Forewarning: This piece is a little different from my more “applied science“ articles. It’s more theoretical in nature and based on past experiences and developments. I’m calling these “BOGS“, a more casual series of thoughts coming from yours truly.
ANTINET is a spinoff of a couple of concepts. In 2020, at the peak of COVID-19, I created a data aggregation protocol called “ANT$” that had the sole purpose of incentivizing data gathering and aggregation via blockchain.
In short, the name was inspired by how ants in nature communicate to one another in a chain event of reactions – henceforth why the name, ANT$, combined with blockchain made semantic sense. Oh yeah, and a dollar sign to denote the aspect of monetary value.
As I started to phase out of my previous startup, ANT$ still had a good amount of technical backing to it. It utilized signed data schemas for data verification, the concept of data containers, provenance, data logs, and incentivization.
However, most of the time, my end goal was always the same: an inverse, alternate version of the internet. One that held the best of both worlds, from the old and new, in a homogenous and useful way.
For now, I’m coining it as an “Antinet“ - an Internet that goes against what we’ve known, yet a play on words from ANT$, the original inspiration.
FORMING A NEW ANT(I) INTERNET?
Essentially, it defined containers that were able to hold data on-chain in a permissioned manner. The purpose of this feature is to provide an updatable, and configurable method to store persistent information about quite literally anything.
Obviously, this is not enough to form a new internet. However, the concept of data validity being done via blockchain was new – no longer are we verifying and transacting digital money, but rather the digital gold that is information.
The only way to change the current internet is not to build a new one, but an antinet. A network with an entirely different set of principles and priorities, with the lessons learned from both web3 and web2 combined.
In some ways, you could compare it to Jack Dorsey’s concept of web5. In a way, this new version of the internet would have to mimic the real world in an irreplaceable, nearly twin-like manner. The idea is still to preserve all aspects of real life, but with an optional, streamlined digital alternative.
Welcome, to the Antinet - a theoretical, alternate version of the internet.
ANTINET FEATURE OVERVIEW
The Antinet is a self-hostable, dynamic “Internet Replacement”. The following features highlight how this new internet could work:
-
Organizations - Groups of users grouped in a defined hierarchy. Contains inner rulings and laws, optional voting configurations, and generally be used to define organizations and company-like structures in the traditional sense.
-
Assets - A unit(s) of value defined by the user or organization.
-
Properties - Properties represent collections of assets and their relations to users or organizations. Property is used to manage assets, and define rules or access-based filters for who can view, edit, or obtain them.
-
Spaces - each space has various rulings and standards for what data can be defined/shared. Organizations control and own spaces. Think of it like a building, where a company owns that building and decides what it should contain.
-
Domains - A string representation that represents a property or organization, or maybe both! Includes subdomains. Used to
The Antinet represents all aspects of a functional internet. However, in order for it to be functional, and not in disarray, we need to ensure proper definition and organization of these features.
Both the current internet and web3 suffer from the same problems: the lack of interoperability / streamlined protocols, and the unstructured nature of gathered data. By organizing the internet in context-based containers, like Spaces, Properties, and Organizations, we can ensure a much more robust version of the Internet.
SELF-HOSTABLE - WiFi Router 2.0
Another crucial aspect of the internet would be the distribution aspect. Most of the internet is driven by a strict server-client model, meaning each application usually has a corresponding server just that application specifically.
However, this internet would be similar to how a blockchain is hosted - through a series of global nodes, regions, and information sharing. This ensures that no matter what, as long as you host a node, you can have the best access to the internet.
In other words, we just replaced the conventional WiFi router with a blockchain-like node with all the content we had before but structured in a more robust way.
CONCLUSION
This piece was a bit more of a ramble, however, it’s a precursor to something I hope to reveal in the coming soon. The bottom line is - we’re taking the wild west of web3, crypto, blockchain, and conventional internet to a more structured, robust, secure digital representation of our physical lives.
Come to think of it, the “Antinet“ sounds more akin to a Skynet - but I assure you, it is something that has the goal of aiding humanity, not destroying it.