~ liveness in network and software production ~ 1. "liveness" is typically understood as a network property (that ). ethereum's multi-client norms are an important underpinning of network guarantees: when a mainnet issue creates downtime for any single client, validators running other releases are still able to propose blocks. another frame: members of a choir stagger their breathing to maintain a note/chord longer than any single singer could 2. to execute consistently at a high level, "liveness" also needs to exist at the level of software production aka political economy. can also be termed as reliability/hardness a la @0xstark. (this post partially inspired from the bridge atlas episode "paradigms" with nils gilman http://youtube.com/watch?v=GUxwGds2uJU) "live players" make "live production systems" with healthy immune systems and capture resistance we see this property surfacing in our ability to coordinate multiyear pipelining of parallel research workstreams (ie verkle, post quantum, zkEVMs, benchmarking, censorship resistance) which feed into multiple network upgrades (glamsterdam, H-star, I-star), all while maintaining and improving core competencies (node quality of life features like sync, peering, networking, RPC, state mgmt etc) all of this work requires hundreds of focused and motivated contributors. proper support (financially, socially, politically, psychologically) gives greater stability among the set (low % churn) which reinforces our ability to pipeline complex feature releases on long timelines to continue on ethereum's ambitious path towards world computer, we must support these contributors proportional to their impact consistent and appropriately scaled funding is a big part of this. curious to learn more? check out @ProtocolGuild - the only onchain endowment directly funding these individuals(trent.eth)