1980s BlockStream: I got it! "Digital Mailbox!"
Me: Hmm. Interesting. Tell me more.
BS: Well. You get physical paper messages of all types in your mailbox, right? We got these computers and this internet thing coming online...what if you recieved the messages electronically? And securely? Like a digital mailbox!
Me: Sounds cool. You know if I think this through... if this digital mailbox can receive messages it can just as easily send messages too. At all times. And I could send group messages or individual messages of any size to many people in a much more effective way than using the post office. Like electronic mail! Email! Maybe we could also-
BS: No! Forget Email. This is a Digital Mailbox. Its designed to be like your actual mailbox but digitally for the internet 🙃
Me: Could you further explain? Maybe I'm confused
BS: Sure no problem. We receive mail today and the store of those messages is your physical mailbox. Well we're going to need a place to store our digital messages which we'll eventually receive from our friends, family, and colleagues over the internet. Its technology. It's the future. Its headed in that direction. The Digital Mailbox will be able to receive messages from people all over the world. And you'll be able to access that mailbox 5 times a day! Let's be honest people only go to their mailbox once a day. Twice maximum. Our technology will allow users to check the mail up to 5 times every 24 hours! You can't get that in real life because the post office closes by 5pm 🤷♂️
Me: I...see. So tell me again why I couldn't send a message with this same technology?
BS: Too cumbersome and expensive for the network. Also does your mailbox send mail? No it receives it.
Me: But I can place a letter inside my own mailbox and lift the stick thingy and the mail man will collect it the next day and mail it to where it needs to go?
BS: Yes and that can still be done today. Digital Mailbox doesn't interfere with that🙃
Me: Yeah but if digital mailbox can receive messages why can't it also--
BS: Its a store of messages. Meant to hold all the messages you receive from the internet. That's what its designed for. A different technology and network "on top of" the Digital Mailbox will do the sending - The Letter Network. Otherwise the digital mailbox network would become too congested and break down if we allowed individuals to send many messages per day. The way we set it up is our current mail system and physical network of post offices will have the specific Letter Network software in place to scan the messages you drop off and they'll upload it to the Digital Mailbox network throughout the day and the recipient will see the message arrive in their digital mailbox safe and sound. Our modern post office delivers physical messages once per day. With Digital Mailbox and the Letter Network they'll be "delivering" your messages up to 5 times per day! Isn't that awesome!
Me: uh...yeah. The receiving of messages seems cool and interesting...But I feel we could do better with the sending of messages side of things...
BS: Huh? Besides the Letter Network, sending of messages can be solved by "side solutions" like a facsimile (fax) machine, or a person can type their message on their word processor and utilize their printer to print it out and take their message to the post office or a private mail carrier such as FedEx. Those large private businesses, in addition to having a robust physical message delivery system in place, will now also have custodial Letter Network software designating them as "digital letter carriers" and those "digital letter carriers" will be able to send your important digital messages to your digital mailbox 🙃
Me: This is getting complicated. At first you started off by saying family, friends, and colleagues will be sending/receiving digital messages for storage. To receive you have to send, no?
BS: I know what I started off saying but the sending part just won't work. But look we're creating a big opportunity for innovation in the Letter Network!
Me: ...
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/btc/comments/mcmu4g/the_digital_mailbox/
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