Post

Breaking imagination bottlenecks is the hardest thing. 🥚 Thinking bigger than imagination is impossible. I think it's more a protopian vision, gradually improving our social lives. Utopian malen people careful, and rightfully so. Dystopia is for status quo (not the band, we'll maybe for some) 🤷

Alexander Fortin

@l3x.in

Personally the least interesting bit since I got into ATproto is Bluesky. I mean, I like it and I use it, but the key features for me are 1) data ownership and 2) portable identity (login).

If you're developing in this area: ask yourself what bottleneck in your domain can be solved WITH the protocol—not just "on" the protocol. How can a PDS change the way people live off the Web? Otherwise we're just building new ways to do the same things.

Maybe we need these new experiences to get started, okay sure. But then what. My biggest takeaway from AT Proto NYC was that it doesn't matter whether the collective is on Bluesky or Blacksky—it only matters what you're using it for!

Why has tracklist taken so long to develop and deploy? Because it's purpose is to offer solutions for the actual life of a musician, not just playback media from a server. It can only be a useful tool if it accounts for on *and* off-protocol needs.

Anyway, go watch @ifyoucantwell.bsky.social’s Halt and Catch Fire to get inspired

Boris

@bmann.ca

I am thinking pretty big and agree with your thread here. Who do you think needs to hear this? How should it be explained? How can we help support you in what you’re doing with tracklist?

Alexander Fortin

@l3x.in

I don't know if it helps the discussion, I'm almost always frustrated when I see threads about some new cool feature in AT proto on, say, HN, and the discussion to soon gravitate towards Bluesky and its perceived shortcomings. AT is so much more than Bsky.app but somehow I seldom see that emerging.

Johann

@johann.tezoscommons.org

Speaking form personal experience it is just really hard to convince people to even try something that is not the default.

Alexander Fortin

@l3x.in

bsky.appBlueskySocial media as it should be. Find your community among millions of users, unleash your creativity, and have some fun again.

Absolutely, e.g. I'm trying to convince my contacts to drop Whatsapp in favour of Signal and it's tough... but worth fighting for! My point though is that you can enjoy ATproto benefits even without using Bsky.app at all, imo it's something more transformative than "just another social network"

Boris

@bmann.ca

Yep. And nothing else has gotten to escape velocity of user adoption. Roundabout by New Public, with the Chicago launch may get there, but it won't really "read" as atproto either. I don't think HN is particularly relevant. There's a devrel / influencer discussion to be had perhaps.

Aside from devs? I believe AT Proto is nearing the stage where we need a platform with impact capital and grant funding. If the community events do not bring us together, then they’re failing to serve people like me at the expense of attending. Messaging across the board must take the gloves off

We won’t achieve anything by telling people that our version of the Web is safe and inclusive. Retreating to virtual spaces cannot be the only thing ATP offers. Nor should we continue deflecting demands with “you can build it yourself” —it’s condescending. We need messaging with teeth, awareness

Caesar

@caesar.dev

Noooo please keep vulture capital off the Atmosphere. They do not like open protocols. They will always embrace, extend, extinguish. (Basically Meta's move with Threads and the Fediverse.)

I mean it’s already here mate- bsky partnered with Bain But I’m not calling for VC, anyway. I’m calling for partners who will take a risk on atproto projects built to change peoples lives. In the case of music, this means something that allows artists to make more money than they do on platforms

Boris

@bmann.ca

OK, I'm still not seeing how / what you're reacting to - I respect your PoV. Did you not like the announcement blog post? Or the placeholder conf website? Can you give me an example of messaging that would resonate for you?

I would be happy to organize this all into a more formal call to action. In fact, I’ve been writing a book about it already. But I can’t afford to volunteer those efforts without sponsorship—I’m hopeful that something like NewPublic will recognize my initiative. If there are others, let me know