Sarcophagus, a decentralized dead man's switch application built on Ethereum and Arweave.
When creating Sarcophagus, we wanted to keep a few megatrends in mind. One of the most important trends of our era is the shift from conventional warfare to digital. During the Cold War, superpowers fought by displaying military might and funding small proxy wars. In the late 20th century through today, superpowers wage wars against specific ideologies.
As we enter the next phase of human warfare, we will see a shift in power dynamics from use of raw materials and human labor to human creativity and innovation.
Human innovation has forever advanced warfare, and individuals like Mikhail Kalashnikov and John Browning have invented weapons that thrive today largely unchanged.
We'd like to think that the world in which Kalashnikov invented the AK-47 (1947) or when Browning released the M1911 (1911) was wildly different from the world we live in today.
But we’d be wrong. We may have more powerful weapons, global air travel, and instant communications, but the driving forces behind these innovations haven’t changed. We still experience the same strife, hunger and subjugation.
Our goal in creating Sarcophagus is to hand back a little bit of power to the person with nothing more than an internet connection. We want the creative forces of warfare to err in favor of the individual, and we believe that the power of decentralization mixed with strong cryptography is the best way to achieve this goal.
Stuxnet was a masterpiece, and it was unveiled to the public in 2010 - the same year Instagram was founded and the iPhone 4 was released. The tech world has changed a lot since then, and so has the crypto landscape.
Since digital warfare does not require the same natural resources or financial expenditures as traditional warfare, we expect a playing field that is more egalitarian than the military powers of the late 20th century. Digital weapons are created, bought, and sold in a different type of market than before. Digital arms don’t get delivered by transport plane stamped with a country of origin; they move anonymously on the dark web.
We think of Sarcophagus as a tool in a personal digital arsenal. It may not hold the same significance as the rifle on a soldier’s back; but neither does a cellphone. They are both important tools that are owned by billions.
Either might save your life.