As you could guess from the title, I contribute to the fermat.org project. As an unofficial, self-acclaimed software craftsman, the less code I write to solve a problem and the cleaner it looks, the better I feel. So when I saw last August how huge the vision of this project was, my first reaction was that it is impossible to implement it. I have been paid to implement software for the better part of my life, therefore I know how many of them fail. The bigger the scope, the more likely to fail.
So why am I still around half a year later? First of all, because I want it to happen so badly. It is a well thought up synergy of several really dumb networks that enable people to take back power for virtually all of the areas of their lives. It is not a device helping AIs to observe or even control people, but it is a plan of a living society that is self-sufficient and keeps their digitalized lives private where they want to and public elsewhere.
Second, I am still around, because we are just implementing those parts that are special to this project. Lots of decentralized networks and platforms will come out in 2017 and most of them solve a single need or cover a single use-case. This project is not just yet another Bitcoin clone, or another peer-to-peer network for a given application. Although we are just doing what is needed to make them cooperate, the end result will be a much bigger thing. We do not need to implement a content addressed network, because IPFS implemented a good enough one. We do not need to implement a STUN/TURN server for punching holes on firewalls, because coTURN has already done so. We had to implement a location based network, because local economy and geolocalized indexing and routing was a special piece in our puzzle. Also, custom push notifications for mobile that are independent of Apple and Google were existing, but the profile server we have does so much more: It is a one-stop shop for hosting any kinds of application profiles. It glues together all the pieces and keeps indexes of them up-to-date on all dumb, single-purpose networks. Open protocols and dumb networks are an explosive mix enabling innovative applications.
Third — and I am saying this with the hope it does not shadow all what I have said so far — this project already has a big enough community of enthusiasts and investors that keeps it alive financially, so it can keep me and my family going. Also, I believe that because of this momentum, whatever I work on here will not be wasted in the burst of the crypto bubble whenever it shall inevitably come.
To connect back to my previous post, we need to give trust to get back power. It might not be clear to all of us, why Fermat is strong. Its strength is its agility. As we refine from month to month what needs to be solved, we reroute our itinerary and the community follows. FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) does not hurt people who started understanding where all that comes from.
