Beyond technology: Ethereum as the philosophy by Sasha Shilina | Devcon SEA

[Music] well hello everyone I'm Sasha and I'm here to talk about ethereum not just as a technology but as a philosophy uh during this few minutes we'll Journey Through The History of Thought exploring how ancient and modern ideas aligned with what ethereum brings to our world today but before we die in a quick disclaimer as philosophical Concepts I'll touch upon have been simplified and uh the majority of philosophers will discuss never forof blockchain and linking their insights to ethereum is quite an interpretive intellectual exercise well we're all aware of how ethereum is Transforming Our economy society and governance but its impact goes even deeper as ethereum also challenges us to think about core philosophical dimension from the nature of reality and Truth to ethics and art ethereum core extends Beyond decentralization programmability and automation it Embraces resilience open collaboration it values inclusivity and sovereignty rooted in a vision of social economic freedom ethereum aspires to create a borderless network where Innovation thrives and hierarchies dissolve these fundamental principles resonate deeply with Timeless ideas explored by philosophers across the history thus philosophical Concepts like decentralization and consensus appeared in Greek city state or pois Plato envisions them in his works also trustless or parisia was another core idea as well as privacy with Aristotle's distinction between public police and private OAS spheres furthermore blockchain's mutability mirror determinism and the medieval pursuit of Eternal truth and decentralization fodal hierarchies the Renaissance introduces a concept of security an idea that became Central to ethereum's framework and um for example jordano Bruno's idea about universe as a living organism May match of the eum's infinite Garden metaphor early modern philosophy is paining the Enlightenment and Beyond emphasiz this reason individual freedom and skepticism toward traditional Authority thinkers like Jean ja ruso or John Lo championed personal Liberty autonomy and property rights also this era focuses on industrialization finding its modern reflection in smart contract as we progressed through history anarchism seen in D and defi celebrates community-driven intermediary free systems prodon idea of industrial democracy and kotkin's mutual Aid resonate here as does libertarian socialism through Dows that balance egalitarian PTP interactions with social justice initiatives like Ubi and pragmatist thinkers like J do John Dey underscores cooperation uh and practical Solutions um action based outcomes contemporary philosophy brings fresh New Perspectives thus phenomenology which emphasizes individual Freedom aligns with ethereum focus on personalized interactions then emphasizing Freedom choice and responsibility existentialism matches with theum which enables autonomous decisions and accountability analytic philosophy in vigen Stein's call for clarity e calls in ethereum's language for share for secure exchanges and of course post modernism which critics fix hierarchies resonates with ethereum ethos worth noting that today's thinkers bring diverse perspectives on blockchain some like zek criti It While others acknowledge its transformative potential uh now I want to briefly talk about eum's philosophy philosophical DNA as I said um I believe and I think many of us here believe that ethereum embodies a convergence of multiple philosophical movements uh which form its philosophical DNA blending in many fascinating ways starting from cyber Punk and Cypher Punk which sound similar but each hold unique vision of freedom and autonomy while cyber Punk imagines Rebellion against sensorization Cypher Punk provides the cryp cryptographic tools for privacy other influences are cyber utopianism which this technology as a pass to democracy it views ethereum as a tool for open accessible systems that Empower individuals worldwide and the crypto anarchism which emphasizes privacy and autonomy resisting State Control through cryptography um then there is theorem also draws on techn libertarianism and posthumanism in essence uh the first highlights ethereum's role in personal autonomy while a second Envision is as a transformative medium reshaping identity and community next are objectoriented ontology and defensive accelerationism objectoriented ontology it's a part of a popular speculative realism movement it views all entities human and nonhuman as equally significant in this perspective every block smart contract and cod line on ethereum has its own agency acting within a flat network of relationships and defensive accelerationism as many of you know supported by vitalic butterin it calls for responsible Tech progress balancing Innovation with ethical responsibility lastly solar Punk and lunar Punk theyes ethereum's dual potential a sustainable open Future alongside robust privacy Focus protections um also to further frame ethereum as philosophy I want to shortly add several perspectives in terms of metaphysics ethereum can be seen as a pluriverse an ecosystem of diverse interconnected realities where multiple systems cultures and values coexist and interact then epistemologically etherum offers trustless knowledge a paradigm where truth is verified collectively and then in terms of Ethics ethereum introduces techn etics in terms of theology um one of of the goals of ethereum is a tool for digital Liberation uh mainly ethereum isn't just a technology it's a living philosophy an experiment in rethinking trust and freedom and invite us to ask what happens when the code carries our values and when autonomy privacy and decentralization become foundational together we are shaping a new philosophical Paradigm thank you you and we'll start in two minutes thank you so much Sasha that was great I don't think we have time for Q&A so thank you so much um and uh we've got about 2 minutes until our next