or if you had to change your name every time you went somewhere? This is the digital world of corporate network building today.
13. Blockchain as Urbanism
The functionality of blockchain has a striking resemblance to urban planning.
Launching a blockchain network is like building a new city on undeveloped land. City designers construct some initial buildings, then design a land allocation and tax incentive system to attract residents and developers. Property rights—i.e., ownership—play a key role in this, providing property owners with a strong assurance: they will always own their property and can invest in it with confidence. As the city develops, the tax base expands. Tax revenues are reinvested into public projects like streets and parks, more land is allocated, and the city continues to grow.
14. Restoring Community through Tokens
Blockchain networks embed community ownership deeply into their core design, almost as if it is part of their DNA.
While 'meme coins' like Dogecoin may seem like a joke, they illustrate how users seek a sense of community through various tokens (whether whimsical or serious) to fill their need for belonging and connection in the digital world.
These tokens are not just technical tools; they have become a way for people to forge community. By holding these tokens, users become participants and owners of the community, not just consumers. This design empowers users, breaking the control of centralized companies that dominate traditional platform economies, creating possibilities for more decentralized, purpose-driven communities.
15. Blockchain as the Constitution of the Network
Network designers can use blockchain to create formally enforced rules encoded in software. These rules act like the constitution of the network. The content of the constitution can be a subject of debate, discussion, and experimentation, but the very existence of these rules and the ability to embed them in immutable software represents an unprecedented advancement that was not feasible in previous network designs.
16. The Two Cultures of Cryptocurrency
There exist two distinctly different cultures interested in blockchain.
The first culture sees blockchain as a way to build new types of networks... I call this culture 'the computer', because its core idea is that blockchain drives a new computing revolution.
Another culture is primarily interested in speculation and profit making. Those with this mindset only see blockchain as a tool for creating new tokens for trading. I refer to this culture as 'the casino', because its core essence is merely gambling.
But 'the casino' should not drag down 'the computer'.
Appendix: The Good Old Days
Blockchain is at the forefront of computer development, much like personal computers in the 1980s, the internet in the 1990s, and smartphones in the 2010s.
Today, people look back at classic moments in computer history, imagining the scenes—Noyce and Moore, Jobs and Wozniak, Page and Brin. Those hobbyists explored, debated, and propelled technological development, those creators who pored over 'coding' during nights and weekends.
It may seem late, but in fact, it is early. Now is the best time to reimagine what the network could be and what it could do. Software is an unparalleled playground for innovation. You do not have to accept the status quo of the internet you discover; you can create something better... as builders, creators, and users, and most importantly, as owners.
You are here now. This is 'the good old days'.