Web3 News

ATProto/Bluesky: The Personal Data Server vs the Collectivist State Machine

Video

Originally conceived as a way to decentralize Twitter, ATProto is attracting new interest for building decentralized apps. At its heart is the Personal Data Server, a portable, user-controlled data store that any app can write to with the user's permission.

This talk covers how ATProto works, introduces ATProto apps including Bluesky, and compares their designs to blockchain-centric alternatives. It discusses the philosophical difference between an individual-centric and a consensus-centric model, strengths and weaknesses of each, and how to mitigate the weaknesses.

I'm mainly a dapp author (maintain reality.eth), not a Bluesky developer or ATProto designer, so I don't speak "on behalf of" ATProto. I've given prior talks on ATProto at Protocol Berg and Dappcon, and on weaknesses in did:plc at Atmosphere Conf. I want to give this talk because this important piece of decentralization infrastructure is under-known among web3 builders, for social/factional rather than technical reasons.

Speakers: Edmund Edgar

Track: Rights, Freedoms, and Governance

Watch on YouTube ↗

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