What a person believes will more or less have a key influence on his future life path and choices. Then, for the founder of the public chain, his early experience, practice and philosophical beliefs will affect the future development direction of a public chain. So this time, we talked about philosophy, hobbies and life with Gavin Wood, the founder of Polkadot.
Written by: LeftOfCenter
Bitcoin as the first in human history encryption currency, its anonymous inventor Satoshi full of legend, he represents freedom, technology geeks, anarchists, password punk spirit. It is a pity that today we have no way to track down the past life and growth experience of this anonymous founder who has disappeared for many years. But for the new generation of public chains, we still have the opportunity to understand the project by understanding the founder.
“Leaders of character for the community system is crucial block chain, a block chain community system will be successful, depending on the character of a leader, and only continued to maintain Ren Ci Kaiming leader, in order to efficiently maintain the entire system Advance and development, otherwise the project may fail.” said Lin Jiawen, the founder of the star cross-chain project Polkadot.
” Vitalik is a very good leader for Ethereum. He benefits Ethereum.” He added.
Perhaps, we can use the same method to look at the possible future trends of Polkadot’s cross-chain project.
“Lin Jiawen” is a Chinese name Gavin Wood gained from the Chinese community in the summer of 2019. Speaking of Gavin Wood , you might think of many titles: “The King of Cross-Chain”, “The Man Behind V God”, “Ethereum’s Number One Killer”, “Web3 Trailblazer” and so on.
Gavin Wood and Vitalik Buterin
As early Ethernet Square, the main contributor, he contributed 70% of Ethernet Square early code, co-authored Ethernet Square Beige Book, some people have described “Yellow Book this add up to the whole world can read directly estimate does not exceed one hundred.” , The technical difficulty of the Yellow Paper can be imagined. He first proposed the concept of “virtual machine Ethernet Square” (Ethereum Virtual Machine) in the Yellow Book. In addition, he also completed the initial prototype of the Ethereum client PoC-1 , and invented the high-level language Solidity designed for smart contract development.
After leaving Ethereum, he developed the first Ethereum client Parity implemented in Rust language . Due to its fast synchronization speed, light weight, and developer-friendly features, its performance is much better than Geth Ethereum implemented in Go language. Square client. In 2015, he launched Polkadot , a cross-chain project aimed at solving the problems of cross-chain communication and data transfer between various isolated public chains, and then proposed the idea of Web 3.0 in 2017.
The above are all well known. However, you may not know is that he has a background in computer science in addition to outside, or a doctor, “music visualization” direction, and participated in the design of the visual light of a London nightclub. In his spare time, he will make some mixing tapes and recommend to friends. However, instead of making Playlists on streaming platforms such as Soundcloud or Spotify, he used a more old-fashioned way of transcribing them into Mixtape from tapes and giving them as gifts to friends.
It’s time to learn about the “Lin Jiawen” that most people don’t know-Gavin Wood outside the world of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency.
Chain smell to ask him questions: “If retired from the block chain industry, what will you do?” Linjia Wen said he would do music, because he believed that “making music and engage block chain is no different, in essence, are creating “.
Gavin Wood
About hobby, Lin Jiawen Wen told chain, normally a big hobby is reading, especially philosophy.
When it comes to the topic of philosophy, Lin Jiawen showed rare enthusiasm, talked freely, and talked about his favorite philosophers and philosophical schools:
I like Socrates, and I very much agree with his idea that life without scrutiny is not worth living-this means that life without serious consideration of the nature of the world and how it works is not worth living.
I am not an existentialist, but I fully agree with some existential theories. For example, people are responsible for their own actions and destiny. If you find yourself blaming others for something, it must be your own problem.
” Disobedience to authority ” is a phrase that appears many times in many conversations between Chain Wen and him. Lin Jiawen said that Berlin is a place that does not respect authority. Here, people are themselves. He liked the attitude of this city and chose to live here.
Similarly, most of the people he admired physicist Richard Feynman, made him the most admirable thing, is not subject to the authority of Feynman, I believe that truth and scientific attitude.
