Cypherpunk Values and Zcash Tokenomics | Zooko Wilcox - Shielded Labs

Hello. Hello. Well, I mean, we have a star-studded cast this afternoon. Um, thanks to Caitlyn. Um, that was great.

And, um, our next guest, uh, does n't really need much of an introduction. Original Cyberpunk, father of Zcash. Uh, here to talk about cyberpunk values ​​and the tokenomics of Zcash, uh, Zuko Wilcox, the one and only. Thank you. Hello.

Thank you all for coming to listen to me with your precious time. So, uh, as I was coming in here, I smelled the distinctive smell of cattle, because when it's not ETH Denver, it's the livestock show. Um, when I was convinced of this, so to speak, I really wanted to talk about Zcash tokenomics. Zcash, in case you didn't know, is unstoppable private money . And Zcash's tokenomics is very interesting and unique.

Uh, but the organizers of ETH Denver told me that the audience would really be interested in cyberpunk values. So just so you know, in my head this whole 15-minute talk is actually about Zcash tokenomics, but I really won't mention it again. I'm only going to talk about values mention it again. I'm only going to talk about values . Um.

I am an original cyberpunk. I joined the Cyberpunks mailing list in 1993. Uh, that's it, we had mailing lists before we had forums or anything. And I was a friend and collaborator of all the original Cyberpunks. Um, the three founders: Tim May, Eric Hughes and John Gilmore.

And, uh, Tim, but Tim May passed away later. I was a friend and collaborator of most or all of the original creators of Bitcoin, such as Hal Finney. Hal Finney was my friend and mentor. Uh, but Hal Finney is now encased in carbonite. And.

I was thinking about what to say about cyberpunk values. I thought, what were the values ​​of the cyberpunks? And the answer was freedom. Cyberpunks were about freedom. And when I was about 19 and I joined the cyberpunk roster, that was one of my greatest values.

I wanted to say whatever I wanted on the internet, have sex with consenting adults, own a gun, and cross state and national borders cross state and national borders . And, um. I am now 51 years old. I've been through the cyberpunks. I was involved with Bitcoin.

I was involved in the creation of Ethereum and then Zcash, and along the way I grew old and my values ​​changed I grew old and my values ​​changed . So I reflected on this while trying to prepare for this talk and thought, okay, what are my values? I truly value family. I truly value my health. It's very important to me today.

And as more and more friends and family members have passed away, I truly cherish the time I have with them while they are here. And I greatly value peace, that is, freedom from the fear of war or crime. So I was chatting about this with my son, whom I love, on my way here from Boulder, Colorado, earlier today. And I told him Boulder, Colorado, earlier today. And I told him : people have different values.

Like when we want our communities and societies to share our values. And that's good when it happens, but it's also good that different people have different values. They value some things more than others. And their values ​​change over time. And that's good because that's how we can support each other through specialization and exchange.

In the last 200 years, almost all of us have gone from having very little of what we value to an abundance of it. And the reason is that, about 200 years ago, we discovered how to specialize in exchange so that everyone could benefit without being robbed or exploited in the process. So, when I was explaining this to my son, he said that when I explained that the difference in values ​​is what gives us that potential energy or opportunity to improve each other, he said, " to improve each other, he said, " But don't you need some shared values ​​in order to be able to exchange?" So I thought about it quite a bit. I thought that , really, the main shared value you need to trade is that the person you're trading with doesn't kill you and steal your stuff, right?

You need security and to prevent a third party observing the exchange from coming and taking both of your things. And then this led me back to thinking that, in a way, the cypherpunks were right all along. That freedom is a value upon which all our other specific values ​​depend. Well, that was literally all I planned to tell you. I thought about it a lot.

I thought about it for much longer than the eight minutes it took me to say it. And I always think about it when I'm working on Zcash tokenomics, which I do all day, every day. So look me up later and I'll give you some Zcash on your phones. That's my summary of the evolution from cypherpunk values ​​to the current world. The end.

Thank you for listening.