ShoqWhat I don’t like is that “federation” implies a single governing body, which is not what many want from a federation of servers.
Source: @joyographic
https://mastodon.social/@joyographic@mstdn.social/110720040653195988
AGTMADCAT 🇬🇧🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼🇵🇸@shoq @joyographic ... What? It implies exactly the opposite. A large collection of governing bodies working together. An empire implies a unitary authority.
@AGTMADCAT @joyographic As I see it, a federation is a form of govt in which sovereign power is divided between a central authority and participating regions, so that each region retains some degree of control over its internal affairs.
To be a true Federation, a central power must exist and be given agency to enforce the rules of the Federation. We may end up there through future versions of the Masto Covenant, but we’re not there yet. We’ll soon … 1/2
have many Networks. They won’t all play nice with each other. Until they actually form a real Federation I hesitate to call them one. They can federate, yes, but that’s using a lot of license to call it a federation. They federate yes but that’s using a lot of license
, imo. 2/2
, imo. 2/2
Dan Shield@shoq IDK, if you call ActivityPub the governing entity, servers are able to do whatever they wish, as long as it's supported by the protocol. I know that's too technical for the masses, but it makes sense to the technical side of me.
@danshield @shoq This is exactly my interpretation. The protocol itself is the "central power", such as it is. It establishes the technical limitations and boundaries between instances.
@danshield That’s just a bit too technocratic for my blood. If they can do whatever they want, there is no authority. Any state can build a road under its own terms and conditions, but when a state agrees to take federal highway funds, they agree to the rules set forth by the federal government. ActivityPub protocol provides the roadbed. But it has absolutely no authority over what travels over that road (only how it travels).
Joyographic@AGTMADCAT @shoq I was just thinking about holodecks, replicators, and social progress. No one around here can agree about anything, and that's a feature not a bug...
LisPi@shoq @joyographic That's actually a really weird aspect of federation governments.
A bit like unions being barely united. Just linguistic weirdness.