Lin Jiawen talked to us about Mr. Feynman’s hobbies, and talked about how this scientist, the only first-hand witness to the first nuclear explosion test in the United States, did not fear authority and believed in truth and science. At this time, Lin Jiawen, the programmer who is usually unsmiling in people’s stereotypes, showed a rare appearance of a fanboy. At a certain moment, he danced and danced, a bit like “thank your ears” in “The Big Bang Theory”-in fact, The prototype of “Thank Your Ears” in “The Big Bang Theory” is Richard Feynman.
Feynman is the prototype of “Thanks Ear” in the Big Bang Theory
This attitude, how much can be explained by gray-haired man who wants to build a new public chain Boca reasons behind: He says humans need the truth, not by the prejudices obsession to build boundaries and borders – this being It was his original motivation for building a blockchain system.
When it comes to primitives, he appears to be a bit “gritting his teeth.” He said that the way humans build trust is very bad. “We decide the objects of trust based on skin color, country, and language. This is a kind of narrow nationalism and racism.”
When the world we live in is going in the opposite direction of globalization and heading into a chaotic era of fragmentation, his words are somewhat embarrassing.
Lin Jiawen said that blockchain is used to solve the problem of trust and xenophobia , which is one of human nature . However, the same situation has appeared in the blockchain community. “Those primitives believe that there is only a blockchain of their own faith. They are the only reasonable existence. They attack other projects and people with different opinions.”
He said the block chain can help solve human problems, helping humanity based on (potential for abuse) to the steering system of trust-based system, the truth, the truth in such a system, individuals have a responsibility to this country beyond language or Kind of surface elements to truly understand the whole world .
Generally speaking, building a blockchain and designing mechanisms and motivations must be someone who understands the essence of human nature and gaming.
In fact, as early childhood period, Lin Jiawen on the show in economics and game theory unique interest. Before he started exploring the world of cryptocurrency, in 2011, he developed and designed a board game called Milton Keynes . This is a strategy game that includes elements such as topology, connectivity, empire building, bidding, bluffing, and trading.
He said that there is no fundamental difference between this board game and cryptoeconomics. Both need to design a set of rules so that players can read and understand, implement, and formulate strategies.
For humanity, he also showed full interest, has set up a group called “insight into the modern world” (Insights into a Modern World) blog, and around some internet privacy, pornography, feminism and other social taboo has written many articles . In his own words, this blog is meant to spark relevant academic debates:
Human nature pervades everything, both good and bad.
It is precisely because understanding of human behavior and human interest, he embarked on this road block chain.
As early as 2011, Lin Jiawen heard of Bitcoin, but the Bitcoin at that time did not attract his attention. Until 2013, Lin Jiawen heard Bitcoin again, find some idea behind Bitcoin game theory seems to have some context, he began to focus bitcoin block chain and has since branched out.
Speaking decentralized autonomous organization DAO, Lin Jiawen excitedly said he invented a few new words to the center Autonomous DAS (Decentralized Autonomous State), to the center Autonomous Corporations DAC (Decentralized Autonomous Corporate / Company) , to the center of autonomy State DAN (decentralized Autonomous nation), and clearly expressed the hope that Boca will eventually evolve into DAINS (decentralized Autonomous Internet native State) , namely “native Internet decentralized autonomous prefecture.”
Interview: Let Lin Jiawen deconstruct the Gavin Wood you didn’t know
A long time ago, Lianwen had an exclusive interview with Lin Jiawen. We did not discuss consensus algorithms and cryptography principles with him. Instead, we asked him to share his views on the decentralized autonomous organization DAO, and shared the experience and lessons of the Polkadot team building. It discusses the public chain in the end or need leaders and other topics.
We also ask him his views on philosophy, art and nature of the block chain.
We have been cherishing this interview until today after the successful launch of Polkadot. Share this interview with readers who want to know the creator behind this project, and let Lin Jiawen personally deconstruct the Gavin Wood that most people don’t know.
