{
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
  "canonicalUrl": "https://numergent.com/2024-07/The-nature-of-a-system-is-what-it-enables.html",
  "path": "/2024-07/The-nature-of-a-system-is-what-it-enables.html",
  "publishedAt": "2024-07-06T12:35:00.000Z",
  "site": "at://did:plc:cf6futaebyc2k4wgzsr4v42k/site.standard.publication/3mp2ewx43js2g",
  "tags": [
    "p2p",
    "local first",
    "musings"
  ],
  "textContent": "There's a discussion going on the Topology discord about what systems can be described as peer-to-peer.\n\nI think the whole thing is mostly academic, and too focused on implementation details.\n\nSure, your particular choice of blockchain might have a peer-to-peer gossip protocol and consensus mechanism, but that's rather irrelevant if people are mostly using tokens with a freeze authority, isn't it?\n\nAnd while Binance Smart Chain might have a P2P protocol for sharing information, that's entirely irrelevant when it's completely proof-of-authority and a single institution chooses who gets to validate.\n\nIf you are looking to describe a system, _describe the kind of things it enables that no other approach does_.\n\nThat's something the local-first camp does right, and something other projects should strive for.",
  "title": "The nature of a system is what it enables"
}