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Zooko and Houdini: A Flatland Parable

Introductory informative

Maintainer: Daniel Hardman · 2024-06-20 · checked 2026-10-15

A primer by Daniel Hardman that uses a Flatland parable to argue that Zooko's triangle (an identifier can be at most two of secure, decentralized and human-friendly) dissolves once human-friendliness is treated as local to each user, like entries in an address book. It recommends discovering identifiers through attributes people choose and resolving to secure, decentralized identifiers when a protocol runs. For readers thinking about identifier naming and usability.

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