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Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has registered the dacc.eth domain name today, months after publishing a blog post about the idea of defensive accelerationism.
The registration has sparked speculation about what Vitalik intends to do under the new domain name.
Buterin Advocates for Responsible Tech Growth
The term d/acc stands for Defensive (or Decentralized or Differential) Acceleration. It entered the tech lexicon in November 2023 after Buterin published a blog post espousing the idea to counter the more popular effective accelerationism (e/acc) trend that many tech leaders have embraced.
In his post titled “My techno-optimism,” Buterin responded to the techno-optimist manifesto by a16z co-founder Marc Andreessen. He called for a more balanced approach to technological development.
The posts emphasized the risks of new technologies, particularly artificial intelligence (AI). According to him, AI could cause human extinction if it goes wrong if a super-intelligent AI decides to turn against humans. However, there are other risks, such as the rise of digital authoritarianism due to AI developments.
“More generally, my basic fear is that the managerial technologies that allow OpenAI to serve over a hundred million customers with 500 employees will also allow a 500-person political elite, or even a 5-person board, to maintain an iron fist over an entire country,” Buterin said.
So, Buterin presents d/acc as a strategy to prevent future AI dominance or any development misstep that could harm humanity as a whole. With d/acc, he advocates for a cautious approach to development. This would be done by maintaining a more democratic world that “avoids centralization as the go-to solution to our problems.”
Although he admitted that regulators have been slow in approving scientific developments, particularly in the health sector, he believes proponents of e/acc have taken it too far. He highlighted using AI for military purposes as one of those extreme use cases.
With d/acc, Vitalik wants a future where all tech developments are first rooted in defense rather than offense. This means considering how many people are saved by the technology. Further, it would also mean considering how it will preserve democracy and freedom rather than a tool of dominance.
“The ‘d’ here can stand for many things; particularly, defense, decentralization, democracy and differential,” Buterin wrote.
In conclusion, Buterin’s proposal called on stakeholders such as policymakers, politicians, tech developers, and even the public to collaborate on developing technologies that maximize benefits and mitigate risks.
“A d/acc message says ‘you should build, and build profitable things, but be much more selective and intentional in making sure you are building things that help you and humanity thrive,'” the Ethereum co-founder chimed.