The following is the full text of the interview, edited and abridged:
Link News: Your personal experience is very interesting. You seem to have been paying attention to games and economics since you were a child. You also designed a strategy game called Milton Keynes, which includes elements of topology and connectivity. What are the similarities and differences between board games and cryptoeconomics or motivation design and mechanism design?
Lin Jiawen : I think the two are essentially the same. Pleasure must be considered when designing strategy board games, and a simple and effective rule set must be designed so that players can read and understand easy to use, execute, and formulate strategies. Many may think that economic mechanisms designed to block chain is unimaginative, it is not true, a good solution is always full of imagination. Therefore, designing a blockchain is actually like designing a game.
The only difference between the two is that the blockchain is closely related to real life, because it needs to pledge “real” money to realize the real value transfer, and each participant in it has an interest related to it.
Chain News: It is said that you like philosophy. Who is your favorite philosopher or genre? Does the philosopher or genre you believe in guide your practice and influence major choices in life?
Lin Jiawen: Speaking philosopher, Bertrand Russell was the first (Bertrand Russell).
Also, I do not claim to be a person existentialism, but I really like existentialism is a philosophical schools, especially some of the arguments won my heart, that is, “You must take responsibility for themselves and their destiny, if If you find yourself blaming others, it must be your own problem.”
It’s important to learn from mistakes . This world is full of all kinds of good, bad, spectacular, and wonderful things. When you are thrown into this world, you must exist. You can’t not exist, and you won’t disappear out of thin air. , No one in this world owes you, you must act. If you create a better world for others in the world, then the world will give you a better world back. In general, you should take on individual responsibilities and at the same time ensure that the construction of the world develops in the direction you want.
Another favorite is the philosopher Socrates, is definitely one of the greatest philosophers, especially the phrase “without examining life is not worth living”, meaning that a world without careful thought and nature The way of life is not worth living.
Trying to understand life is meaningless. A good life requires active pursuit and understanding . A philosopher must be a self-consistent (consistent with words and actions) philosophy system. He (Socrates) is indeed practicing such a life. I also have this point of view. A person must give himself a reason to live. For example, religion can give you a reason to live and make you a good person.
However, there is another kind of belief called ” nationalism. ” For example, the country of Singapore is almost built on such a national foundation, and the citizens are educated to do this and that. For the citizens of this country, making the country better and giving back to the country is a so-called good life. The citizens must help their compatriots and so on. But I think you should help people all over the world develop and make people all over the world live better.
I think it’s a bit like nationalism, but I like the bigger picture. I think, first of all you have to view the whole world, understand the world, this is more important. Otherwise, without understanding the workings of the entire world, you cannot judge what constitutes a good life.
In addition, Karl Popper (Karl Popper), he is the founder of criticism of rationalism, presents “Logic of Scientific Discovery”, advocates of reason should take a critical attitude that universally valid scientific theory does not come from experience In conclusion, scientific theory develops through continuous falsification, denial, and criticism.
The last one, Richard Feynman (Richard Feynman). Feynman is not a philosopher in the traditional sense, but more like a physicist. Although he is not really an academic philosopher, he has many very important insights into the world, and these insights are very enlightening to me.
You know, the reason why I have so many hobbies (Chain Note: Lin Jiawen’s hobbies include but are not limited to writing code, engaging in blockchain, practicing taekwondo, playing photography and snowboarding. He is good at English, Italian, French, Spanish, logical language, and also designed a smart lighting controller for a nightclub in London), also because of Feynman. Although full-time Feynman was a theoretical physicist, but he still has a lot of hobbies, Feynman or artists, poetry, painting, breaking open safes, playing bongo drums, radio repair, decipher Mayan hieroglyphs, Travel the world, try to learn another language…
You are what you read and what you believe in, source: Gen Hoshino’s “YELLOW DANCER” album cover
You know, he did a lot of different things, he took things in his own hands, he lived the life he wanted, confident and upright, and insisted on the truth even in the face of overwhelming authority. He was not afraid of authority ( dare to openly challenge the authority), because he knows the truth.
