The end of my childhood Vitalik Buterin
Explain in Japanese bullet points.
Yes, I will summarize the Vitalik Buterin article in Japanese.
- Vitalik realized his generational shift when he saw a generation more than 10 years younger than himself playing a central role in hacker houses and events.
- Life has a finite nature, and all beautiful things such as friendships, personalities, and political ideologies have an end. But it has nothing to do with biological lifespan; it is a constant cycle of death and rebirth.
- Through the outbreak of the Ukrainian war and the collapse of FTX, Vitalik realized his responsibility and the need for active action.
- We need to build a more comprehensive decentralized technology stack for a better society, not just reform finance, which was the original goal of cryptocurrencies.
- The cryptocurrency community includes token holders, intellectuals, developers, and actual users with different motivations, and it is important to understand and cooperate with each other.
- He interacted with cryptocurrency communities around the world, including China, Silicon Valley, Europe, Argentina, and Taiwan, and learned about their unique characteristics.
- Growth means becoming aware of various forms of selfishness, not just money and power, and learning to value habits and not absolutize oneās own values.
- The beautiful things of society are made by human hands, but they are finite, and it is necessary to constantly keep creating new things as the old ones disappear.
What is āvarious forms of egocentricity?ā
The āvarious forms of selfishnessā to which Vitalik refers include
- [Financial greed: the pursuit of financial gain to the detriment of others and society as a whole.
- greed for power: not acting ethically in order to gain power.
- Cowardice: not having the courage to do the right thing and acting to protect oneās own interests.
- idleness : Failure to fulfill oneās own responsibilities and dependence on others.
- Resentment: Acting irrationally out of personal resentment.
- [Desire for social status: Losing sight of oneās true purpose in order to gain fame or recognition. Vitalik points out that financial greed is not the only problem; these various forms of selfishness are equally harmful. He then states that it is important to recognize and overcome this selfishness in ourselves.
What does the original text say?
Yes, the original text reads as follows
Greed is not the only form of selfishness. Lots of harm can come from cowardice, laziness, resentment, and many other motives. Furthermore, greed itself can come in many forms: greed for social status can often be just as harmful as greed for money or power. As someone raised in my gentle Canadian upbringing, this was a major update: I felt like I had been taught to believe that greed for money and power is the root of most evils, and if I made sure I was not greedy for those things (eg. by repeatedly fighting to reduce the portion of the ETH supply premine that went to the top-5 āfoundersā) I satisfied my responsibility to be a good person. This is of course not true.
Literal translation, āGreed is not the only form of selfishness. Much harm can come from many other motives, including cowardice, laziness, and resentment. Furthermore, greed itself has many forms. Greed for social status is often as harmful as greed for money or power. This was a big update for me from my mild Canadian upbringing. I felt as though I had been taught to believe that greed for money and power was the root of all evil. And that if we donāt become greedy for those things (e.g., by repeatedly fighting to reduce the portion of the ETH supply going to the top five āfoundersā of the pre-mine), we can fulfill our responsibility to be good people. Of course, this is not true.ā
So āgreed for money and power is the root of all evilā is false, and there are other various roots of evil?
That is correct. Vitalik states that the notion that greed for money and power is the root of all evil is incorrect.
He points out that besides monetary greed, many other selfish motives can cause harm, including cowardice, laziness, and resentment. Greed itself can also take many forms, including greed for social status as well as money and power.
Vitalik felt that throughout his Canadian education, he had been taught that if he avoided greed for money and power, he would be a good person. However, he realized that this notion was not true.
In other words, he is teaching us the importance of recognizing that various forms of selfishness exist and paying attention to them all. So it is not enough to focus only on greed for money and power.
Is there any commentary on āfighting repeatedly to reduce the portion of the ETH supply going to the top 5 āfoundersā of the pre-mine?
Yes, this section will be explained as well.
At the launch of Ethereum, a certain amount of ETH was pre-mined (premined) to provide initial funding for developers and projects. A portion of this premined ETH was to be allocated to the key founders of Ethereum.
Vitalik, however, opposed allocating a larger portion of the premine to the founder. He believed that this could be seen as financial greed toward the founders, which would be inconsistent with Ethereumās vision and values.
Therefore, Vitalik stated that he repeatedly fought to reduce the amount of premine allocated to the top five founders. This shows that he prioritized the Ethereum community and values over financial gain.
But he realized that this act alone did not fulfill his responsibility as a good person. He came to the realization that there are many other forms of selfishness besides financial greed, and all of them need attention.
This episode is presented as a concrete example of Vitalikās personal growth and his growing understanding of selfishness.
impressions
- Interesting reading style: first you get a summary with bullet points, and then you delve into what interests you from there.
- A reading style that delves into your interests
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