It might be a shock to many to learn that there is no definitive answer to the question of when the first computer was invented. Indeed, what `computation’ is precisely is more of a philosophical debate than a practical one. Computers do computations, which are calculations that follow a well-defined model, which humans also do – so are humans the first computers….? You see the transition to philosophy.

With this note, let's ask a more straightforward question  – when did a computer, as we commonly think of them, first drastically alter the world? When did bits and bytes move the atoms around them in a history-altering manner?

Cracking Enigma

I will put forth a candidate answer – during WW II when Alan Turing developed a computational machine (see picture above) to decrypt German codes. The German codes were encrypted and decrypted by something the Germans called the “Enigma Machine.”

The story is wonderfully told in the movie “The Imitation Game.” The following lines early in the film set the stage for the dramatic story.

Alan Turing: I like solving problems, Commander. And Enigma is the most difficult problem in the world.

Commander Denniston: Enigma isn’t difficult, it's impossible (...) Enigma is unbreakable. 

Alan Turing: Good, Let me try, and we’ll know for sure, won’t we?

(I won’t do Mr. Turing justice in this short article, but suffice it to say he is one of the most interesting and influential people of all time).

Leading up to the war, the Germans devised a plan of attack known as “Blitzkrieg” which centered on coordinating large-scale surprise attacks. The Germans desperately wanted to avoid being bogged down in the trench warfare of WW I. Avoid this by attacking in large numbers unexpectedly, thus overwhelming the enemy before they can establish a defensive position.

This was an exercise not so much in military power using bombs, tanks, and guns, but in accurately transmitting information to a select group of people over large distances. It was an exercise in coordination, and the Germans carried it out brilliantly at the war's outset.

Imagine the frustration of those on the receiving end of the German offensive. The Germans orchestrated the attacks with freely available signals. From the start of the war, the Allies could easily intercept German transmissions. What they couldn’t do was understand what they meant.

There is a very nuanced and interesting dynamic. German faith that the code could not be decrypted was of utmost importance. If the code could be decrypted, there would be no faith in the attack. The Germans had to be certain the surprise attack was indeed a surprise. You could reasonably argue that without being able to confidently rely on the element of surprise, which relied on the impossibility of cracking their code, they would not have gone to war in the first place. Coordination was everything.

In the movie, the good guy, Alan Turing, defeats the bad guys by disabling their ability to coordinate, but let’s not lose sight of the story's thesis -- coordination is a powerful tool, but we must harness it for good; the world needs “good” Enigma Machines. Enter Web3.

The Coordination Game

Coordination, the ability for large groups of actors to work together for their common interest, is one of the most powerful forces in the universe ~ Vitalik Buterin

Turing’s most famous paper centered on what he called the imitation game, more commonly known as the “Turing Test.” The test is simple enough - can you tell the difference between a computer and a human? If you can’t, then for the sake of the test, the computer is complex enough to make the following dimension irrelevant - flesh and bones or metal and plastic.

I will describe the coordination game in similar simplicity. The coordination game is the ability of Web3 to enable large-scale global coordination to such a degree that distance, borders, and legal identity do not matter.

Does it matter for the outcome of a project if you know nothing more than information on the blockchain? Can Web3 harness the power of coordination irrespective of the following dimensions - friend or stranger, fellow citizen or foreigner, known identity or anonymous? Can Web3 become complex enough to make these dimensions irrelevant? Again, if only for the sake of the mission at hand.

It’s certainly not an easy test to pass. Is it imaginable that ten people in different countries spread out across the globe who know nothing more than each other’s eth addresses could coordinate as well as ten people in the same city who have each other’s full resumes and legal names? It would be tough, perhaps impossible.

Computation → Coordination

The article offers a couple of insights: (1) computation and coordination are connected and powerful, but it isn’t a guarantee they will be used for good, and (2) people can do amazing things.

Solving the coordination game seems highly unlikely, but sometimes the impossible is possible. Passing the Turing Test and cracking Enigma appeared impossible -- yet, the test was passed, and the code was cracked.

Web3 is founded by dreamers trying to solve problems many deem unsolvable, yet -

Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine ~ Alan Turing