For example, Feynman participated in the first atomic bomb test was conducted in the US desert, as a viewer, the official cautioned that such nuclear explosions will produce radiation, is the kind of high-intensity ultraviolet radiation, if possible direct viewing It will burn or even blind your eyes. Therefore, the government warned viewers not to watch directly, because radioactive elements would burn their eyes, and suggested that viewers turn around and watch indirectly through a special metal block reflection, similar to a mirror.
Everyone was in compliance with the official decree turned and watched the nuclear explosion, but there is one exception, that is, Feynman, a physicist and love because he is independent thinking, he knows what the truth is, he knows the windshield with sufficient UV protection ability. So, he sat in the car to directly witness the nuclear explosion, using his own eyes instead of something like a mirror.
Freeman is the only one of all participants in direct view of the nuclear explosion, while others, including other physicists, have accepted the official proposal and turned away, using an indirect way to watch a “reflection” nuclear version explosion.
What I want to express is that you should not be afraid of Truth, but should use it .
Other people believe that authority, denied believe in something, in a recommended way to watch the explosion, but Feynman truth and scientific use, use in humans for thousands of years to develop all the “stuff” for hundreds of years to understand The whole thing, therefore, he knew he could watch the nuclear explosion directly.
Believing in what I believe instead of others telling you what to do is an important tenet of my life.
Source: “My Gifted Girlfriend”
Lianwen: As the founder of the blockchain project Polkadot, in the process of creating and operating Polkadot, what experience and experience can you share? It can be successful or failed.
Lin Jiawen: In Boca this project, I learned most is talent management and organization.
Many things, such as planning an ICO, preparing white papers, promoting projects, building a website, clarifying the legal structure, listing all the content, and planning the token sales mechanism, are really time-consuming, at least a year.
These things require different skill sets, as in do two completely different things, like, one of which is the center of the legal boundaries of the organization, and the other is to do a real construction. Therefore, a different mentality and execution ability are required.
Regarding team building, I actually learned a lot when I was in Ethereum. In Polkadot, I already knew what to do. Therefore, I am very lucky and have not made too many mistakes so far. Forming a team is an important thing. As the saying goes, if people fail to find the right one, the cost may be lost 6 times. I admit that this sentence may be a bit too pessimistic, but its point is that finding the wrong person will incur great costs . So, like starting a startup, it’s best not to hire people who are uncertain, and don’t hire the wrong people, otherwise it is easy to make mistakes. It’s difficult to express it specifically, but those who understand will naturally understand.
Link News: Will decentralized organizations be more complicated? What impact will the DAO organization structure ultimately have on human society?
Lin Jiawen : Yes, decentralized organizations are completely different.
Inside a centralized organization, it is tightly bound together by something called ” trust. ” In order for people in the organization to work efficiently, I must trust everyone in the organization. That set up a company, the purpose of an enterprise, the enterprise provides a trust wall. Therefore, you believe that the people inside this wall of trust are driven by common interests and all actions are for one thing, that is, the success of the company. Of course, you don’t trust people outside this wall.
Therefore, insiders will be bound by the following facts and sign employment contracts to draw a line from those outside the organization. In principle, this way can achieve very fast and unanimous cooperation without cost. You have signed an employment contract, and the cost is already included in your monthly salary. Therefore, employees cannot leave or change jobs. In principle, they cannot do it by themselves. Since they have signed the contract, they must work for the company.
DAO is totally different, it is more agile. No one is locked for a long time, of course, this depends on the specific structure of the specific DAO implementation. However, the simplest DAO organizational structure is to pay for a specific job in an economically efficient way . If one person fails to complete the work, then you can pay another person to complete the task, not necessarily the same person.
One person finishes a job and then leaves, another person comes over and finishes another task after the succession. In principle, this is a more decentralized and open operating model. Moreover, the transaction cost in this way is very low, because there is no need to hire a large number of people for a long time, but to execute transactions in a fast and agile way through small amounts, and the transaction cost is lower.
