Presentation: Spritely: Infrastructure for the Future of the Internet

Spritely is an innovative infrastructure project aimed at shaping the future of the internet. Executed by Christine Lemmer-Webber, Executive Director of the Spritely Institute, and David Thompson, CTO, this research-based organization focuses on user freedom and human-oriented technologies. Spritely's charm lies in its approach, employing cute, adorable monsters to represent various projects, highlighting its commitment to building resilient applications.

The conference, QCon London, presents a platform for technical team leads, architects, engineering directors, and project managers to share knowledge and innovation. Lemmer-Webber and Thompson emphasize the importance of decentralization, capable of solving core challenges and offering secure, peer-to-peer applications without central servers.

They discuss capability-based access control through Goblins, actor-model communication via OCapN, and petname systems. These advancements are facilitated by Scheme, WebAssembly (Hoot), and local-first CRDTs. Spritely's projects are designed to address potential pitfalls, such as centralized technology's vulnerabilities, legislative moats, and the risk of enshitification.

Discord serves as a relevant example, highlighting the need for resilient applications that can withstand legislative threats, backdoors, and enshitification. By empowering users with secure, decentralized alternatives, Spritely seeks to create a healthier, more user-friendly internet landscape.