Interpersonal Distributed Computing

Over the past few weeks, I have continued to work on the personal server I mentioned in an earlier entry. It is common to talk about having your own website, or a personal computer, but the idea of curating a server as your own digital home is less common. Yet, I have found that having a server unlocks many cool possibilities. I am currently working on a personal internal website where I visualize and add hypermedia controls to be able to change things directly from my phone. Now, I can build many of the personal tools that I've wanted to have, and that have never worked out before, because I haven't had a good way to sync between my devices. For example, now I can easily add a mobile interface to my todo.txt. I also added custom hyperlink schemes and URL shorteners that work across devices.

I can imagine an alternative future where people curate their own digital spaces, but these spaces would not just be public websites or files on a computer. Instead, they'd be more fluid: like private digital homes where you could easily invite people and select what "rooms" they can have access to. These spaces wouldn't be tied down to pre-built "cloud services" or "social media". Auth would happen on the network level, for example with Wireguard, and users could set up their own virtual homes where they limit access based on virtual IP addresses, which would eschew the need for "auth" portals. The boundaries between what is an app, a social media, or a tool would blur.

- Marc