Before the advent of DAO, this was impossible. Then DAO appeared, DAO is an efficient organizational structure to perform such operations. I think DAO still needs to evolve forward. I’m pretty sure now I will not use DAO model organizational team, but I think that would be DAO Boca in a direction of future exploration, because it is the future.
But I think DAO is not suitable for small teams. Small teams refer to three to five people, or only one or two people. DAO is only suitable for situations that require communication and no trust. For example, we are using the Internet, Github, Trello, Discord and other channels as communication channels to solve problems. All these pipes are loosely coupled components are loosely coupled collaboration and coordinated way. But if you are sitting next to your colleague, you know each other, have the same worldview, and understand each other’s ideas, then you only need to shout next door and express your ideas. You don’t need to spend a lot of time communicating. Ideas are then divided into several small tasks and assigned to other independent individuals to complete, and these communication tools are not needed at all.
Therefore, for a small team, DAO is too heavy and meaningless. It is similar to the basic company equity system but more applicable.
But I think, in small projects infancy, DAO is also helpful. The small team incubation project is a bit similar to conceiving a child. At first, it is conceived in the mother’s womb and then born. In the gestation stage, it is like a fetus, who needs to take care of it in the initial stage.
Eventually it will reach a stage where it can interact with multiple people and evolve further in its own direction. DAO is very useful for this. At the beginning of a project, I think it is indeed an art form. Although the art of collaboration is important, but I think the real masterpiece is often created by a master.
I think at this stage, the DAO will not change the way the project is launched much, and the project will still be launched by individuals, partners, and small teams. However, large-scale decentralized systems will become more and more like decentralized companies. In essence, the logic of these companies is based on blockchain or some kind of ” decentralized trust solution ” algorithm operation. I think the concept of organization is essentially a company with a shareholding structure declared by a paper document that determines who owns how many shares in this company.
This structure will slowly disappear, but I think, for example, Polkadot, if the Web3 foundation stops operating in the next 10 years and the money runs out, at that time, I hope that if we no longer need the foundation, Polkadot can Realize self-governance, self-sufficiency of funds, self-pay tax, self-pay development funds, self-evolution and self-marketing .
To this end, I also invented several new words, DAS (Decentralized Autonomous State), DAC (Decentralized Autonomous Corporate/Company), and DAN (Decentralized Autonomous Nation). I think, Boca will eventually become DAINS (Decentralized Autonomous Internet Native State) that is “native Internet decentralized autonomous prefecture.”
Polkadot will not eventually become DAO, but will become DAS . DAS and the difference is that DAO, DAS will provide the basis for law, similar to a country on the basis of the Constitution, citizens need to be performed, but this law is not the real world of law, but to coordinate the conflict between the members of each other, like Internet Law , The laws implemented in smart contracts can logically regulate citizens’ actions.
Emphasis is, I think this will not be a direct alternative to a company does not appear immediately adopt this new model of management, but rather a gradual transition, for example, may appear an already established company abrupt transition Become a DAO, because this model can better meet their needs.
Chain News: Does the public chain need a leader?
Lin Jiawen: chain needs public opinion leaders, thought leaders, but I think it needs a variety of sounds. Only an authoritative voice is unhealthy.
In the early stages of blockchain development and design, only one leader is beneficial. I believe that an enlightened leader is good for a system. If the leader is a benevolent and enlightened person, and as long as he keeps doing so, then a system can sustain development and evolution in an efficient way. But this situation cannot last long, especially for systems such as blockchain.
With the growth of the community, there will be more sound coming out, especially those elitist and technocratic voice began to sound when a leader model does not apply. At this stage, we need to transition from a single leader or leaders in the mode only help, of course, this depends on the ability of other members of the community, the degree of enlightened community, such as the degree of enlightened leaders.
Overall, I think Vitalik for Ethernet Square is a very good leader, he makes Ethernet Square benefit. I think that leaders can bring both benefits and disadvantages. For the blockchain, it depends on the personality of the person. If the personality matches, then the entire ecology will benefit.
