Published
- 7 min read
Episode 1: The Mysterious Figure at the Tech Conference
Living in a Zero-Trust Society: My Strange Daily Life Being Overwhelmed by a WEB3.0 Fundamentalist Engineer / Can’t Use DApps Without Running a Full Node!
Note
This story is written with the assistance of generative AI for the purpose of making the Web3.0 world enjoyable to learn about. While we pay careful attention to the accuracy of technical information, we cannot guarantee that all content is completely accurate. Please use this as a supplementary learning tool and enjoy it with a relaxed mindset.
Characters
- I (The Protagonist): A novice developer who recently transitioned from being a DTP operator to an engineer
- Mr. D: A Web3.0 fundamentalist in his mid-40s with extreme vigilance and paranoia
Episode 1: “The Mysterious Figure at the Tech Conference”
The tech conference venue was overflowing with people.
Engineers from all over the country had gathered for this event titled “The Future of Web3.0,” all interested in blockchain technology. I was one of them.
Having just transitioned from being a DTP operator to an engineer, I was bewildered by my first encounter with the world of Solidity, but had begun working on the development of small-scale DApps (Decentralized Applications). For someone like me who had previously been responsible for comic book typesetting, the Web3.0 world was still shrouded in mystery.
Looking around the venue, everyone was enthusiastically exchanging business cards and discussing the latest technologies. Among all this, one figure caught my eye as distinctly out of place.
In a corner of the venue sat a man in his mid-40s, interacting with no one, frantically typing something on his laptop. He seemed completely detached from the surrounding energy, calmly and intensely focused on his screen. What made it even stranger was that small devices that looked like mobile routers were placed around him.
Driven by curiosity, I approached the man.
“Excuse me, what are you working on?”
The man glanced at me with sharp, wary eyes. Though intimidated by the silent pressure that seemed to say “Who are you?”, I didn’t back down.
“I can’t trust this conference’s Wi-Fi. Public Wi-Fi is a government surveillance device!” he said in a hushed voice. “So I’m using my personal VPN to clone and verify all the speakers’ GitHub repositories.”
His voice was low, as if being careful not to be overheard by those around him.
“Huh? But this event’s Wi-Fi is encrypted, right? There should be security measures in place…”
The man snorted.
“Encryption? What guarantee does that provide? Where’s the guarantee that the operators aren’t conducting man-in-the-middle attacks? Don’t ignorant fools like you understand even that much?”
I was taken aback by his extreme rhetoric. This guy might be dangerous… but somehow, I found myself getting interested.
He resumed typing on his keyboard. The conversation seemed to be over.
However, at that moment, I caught a glimpse of some code displayed on his laptop screen. It was Solidity code that I had recently started learning.
“Um, are you by any chance writing Solidity? I’ve recently started learning it myself. I’m involved in DApp development…”
He looked at me again. This time with a slightly interested expression.
“You’re a DApp developer?”
“No, I’m still an apprentice. I just transitioned from being a DTP operator to an engineer…”
“DTP?” He raised an eyebrow. “The printing industry. So you were a resident of the centralized world.”
There was a hint of sarcasm in his tone, but it didn’t seem malicious.
“I am D. No further information is necessary.”
That’s how he concluded his self-introduction. Perhaps he didn’t give his full name for privacy protection?
“I am…”
“Names are unnecessary,” he interrupted. “Linking physical world names to digital IDs is tantamount to suicide! It makes you traceable. Anonymity is the beauty of Web3.0.”
Despite being bewildered by his extreme wariness, I felt a strange sense of kinship with him.
“Then what should I call you?”
“If necessary, simply ‘Mr. D’ will suffice.”
And so began my strange interaction with Mr. D.
As we walked around the venue, I told Mr. D about my work.
“I’ve recently been involved in developing a small DApp. It’s a service where users can turn uploaded images into NFTs for sale…”
Mr. D suddenly stopped and frowned.
“You seem to understand nothing about DApps.”
“Huh? But DApps are decentralized applications, with servers and clients…”
“Completely wrong!” Mr. D said, clearly excited despite keeping his voice low. “The essence of DApps is having ‘no server-side.’ Applications that depend on centralized servers cannot be called DApps!”
His vehemence was enough to make people around us turn and look, causing me to recoil slightly.
“Now, here’s a quiz,” Mr. D said in a somewhat calmer voice. “What do you think is the most important characteristic of Web3.0?”
“Um… using blockchain technology?”
“Incorrect!” Mr. D wagged his finger. “That’s merely technical implementation. The essence is ‘decentralization of trust.’ Not depending on centralized authority, but establishing trust through code. This is the revolutionary aspect of Web3.0.”
Mr. D fired question after question at me.
“What is a smart contract?” “What is blockchain’s immutability?” “What is the significance of distributed ledgers?”
My answers were consistently deemed “incorrect,” followed by Mr. D’s passionate explanations. Strangely enough, though, his explanations were extremely clear and easy to understand.
When the conference ended, Mr. D invited me to a nearby cafe, saying “Let’s continue our discussion.”
Upon entering the cafe, Mr. D first surveyed the interior warily and chose a seat by the window.
“Back to the wall, view of the entrance. Basic protocol.”
He said this as if it were obvious.
After ordering and having our coffee brought to us, Mr. D continued the conversation.
“Tell me about your DApp development. What kind of smart contracts are you writing?”
As I began explaining, Mr. D would occasionally nod, sometimes making harsh criticisms. His knowledge was deep, and his critiques were precise.
When it came time to pay, the server brought the bill to our table.
“How would you like to pay?”
Mr. D pulled a small device from his pocket.
“I’d like to pay with cryptocurrency. I can’t trust currency issued by central banks. Do you accept Ethereum or Bitcoin?”
The server shook their head with a confused expression.
“I’m sorry, we only accept cash or credit cards…”
Mr. D let out a deep sigh.
“It seems the world isn’t ready yet.”
He looked at me with a serious expression and said,
“I don’t trust centralized currency. You pay.”
“What?”
Before I knew it, I ended up paying for Mr. D’s coffee too. He showed no sign of remorse, simply saying, “Think of it as part of your education.”
Before leaving the cafe, Mr. D took out a USB drive and handed it to me.
“This contains my contact information, encrypted. The encryption key is…”
He looked around warily and wrote something on a small piece of paper, then handed it to me.
“Use this to decrypt it. And either eat this paper immediately or burn it.”
“What?”
“I’m joking,” Mr. D smiled—a rare occurrence. “But I recommend disposing of it in a secure location. The digital world is full of dangers. Especially for beginners like you.”
After the event ended and I returned home, I checked the contents of the USB drive Mr. D had given me. It contained only multiple encrypted methods of contact.
This was the beginning of my strange friendship with Web3.0 fundamentalist Mr. D. His extreme actions are sometimes incomprehensible, but behind them lies deep knowledge and conviction. And in the adventures ahead, I would come to understand this time and time again.
Next Episode Preview: “Episode 2: Run a Full Node or Die”
Mr. D’s first lesson was shocking! I can’t hide my bewilderment at Mr. D’s extreme assertion that “if you want to use DApps, run your own full node”…
End of Episode 1