Trent on "The Original Hypertext, and the Future Internet"

Abstract: The internet is many things to many people. But at its very basic level it's a machine, an implementation of a technical design. And, it's not perfect. Among other challenges, it's really really hard to get compensated for things that you create and share on the internet. After all, how do you "own" something when bits can be copied freely? It turns out that visionaries of hypertext foresaw this issue in the 60s. They even proposed systems to handle this. Yes, this is Xanadu! However, Xanadu was too complex and hard to build. By the early 90s, the simpler WWW had won, but unfortunately in its simplicity it left out attribution. But, can we retrofit the internet for ownership? It turns out the answer is yes, if we're sneaky and use just the right mix of machine learning, legals, and blockchain to rewire the internet for ownership. The result is creators getting compensated. This is part of a broader trend where the internet itself is getting reworked with emerging blockchain technologies.

Bio: Trent McConaghy is cofounder of ascribe, working to help create the future internet on behalf of creators of the world. He's previously built two companies applying machine learning to designing computer chips. He organizes the Singularity Meets Self Improvement Meetup.

Location: Jää-äär Cafe is open just for us. It's free to attend. Beer, Club Mate, cola, tea, coffee and desserts are available for sale.