Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin on Thursday highlighted the blockchain network's strong foundations, calling it “extremely powerful,” before going on to elaborate on artificial intelligence.
“Ethereum’s fundamentals are very strong right now,” Buterin said, pointing to recent developments that he believes have largely solved the blockchain’s scalability challenges, such as the adoption of a rollup-centric roadmap.
During a wide-ranging Spaces discussion on X (aka Twitter), he also announced plans for an AI-focused defensive accelerationism-themed day at his upcoming Devcon conference in Bangkok.
Defensive acceleration, or d/acc, is a term coined by Vitalk last year to describe a more cautious approach to AI development. It contrasts with the idea of ”effective accelerationism,” which promotes accelerating technological advances to realize their benefits sooner.
During the conversation, Buterin outlined plans for a “d/acc discovery day” at Devcon in November.
“The big picture vision behind all of this is that we fundamentally want to have a world that is more secure and at the same time more open and cooperative,” Buterin explained.
He outlined several key focus areas for the upcoming program, including cyber defense, “information defense” against misinformation, biodefense and physical resilience.
Buterin also emphasized the importance of developing these technologies in a decentralized way, rather than relying on centralized powers.
“We're not just talking about cryptocurrency,” he said. “We're also talking about a secure operating system, a community note, a financial layer that's robust, open and even privacy-preserving.”
He said the d/acc Discovery Day will feature speakers from a variety of fields, including AI, biotechnology and cryptography.
Buterin said he hopes the event will help people from all walks of life realize that “we are in fact on the same team” in working towards a safer and more open world.
The discussion also touched on the challenges facing the cryptocurrency industry, with some participants criticizing the current state of user experience and governance models.
But Buterin and other attendees emphasized that Devcon represents an opportunity to address these issues and move the ecosystem forward.
As Devcon approaches, Buterin called for active participation in determining the direction of technological development, saying, “We need the active will of humans to choose the direction we want.”
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