LN isn't permissioned in the sense you need a third party -- you just need a second party (the one you are transacting with).
LN pretends to be permissionless by saying about no third party(word play).. but LN hides the requirement of 2nd party(again word play).
funny part is. LN is permissioned.. even without a 3rd party 'bank'.. they try to trivialise 2nd party
try to put $100 into your spouses handbag. and then knowing you need her agreement to move it. is needing her permission.
if you ever had a dual bank account with a partner you know arguments erupt when you want to buy another woman some jewellery but need your wifes signature.
But Frankie, do you know of any good articles that explain how the 'i won't have to open a channel with everyone else' problem
is actually solved (presumably with decrementing timelocks?) The white paper is fairly vague.
there are many LN concepts.
several called lightning, and others called things like thunder, flare etc. all with different mechanisms.
at the moment the concepts are changing and finding new ways of working due to many attack/blackmail/internal contract squabbling that can occur to break contracts
id say there isnt really an upto date paper thats articulate and finalised. even now the LN devs are hating HTLC and preferring to go the route of schnorr+other mechanism