If the leader’s personality is problematic, it may even lead to the failure of the project. This is a complicated issue. I hope that Polkadot does not rely on any single individual . This is not to say that I will not express opinions on the future direction of Polkadot. Rather, I do not have the power to enforce my own opinions.
Like many other members of the Polkadot community, if I want to put forward ideas and suggestions on the future development of Polkadot, I also need to explain my reasons. This is a healthy way of community governance.
Chain News: If you quit the blockchain, what would you do?
Lin Jiawen: Of course music, music visualization may engage in job analysis, this is my line of work.
If I have enough time, I will do what I like, such as developing computer games.
I consider myself an artist, I would have a little time to create something, but I still have a multimedia context, computer music is what I want to explore one of the future direction of, I probably 12, 13 years old, has done computer music, The joy is endless. Later, I didn’t develop in this area, but this is one of the directions I want to regain.
Speaking of music, I used tape recorder created some mixtape, tape made as a gift to my friends.
Link News: Every city has its own character. What do you think is the urban character of Berlin?
Lin Jiawen : Berlin is an interesting city. There are many interesting people here. Many interesting things happen every day. You can see many interesting people on the street and chat with them.
Berlin is a place that does not respect authority. I like the attitude of this city. Here, people are themselves.
There are many small brands in Berlin, but those big brands are not welcome. For example, Google once wanted to open an office in Berlin, but it was opposed by the community. Because it is a big brand, it is not allowed to open here.
I don’t like rules and top-down organization. That makes me nervous.
Link News: What do you think is the crux of human social problems? Can technology solve these problems?
Lin Jiawen : Technology can help us solve many problems, but I doubt whether it can solve the fundamental problem of human nature.
Humans are complex in nature , good and bad, such as altruism, greed, and hatred, are all part of us. People are people, sometimes cute, sometimes scary. The mere sight of a block chain ecosystem, you can see human Vientiane, you can see some good points, but also the terrible chaos occurs, a part of our human nature. Blockchain will help us design systems so that we can get along better with each other on a global scale.
The way we originally build trust is very bad. For example, we decide the object of trust based on skin color, country, and language. This way of building trust is very bad. It is a kind of narrow nationalism and racism.
Xenophobia is widespread in human society and is also a form of human nature. If you look at the current situation in Europe, you will find that these emotions are rising. This is very bad. This is a problem that blockchain needs to help solve. However, even in the blockchain community, this situation occurs. For example, those blockchain primitives believe that only the blockchain that they believe in is the only reasonable existence, and everyone else should be converted in the same way as them. this.
As a diehard of a blockchain, they started attacking other projects and other people who disagree with them. But I believe that people should not remain loyal to a certain blockchain, even to a country, which is very suspicious. Faithfulness to principles is reasonable . I believe that loyalty to a consensus principle is the only way for the world to move forward and work together. Only in this way can the formation of a lineup and conflicts occur.
I think most conflicts are caused by human nature, human greed and territorial consciousness, and obsession with prejudice . It is usually those opinion leaders who take advantage of these bad elements in human nature. Some of them are truly cynics. They use nationalism, fundamentalism, racism, and xenophobia to incite emotions, and ultimately only for their own personal gain.
They use this, let them distrust spread, just for personal gain, these people should be instigated to understand and review their own personal world, and should not just look at the surface phenomenon. In the end, the entire world was trapped by borders and boundaries and suffered heavy losses. Those who divide the border benefit from this. For example, the way Trump now leads the United States is a typical case.
They divide borders and territories and divide them into countries, so that individuals can gain greater power. This phenomenon is happening all over the world, which is very sad. But in fact we can belong to the same system. Fortunately, the block chain can help solve this problem, helping humanity based on (potential for abuse) to the steering system of trust-based system, the truth, the truth in such a system, individuals have a responsibility to go beyond the surface elements a real understanding of the world, such as transcend language or country.
Human nature pervades everything, both good and bad.
