Internet Computer – Replacing all of traditional IT with a blockchain | Dominic Williams | Fundamentals ep.68

The Internet Computer is a general-purpose blockchain that hosts canister smart contracts. It is designed to provide a World Computer that can replace traditional IT and host a new generation of Web3 services and applications that run solely from the blockchain, without the need for traditional IT. It can also play the role of Web3 orchestrator, by interacting with traditional blockchains.

In this episode with Dominic, we talk about the big vision behind the Internet Computer, and what the journey has looked like from initial idea to launching mainnet. Dominic walks us through the main technical innovations that have needed to be introduced to enable the vision for a true world computer, and we speak about the compelling real-world use cases that the IC can facilitate, and how adoption has been progressing for some of them.

Listen to the episode:

We cover the evolution of smart contracts, identity authentication, open internet services, and building tamperproof, autonomous, and sovereign infrastructure.

Tune in for a great discussion about restoring the Internet to its open, innovative, and creative roots.

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
02:01 Replacing the legacy IT stack
04:38 Building web3 services 100% onchain, instead of on AWS
07:09 The inspiration for building a World Computer
13:12 The problems with legacy IT & rethinking our backend tech platform
14:22 Fulfilling the World Computer vision: Funding, R&D, and attracting talent
18:32 A blockchain that plays the role of cloud 3.0 will always be complex
19:28 Technical innovations: Proof of useful work consensus
22:08 Technical innovations: Chain-key cryptography
24:58 Technical innovations: Reverse gas model
25:19 Technical innovations: Canister smart contract framework
27:04 Technical innovations: How blockchain became a cloud
28:23 Technical innovations: Service Nervous System (SNS) DAO
30:14 Internet Identity
33:39 Building apps on the Internet Computer
34:33 OpenChat
39:35 Chain-key tokens: a cryptography-based replacement for wrapped tokens
41:00 True composability: linking together all blockchains without bridges

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