What is Aemula?
The Decentralized Protocol for Distributing News
Aemula is a news app. More specifically though, Aemula is a decentralized protocol for distributing news. But what does that actually mean? Why is this necessary?
Distributing News
The Fundamentals.
At its core, distributing news is just the process of sharing firsthand information with those not there to experience it. Outside of our immediate communities, receiving news is one of the only ways that we are able to experience the world around us.
Our worldview is molded by our access to this information.
Despite its importance, everyone seems to be aware that our current system of distributing news is broken.
The Current Environment.
Traditional publications compete for market share by carving out a niche audience. From the journalists they hire to the sources of their funding, editorial boards curate a specific point of view to align with their readers’ existing beliefs. While journalists have access to the resources of a large institution, they must commit to years of career progression to have the opportunity to pitch their own ideas to their editors — who have full control over what gets published in the end. Readers are not offered any new perspectives despite paying for a premium subscription.
Social media allows for anyone to share their thoughts — as long as they fall within opaque community guidelines. The major platforms have complete control over their closed networks, which they wield by taking nearly 100% of the revenue generated by the writers who create the content. Only those who are passionate enough about an uncommon belief are willing to commit the time to posting on social media without pay. The result is the elevation of fringe voices, further radicalized by algorithms that are fundamentally geared towards generating controversy. These platforms build their businesses by prioritizing user interactions they can sell to advertisers. The readers are the products of these platforms. Value flows from readers to advertisers rather than from journalists to readers.
Independent journalists own their work, but they must devote considerable time and effort to building their own subscriber bases. In the end, the majority of independent platforms are unable to compete with institutional publications and social media behemoths. Some savvy readers are able to seek out a few good independent subscriptions, but their reward for their awareness is to overpay for specialized content from a single source.
News aggregators attempt to solve the single-source problem, but they are merely a bandaid on the issues underlying the content generated by traditional publications.
These business models are all just different forms of the same old machine.
The Antiquated Machine.
There has not been a meaningful breakthrough in the business of news since editorial boards and advertising gained prominence in the early 1800s — when the news was circulated by boats and horses.
Yes, our circulation channels have changed meaningfully. We can now transfer information around the world in an instant, but the incentive structures behind the routing of this information have been left unchanged.
Flaws that once existed on the margins of these business models are societal in scale now that we can share a piece of information with billions of people around the globe in a fraction of a second.
It is about time that we utilize our modern technology to effectively manage the distribution of information throughout society.
Decentralized
Trust.
Decentralization is a lovely buzzword, but it represents the key to solving our current problem with news distribution — a problem of trust.
If we want to get news from outside of our immediate community, we must rely on strangers to produce it. How can we trust that what they are sharing is factually accurate and relevant?
Historically, the only option was to rely on trusted intermediaries — traditional publications or corporate social platforms. We were able to place our trust in an established entity, and they would handle the gathering of news from verified sources. We accepted this tradeoff. We gave up control over what news we received in exchange for the confidence that it was all news we could trust.
These “trusted” intermediaries have failed in this mission.
Their incentive structures have led them to prioritize reader engagement over factual reporting. There is little consequence for misinformation when your opponents are not your customers and hasty news cycles cover your mistakes.
We placed our trust in these institutions and they sold it to advertisers.
Closed Loops.
We will admit, centralized publications were a good first-generation product when we lacked alternatives.
Though as we gather around these centralized publishers, the continuous reinforcement of existing beliefs results in tightly-clustered communities that lack diversity of thought — closed loops. Information does not flow freely through a network of this structure. Ideas are restricted and edited along every point of relay.
We do not believe there is malicious intent behind our centralized publications. Instead, we simply believe that these flaws are a quality of our current systems of distribution. These problems can be solved by removing the bottlenecks from the network.
The Efficiency of Decentralization.
We no longer have to accept the tradeoff of control for trust. We no longer have to rely on the centralized intermediaries that restrict the flow of information.
