Episode 57
ConsenSys and the Nature of the Firm in a Decentralized Economy | Joseph Lubin
Episode 57
Joseph Lubin
ConsenSys and the Nature of the Firm in a Decentralized Economy | Joseph Lubin
summary
In this week’s episode of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Joseph Lubin about the progress being made at Consensys and precisely how Joe believes that Ethereum will overcome the scalability challenges that have plagued its network since the earliest days of its founding.
For the last few years, many blockchain enthusiasts have been eagerly anticipating the release of what many have referred to as “the Netflix moment.” In other words, blockchain enthusiasts expect to see a killer application running atop Ethereum, or some other distributed ledger, that will be adopted by the mass consumer. One of the criticisms of this view is that comparisons between the mid-to-late 1990’s and the current era in blockchain technology are overblown. It took twenty years of Internet protocol development and tweaking before Tim Berners-Lee gave us the World Wide Web in 1989. It wasn’t until 1998 that Netflix released its online, DVD rental store. When asked about the comparison between 90’s Internet and today’s blockchain technology, Joseph Lubin makes the point that there isn’t going to be one moment when the scalability problems are “solved.” According to Joe, the process of scaling a complex, permissionless database is “always ongoing.” To his point, ConsenSys alone employs close to 40 engineers who are working just on the Ethereum base layer protocols, clients, and enterprise scaling solutions. The company is closely aligned with a variety of efforts currently being undertaken to scale the ethereum network, including sharding, proof-of-stake, Casper CBC, Casper FFG, and a number of layer two solutions including state channels and plasma. Demetri has already devoted an entire episode to exploring some of these layer one solutions in great detail with Vitalik Buterin and Vlad Zamfir. That said, Joseph Lubin offers an additionally interesting perspective on some of the layer two protocols, which he thinks can solve many of ethereum’s throughput limitations without requiring applications to reconcile directly on the main chain for every transaction. Demetri and Joe spend a good deal of time exploring the challenges of building layer two solutions in more depth, including the counterparty risk problem created from the use of state channels.
Additional topics include SEC regulations, artificial intelligence, and questions about specific applications in the areas of news, music, and team organization. Demetri asks Joseph Lubin about Ujo Music, Civil, OpenLaw, as well as something called TMNT or “Traditional Management Nullification Tools,” which enables a different organizational approach to team and systems management that more closely resembles an organism than a corporation.
Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod
bio
Joseph Lubin is a co-founder of blockchain computing platform Ethereum and the founder of Consensus Systems, a blockchain venture studio. Lubin graduated from Princeton University with a degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (1987 – 1992). He worked in the Princeton Robotics Lab, at tomandandy music developing an autonomous music composition tool, and at private research firm Vision Applications Inc. building autonomous mobile robots. As a software engineer and consultant, Joseph Lubin worked with eMagine on the Identrus project and was involved in the founding and operation of a hedge fund with a partner. He held positions as Director of the New York office of Blacksmith Software Consulting, and VP of Technology in Private Wealth Management at Goldman Sachs. Through these posts, Lubin focused on the intersection of cryptography, engineering, and finance. Switching gears, Lubin moved to Kingston, Jamaica to work on projects in the music industry. Two years into his musical endeavors, Joseph Lubin co-founded the Ethereum Project and has been working on Ethereum and ConsenSys since January 2014.
Twitter @ethereumJoseph
transcript
content locked
or Subscribe to Access Premium Content
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Quid, si reviviscant Platonis illi et deinceps qui eorum auditores fuerunt, et tecum ita loquantur? Omnia contraria, quos etiam insanos esse vultis. Alterum significari idem, ut si diceretur, officia media omnia aut pleraque servantem vivere.
Qui non moveatur et offensione turpitudinis et comprobatione honestatis? Cur tantas regiones barbarorum pedibus obiit, tot maria transmisit? Cur ipse Pythagoras et Aegyptum lustravit et Persarum magos adiit? Ex rebus enim timiditas, non ex vocabulis nascitur. Naturales divitias dixit parabiles esse, quod parvo esset natura contenta. Nihil enim iam habes, quod ad corpus referas; Sin kakan malitiam dixisses, ad aliud nos unum certum vitium consuetudo Latina traduceret. Sed id ne cogitari quidem potest quale sit, ut non repugnet ipsum sibi.
Ait enim se, si uratur, Quam hoc suave! dicturum. Si ista mala sunt, in quae potest incidere sapiens, sapientem esse non esse ad beate vivendum satis. Summum a vobis bonum voluptas dicitur. Quod idem cum vestri faciant, non satis magnam tribuunt inventoribus gratiam.
Non enim quaero quid verum, sed quid cuique dicendum sit. Ut id aliis narrare gestiant? Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Erit enim mecum, si tecum erit. Neque solum ea communia, verum etiam paria esse dixerunt. Etsi ea quidem, quae adhuc dixisti, quamvis ad aetatem recte isto modo dicerentur. Conferam tecum, quam cuique verso rem subicias;
Full Episode
content locked
or Subscribe to Access Premium Content
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Hoc loco discipulos quaerere videtur, ut, qui asoti esse velint, philosophi ante fiant. Philosophi autem in suis lectulis plerumque moriuntur. Claudii libidini, qui tum erat summo ne imperio, dederetur.
Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Dolor ergo, id est summum malum, metuetur semper, etiamsi non aderit; Stoici autem, quod finem bonorum in una virtute ponunt, similes sunt illorum; Quodcumque in mentem incideret, et quodcumque tamquam occurreret. Cur igitur, inquam, res tam dissimiles eodem nomine appellas? Ergo instituto veterum, quo etiam Stoici utuntur, hinc capiamus exordium. Quem Tiberina descensio festo illo die tanto gaudio affecit, quanto L. Hoc ne statuam quidem dicturam pater aiebat, si loqui posset. Si mala non sunt, iacet omnis ratio Peripateticorum. Item de contrariis, a quibus ad genera formasque generum venerunt.
In qua si nihil est praeter rationem, sit in una virtute finis bonorum; An hoc usque quaque, aliter in vita? Eiuro, inquit adridens, iniquum, hac quidem de re; Ergo illi intellegunt quid Epicurus dicat, ego non intellego? Non minor, inquit, voluptas percipitur ex vilissimis rebus quam ex pretiosissimis. Praeclare Laelius, et recte sofñw, illudque vere: O Publi, o gurges, Galloni! es homo miser, inquit. Sit enim idem caecus, debilis.
Nam de summo mox, ut dixi, videbimus et ad id explicandum disputationem omnem conferemus. Eorum enim omnium multa praetermittentium, dum eligant aliquid, quod sequantur, quasi curta sententia;
intelligence report
content locked
or Subscribe to Access Premium Content
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Hoc positum in Phaedro a Platone probavit Epicurus sensitque in omni disputatione id fieri oportere. Prodest, inquit, mihi eo esse animo. Sunt enim prima elementa naturae, quibus auctis vírtutis quasi germen efficitur. Duo Reges: constructio interrete. At ille pellit, qui permulcet sensum voluptate. Quid enim mihi potest esse optatius quam cum Catone, omnium virtutum auctore, de virtutibus disputare? Te ipsum, dignissimum maioribus tuis, voluptasne induxit, ut adolescentulus eriperes P. Quod cum accidisset ut alter alterum necopinato videremus, surrexit statim.
Facillimum id quidem est, inquam. Hoc loco tenere se Triarius non potuit. Teneo, inquit, finem illi videri nihil dolere. Sed quid minus probandum quam esse aliquem beatum nec satis beatum? Iis igitur est difficilius satis facere, qui se Latina scripta dicunt contemnere. De quibus cupio scire quid sentias. Sed haec nihil sane ad rem;
Quae diligentissime contra Aristonem dicuntur a Chryippo. Quo modo? Stoicos roga. Aeque enim contingit omnibus fidibus, ut incontentae sint. Non quaero, quid dicat, sed quid convenienter possit rationi et sententiae suae dicere. Tum ille timide vel potius verecunde: Facio, inquit. Rationis enim perfectio est virtus; Te ipsum, dignissimum maioribus tuis, voluptasne induxit, ut adolescentulus eriperes P.
Cuius quidem, quoniam Stoicus fuit, sententia condemnata mihi videtur esse inanitas ista verborum. Consequens enim est et post oritur, ut dixi. Qualem igitur hominem natura inchoavit? Nisi enim id faceret, cur Plato Aegyptum peragravit, ut a sacerdotibus barbaris numeros et caelestia acciperet? Quod autem in homine praestantissimum atque optimum est, id deseruit. Reguli reiciendam;
related episodes
Video
content locked
or Subscribe to Access Premium Content
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. An vero, inquit, quisquam potest probare, quod perceptfum, quod. Quid enim me prohiberet Epicureum esse, si probarem, quae ille diceret? Certe, nisi voluptatem tanti aestimaretis. Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Numquam facies. Quibusnam praeteritis? Hic Speusippus, hic Xenocrates, hic eius auditor Polemo, cuius illa ipsa sessio fuit, quam videmus. Et non ex maxima parte de tota iudicabis? Habes, inquam, Cato, formam eorum, de quibus loquor, philosophorum. Sextilio Rufo, cum is rem ad amicos ita deferret, se esse heredem Q.
Cupiditates non Epicuri divisione finiebat, sed sua satietate. Est autem a te semper dictum nec gaudere quemquam nisi propter corpus nec dolere. Beatus autem esse in maximarum rerum timore nemo potest. Si enim ita est, vide ne facinus facias, cum mori suadeas. Certe nihil nisi quod possit ipsum propter se iure laudari. Quem Tiberina descensio festo illo die tanto gaudio affecit, quanto L. Cur deinde Metrodori liberos commendas? Luxuriam non reprehendit, modo sit vacua infinita cupiditate et timore. Cur igitur, inquam, res tam dissimiles eodem nomine appellas? Apud ceteros autem philosophos, qui quaesivit aliquid, tacet;
Intellegi quidem, ut propter aliam quampiam rem, verbi gratia propter voluptatem, nos amemus; Quae quo sunt excelsiores, eo dant clariora indicia naturae. Si enim ita est, vide ne facinus facias, cum mori suadeas. Mihi enim erit isdem istis fortasse iam utendum.
Nam ista vestra: Si gravis, brevis; Non quam nostram quidem, inquit Pomponius iocans; Non quaeritur autem quid naturae tuae consentaneum sit, sed quid disciplinae. Tum mihi Piso: Quid ergo? Quis non odit sordidos, vanos, leves, futtiles? Scrupulum, inquam, abeunti; Quem si tenueris, non modo meum Ciceronem, sed etiam me ipsum abducas licebit.