Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey left the company in November 2021 after 16 years and has been working on undisclosed projects ever since, most likely related to the blockchain.
The time away has clearly given Dorsey space to think and reflect, leading to an interesting tweet from over the weekend.
“the days of usenet, irc, the web…even email (w PGP)…were amazing,” Dorsey wrote. “centralizing discovery and identity into corporations really damaged the internet. I realize I’m partially to blame, and regret it.”
the days of usenet, irc, the web…even email (w PGP)…were amazing. centralizing discovery and identity into corporations really damaged the internet.I realize I’m partially to blame, and regret it.April 2, 2022
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The admission is interesting for a number of reasons.
Perhaps the biggest is that it’s very rare to hear a candid admission of a mistake from a high-profile tech CEO, especially one as well-known as Dorsey, and it seems unlikely he ever would have said this while at Twitter.
Dorsey is a billionaire many times over – especially if you include his (sizeable) bitcoin holdings – and Twitter was one of the earliest social behemoths.
It’s also not the first time Dorsey has sparked controversy in recent months, having taken a swipe at the VC-funded Web3 startup space in late 2021.
You don’t own “web3.”The VCs and their LPs do. It will never escape their incentives. It’s ultimately a centralized entity with a different label. Know what you’re getting into…December 21, 2021
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Decentralization station
Under Dorsey, Twitter was making some moves towards decentralisation, including launching Bluesky, but these are still only in their infancy.
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Dorsey is still the CEO of Block, formerly Square, and the company changed its name very soon after he departed Twitter. Block, of course, has parallels to the blockchain.
While crypto is full of scams and people trying to make a quick buck, many prominent technologists are involved in the space, a potential signal that its underlying technologies and ideas are here to stay.
Given his most recent tweet, it seems that Dorsey is yearning for a return to the old, decentralized web, something that many Web3 advocates would love to see.
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