Decentralization means that participants in the network can be connected directly to the source rather than through single points of control. Previously, this would have been impossible given the problem of trust. However, over the last decade, we have developed new technologies that allow us to build this trust directly into the network itself. We can establish immutable guidelines that allow people the confidence to effectively work together, eliminating the need for a central authority. Decentralization democratizes the control of the network.
By removing the middleman, we can pass more value on to those who are creating the content and moderating the platform. Importantly, we are able to do this while prioritizing and incentivizing the accuracy and availability of relevant information.
The Aemula Protocol
The Vision.
Writers own their work and get paid for their contributions. Along with owning their work, they will also own their reputation and the consequences of misrepresenting information. If we want to attract the best, a full-time writer should be able to earn an income that is competitive with a job at a major publication. Aligned incentives result in real people sharing real news.
Readers can place their trust in a network that contains the full diversity of sources, all through one subscription. They can also trust that their subscriptions are used to reward the writers they appreciate. They will have full transparency into the fact that there is no outside influence on the content they receive. Privacy is ensured. Users own their data — they will not be sold as products.
The community owns the governance and moderation of the network. Willing readers are rewarded for their vigilance in holding writers accountable. A writer’s work is reviewed by diverse selections of their peers. No single entity controls the flow of information. No single entity has complete authority to censor opposing beliefs.
Everyone is paid for their work. You only pay for the value you receive. There is no frictional loss to the middleman.
This is a more efficient system.
Requirements.
It must be diverse
It is open to everyone
With diverse perspectives, readers can join with their existing beliefs and explore new information over time
A diverse population can promote a common consensus rather than fragmented, fringe beliefs
It must be incentive-aligned
Writers, moderators, and governors own their work and their reputations, and they are compensated fairly for the value they create — everyone is working towards a common goal
The platform is free from outside influence — readers own their attention
Aemula is incentivized to increase throughput of the network, which increases its value to the entire community
It must be decentralized
No single entity controls the flow of information
Governance and moderation are owned by the community
The algorithm serving content is open-sourced, human-readable, and democratically controlled
With a straightforward set of rules, users don’t need to question what to trust. Instead, they can focus their time and energy on creating, sharing, and maintaining high-quality information.
Why does this all matter?
Symptoms of a Problem.
People are different and have unique perspectives, so it isn’t surprising that people argue on the internet.
What has always shocked us though is how the media portrays us all as being deeply divided. This is vastly different from our day-to-day experience of meeting and interacting with new people. Most everyone is capable of finding common ground.
It is clear that the media is only highlighting the extremes while ignoring the moderate majority.
Anyone connected to the internet has the ability to access the entire base of human knowledge in an instant, so why does it feel as though we are only seeing news from the fringes when we log on? This should be a super power, but it feels as though we are passive witnesses to a mundane dystopia.
These are symptoms of a deeper problem with how we are receiving our information.
We are one big computer.
This may be getting too abstract, but hear us out…
We all work together to achieve things that no single person could possibly achieve. Humanity is a prime example of emergence, the concept that many simple things can work together to create something that exceeds the sum of its parts.
Our global economy is incredibly complex, but this complexity generates a growing excess of resources that increases the quality of life for people around the world. As we move forward, we are sure to experience increasingly complex problems. Innovation is not inevitable. We must constantly work together to solve new problems as they arise.
Our ability to problem solve is a function of our collective intelligence. People receive, process, and share information to collectively work on large-scale projects. We operate as one large neural network. The power of this network is only limited by the number of people and the ease at which they can communicate.
Our focus with Aemula is on communication.
The Allocation of Information.
To date, nearly all of our advancements in communication have been focused on increasing the speed at which two people can communicate. We can now transfer information at the speed of light. We are nearing the limits of efficiency in this regard.
However, we have neglected to devote significant resources to determining how to route information effectively. Yes, two people can communicate instantaneously, but how are we ensuring that the information is flowing to the correct people along the shortest path? Currently, that flow of information is restricted by our centralized distribution systems and controlled by conflicting incentives.
We believe information is our greatest resource. Currently, it is not being allocated correctly.
This is the problem that we must solve.
The Mission
To support and promote the efficient exchange of information and ideas, optimizing humanity’s ability to collaborate effectively.
