Vitalik Buterin Draws a Clear Line

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Users need not share his politics, product opinions, or cultural tastes to freely use the decentralized network, says Vitalik Buterin.

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Summarize with AI

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said that users do not need to agree with his views on applications, trust assumptions, politics, decentralized finance, decentralized social platforms, privacy-preserving payments, artificial intelligence, or even cultural preferences in order to use Ethereum.

He believes that disagreement with him on any one issue does not require agreement or disagreement on any other.

“Corposlop” Isn’t Censorship

In a lengthy post on X, Buterin stated that he does not claim to represent the entire Ethereum ecosystem. He described Ethereum as a decentralized protocol built around permissionlessness and censorship resistance, which allows anyone to use the network in whatever way they choose without regard for his opinions, the views of the Ethereum Foundation, or those of Ethereum client developers.

He said that labeling applications he dislikes as “corposlop” is not censorship. According to Buterin, free speech means individuals cannot prevent others from operating, but remain free to criticize, just as they may be criticized in return.

Buterin said such criticism is necessary and rejected the concept of “pretend neutrality,” in which individuals present themselves as equally open to all perspectives while avoiding clearly stated positions. He wrote that neutrality should apply to protocols, such as HTTP, Bitcoin, and Ethereum, and within limited scope to certain institutions, but not to individuals, who should instead clearly state their principles, including by identifying and criticizing things they believe are incompatible with those principles, and working with others who share aligned goals to build a metaverse where those principles are treated as a baseline.

He asserted that principles cannot be confined solely to protocol design, while arguing that any principle naturally leads to conclusions not only about how a protocol should be built but also about what should be built on top of it, and that such principles inevitably extend beyond technology into broader social questions, which he said should not be avoided.

Hollow Uses of “Freedom” in Tech

Buterin added that valuing concepts such as freedom while treating them as relevant only to technical choices and disconnected from other aspects of life is not pragmatic but is hollow. He further stated that a decentralized protocol must not be viewed as belonging to only one metaverse and that the boundaries of a metaverse are inherently fuzzy, which makes it common for people to align on some axes while disagreeing on others.