Purpose of this post is just to discuss and ideate about a really cool conversation that came out of a recent podcast episode on David Hoffman’s Layer Zero. A dialogue with Justin Drake led to a really interesting conceptual framework of how to think about human-machine interaction in the concept of this space.
I am not claiming these are the right names to describe these layers nor am I a graphic designer. Despite this, I hope it will facilitate good discussion nonetheless. Can’t wait to see what the Bankless Community comes up with.
So what does this graphic actually depict? Let me try and give an example:
Layer zero is the foundation
Layer zero is all about the people behind the technology. Decentralized finance, blockchain, and even NFT’s are all centered around humans as the foundational layer.
Layer one makes it possible
Since the dawn of time, humans have self-organized into social systems. From hunter and gathering societies to modern organizational systems, humans congregate to get work done. However, blockchain makes this different, because layer one empowers layer zero to mobilize and coordinate in ways that have not been possible in the past. Layer one makes it possible to build social and economic systems that do not necessarily need centralized infrastructure to function properly. This is huge. This opens up new possibilities.
Layer two creates scale
If layer one makes this all possible then layer two makes it viable. This layer creates abstractions and networks that overlay on blockchain L1 which helps scale bandwidth and reduce costs. We all love layer two scaling solutions.
Layer three distributes to the masses
So we have humans , we have a blockchain, and we got ourselves some L2 scaling solutions. Now we need products and services that allow us to interact with the blockchain universe. We need exchanges , wallets, oracles, and many other innovations in order to interact with the decentralize technologies we all cherish. An example could be a Coinbase or Uniswaps of the world. These services and middleware make our transactions possible.
Layer four is the communities that result
I told you it all starts with human connections. This layer is an emergent social system that results from all of us self-organizing around products, services, and technologies that allows us to interact in the metaverse and on DeFi. Bankless DAO would be level four [or are we level one? Or both?!]
I hope my simple understanding and basic descriptions helps spark the conversation. I think it be really neat to get this concept refined and perhaps publish in the newsletter.
There is also a twitter post on this as well: https://twitter.com/saulthorin/status/1436757930838220802?s=20
