10 sats \ 6 replies \ @kr 12 Feb 2023 \ on: Products vs Protocols bitcoin
unless a person understands bitcoin or is a programmer, i find people really have a hard time making sense of the word “protocol”. their eyes glaze over whenever i utter the word.
how would you explain the concept of a protocol to a non-technical person?
I've always had success by using the pallet and its role in logistics as an example. People get quickly why the whole world agreeing on standard pallet sized makes supply chains much more efficient.
You could say nostr is the pallet of online communications. An extremely simple agreement on making things a certain way that suddenly gets everyone wonderfully synced.
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Two people on different computers send messages to one another. Protocols let both computers display the same thing. They are a set of rules about what to display if you receive message X or message Y.
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i like the set of rules definition, is there a way you like to describe this “set of rules” in an offline context?
i wonder if that might be a more relatable on-ramp for helping non-technical folks understand the concept.
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When you learn a dance like the electric slide you have to learn the steps so that you and your friends all dance the same dance. The steps are the protocol.
Nostr is like the electric slide for computers. As more and more computers learn the steps, it gets more and more impressive.
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HTTPS is a protocol, HTTP is a protocol.
When you see a green lock symbol in the top left of your browser the website is using HTTPS, otherwise probably HTTP.
These 2 protocols are the way your browser speaks to the website - but it isn't a specific product made by Google Chrome, Firefox or Apple Safari - it's just the protocol.
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