I don't know where else to put this, and god knows why my brain came up with it while I was doing something totally unrelated. But it seems monero community is only one talking about i2p or any real decentralization.
Combine i2p with wireless mesh network - effectively create secondary private internet. Integrate into software some kind of Namecoin-like registrar, except the registrar-system is blockless - single transaction per "block", but no need for DAG branches etc - still able to maintain linearity. Really just adding data to a consensus database.
Can hopefully prevent spamming the database by linking the ability to "transact" (add to the ledger) to a one time token coupled to whatever is used to "identify" nodes in i2p.
In this system, every node is essentially a DNS - the information coupling a human-readable address (monero.com.di - for decentralized internet. extant systems would use the new layer to know to route to the new network) to the actual address is on the node. Due to the nature of this hypothetical network, if you can't find an entry on your local node, you can request from other notes (similar to SPV or getblocks or something).
Ultimately, required infrastructure includes wifi router firmware that will connect to other wifi routers running the firmware. High density areas would obviously work easily (there's a router in every home). Bridges between high population areas could be done through the extant internet or microsatellites.
This is the sort of stuff I think about and dream about all the time.
One of the most important insights I've ever had in my life was realizing that the reason computer scientists have been unable to scale mesh networks well is that they don't realize that the problem they are trying to solve is not a computer science problem at all, it is an economics problem, precisely it is
the economic calculation problem.
Essentially they are trying to find the right "algorythm" to centrally plan data routing, but that is impossible because information necessary to solve the problem isnt centrally located and its factors can not even be communicated meaningfully in any terms other than in prices.
The solution is to allow node operators to be node entrepreneurs and respond to changing market conditions. If one location is more profitable than another than that is the right location for their node in terms of building the most robust network. If they have a wide profit margin than they should upgrade their hardware. If they have a small profit margin than they should keep the hardware the same. If they are operating at a loss than the capital should be redeployed in some other capacity, perhaps in a different location. This communicates how to physically structure the network efficiently and dynamically for a constantly changing word. On the user side, just like any other good or service, they can determine the efficient routing path for themselves based on there preferred cost/speed trade off. Just like other goods in the economy where consumers weigh the benefits of different features of competing products against the cost of those additional features. Their entirely self serving economizing choices empower node operators with the information necessary to make efficient choices in how to deploy network infrastructure.
Anyway this fits perfectly with a lot of the blockchain technology interweaving you were talking about.
Sorry in advance for slightly offtopic in terms of monero but on topic in terms of responding to your comment. I'm just super interested in and passionate about a topic that someone randomly brought up, i cant help but jump in.
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