Remembering the LAN

crawshaw.io

37 points·zdw··4 comments

I am afraid that just like computers that one mind could completely understand, networks that one mind can completely understand are a thing of the past. This is quite sad, because, as the author noted, they were a great way to learn

> The result is a system with properties that work with today's internet to give us the pleasant, simple programming environment of the '90s LAN:

> -Use the global internet identity system of your choice for authentication, and do cryptographic authorization at the IP level.

>- Keys are generated and rotated for you automatically.

>- People map directly to unspoofable IP addresses.

>- Run custom servers on your network and access is limited to only those people on the network.

>- Your data is protected by the simple yet powerful social dynamics of small groups.

This is exactly what libp2p (https://docs.libp2p.io/introduction/what-is-libp2p/) is trying to be: The network isn't defined by IPs but by cryptographic identities, routing is done directly through those identities, end-to-end security is built-in and communication is independent from transport, which can be absolutely anything.

How long until a network like libp2p gains critical mass do you think?

My guess is a few decades, if it can hold until then. libp2p is a huge stack that redefines a lot of what we're doing today, and reimplementing the whole thing is a monstrous task. But if it could become mainstream that would be a very good thing.

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