the human is one who exists in society.

societies are results of interactions.

every valid venue of human interaction is a potential for a larger community.

the Internet is the easiest way we have to talk to anybody outside shouting range.

the problem with online communities:they die. fast.

how do communities die?

eternal september

over-centralisation

stupidity

malice

loss of interest

with each abandonment, people become less trustful, leading to faster

abandonment of the new arrivals.

most of the problems are products of human nature rather of faulty design

but good design can go a long way to offer partial remedies and incentives.

aether.

aether(n.) a very rarefied and highly elastic substance believed to permeate all space, including the interstices between the particles of matter, and to be the medium whose vibrations constituted light and other electromagnetic radiation. From Old French, or via Latin from Greek aither.

aetherfire earth waterair

aether is a discussion platform, just like reddit or digg, that allows people to

express their opinions about different subjects without necessarily knowing each other. It’s an online analogue for

Athenian agora.

What is it?

technically, aether is both the distributed, decentralised protocol

based on text, and the app that uses it.

the protocol is called the aether protocol,and the app is called an aether client.

aether protocol is a peer to peer protocol taking inspiration from BitTorrent.

It is just a written set of rules.

Protocol

it defines interactions between users, like who talks to who, and under what

circumstances.

Protocol

an aether client is an app that uses aether protocol to communicate with other aether clients in other people’s

computers.

Client

the client is an application that users keep open to be and to remain

connected with other users.

Client

client app in progressClient

how a client (user) connects to another is defined by the protocol (rules).

Benefits

because users connect to other users, not to servers, the information

propagates through the network in an organic and imperfect way.

Benefits

Decentralisation

it also means it cannot be shut off easily.in fact, there is no way to block it short

of shutting off the internet access.

Benefits

Resilience

because aether has the ability to encrypt connection between users, it is

also impenetrable to a third party.

Benefits

Security

users do not need to identify themselves, but they can if they want to. It requires absolutely zero information to participate. (except an IP address,

which could be an internet cafe or so)

Benefits

Anonymity

on aether, the users vote on each other’s posts. more liked posts are

distributed wider. this creates a democracy, or a tyranny of the masses,

depending on where you look at it.

Benefits

Democracy

decentralisedresilientsecure

anonymousdemocratic

Use Cases

Oppressive Regimes, Little Internet Access

the encryption abilities and connecting to peers, rather than servers, allows

aether to be a safe communication tool for individuals that could be threatened

because of their speech and ideas.

Use Cases

Civilized World, Free Speech, Unrestricted Internet

aether is an useful common platform for discussion. it is a forum of all

forums, which can talk to each other, unlike the Web. It requires no

maintenance.

Personas

Alice

Alice is a 22-year old Computer Science student. She needs to create a study group for his CS144 Introduction to

Computer Networks class.

Personas

Alice

She opens aether from her Macbook Pro, and creates a new topic and sets is

to private, which means only people who know the password will be able to

access it.

Personas

Alice

She then invites her classmates by giving her IP address, or her aether ID, which because she is an early adopter,

is called alice.

Personas

Alice

Her classmates now can find and talk to each other, create new subjects about

different problems, and write posts under those subjects.

Personas

Alice

aether enables her and her friends to communicate with each other directly, without relying on flaky platforms such

as Blackboard or Coursekit.

Personas

Max

Max is a political activist in Germany protesting against police brutality. He

needs to communicate with his popular non-profit to organise protests.

Personas

Max

He opens the application, and clicks on his non-profit’s topic, or topics. Since

the topics aren’t owned by anyone, it is a free platform where no one can be

silenced.

Personas

Max

He creates a subject asking for the location for the next protest. Turns out, an EU minister is visiting Bonn, and it seems a perfect opportunity for more

visibility.

Personas

Max

The post that offers the most convenient time and place for everyone

is upvoted most, and with that information, Max is able to decide.

Personas

Max

Conversing with everyone posting to the subject, he is able to schedule an event. aether helps him as an absolutely public forum where no membership is needed.

Personas

Ling

Ling is a high schooler from China. He wants to practice his second language,

but the access to outside internet is curtailed.

Personas

Ling

He opens aether, and because aether connects directly to people rather than servers, and because the connection is encrypted, Ling can get past the Great

Firewall.

Personas

Ling

As he connects to people outside China, those people’s clients will refer to more clients, and Ling will be able to get more and more information and practice. If he

wants to respond, he safely can.

Personas

Ling

To prevent his computer sending information to a government agent

trying to connect to him via aether, Ling sets up his aether client to only send his

posts to other clients that he trusts.

Personas

Ling

To maintain that, he sets a password, or he manually vets the clients connecting

to him. aether client can accept all connections (default) or it can accept manually according to the user’s wish.

Personas

Ling

As he cannot stay online for long, the propagation of his posts are achieved by

a few people outside China that he trusts enough to send his posts. aether

automatically handles this.

Reliance on No Servers

While aether requires no servers to fully function, there are a few functions

where servers can be helpful.

Reliance on No Servers

Those are: ▶ helping users find each other▶ helping users connect to each

other behind firewalls▶ Identity validation.

Reliance on No Servers

While use of those servers can fasten things, aether is designed to function without them, and won’t be harmed if

they are cut off.

Reliance on No Servers

By default, finding, identity and relaying servers are complimentarily supplied by aether, Inc. for free or at nominal cost.

Reliance on No Servers

In absence of those servers, or if the user decides not to use those services,

the user becomes its own server.

Reliance on No Servers

The user can also enter his own preference of the servers. aether, Inc. does not hold a privileged position

compared to any third party servers.

protocol specificationbit.ly/aetherdocs

client downloadgetaether.net

this presentationbit.ly/aetherintro