This whole effort is a bet that people will want their data—not just identifying information, but details about their activities, spending habits, etc.—recorded in a digital record for years to come. If willing, that data could be used to group people based on shared experiences and qualities. Cities might have a special group of fans who attended Taylor Swift’s latest tour, or those who have a degree in cybersecurity, or who eat frequently at different places in New York.
Rubin laid out his vision with WIRED and explained how he will navigate the most delicate issues: moderation, control of misuse and effects of digital media. The kind of drawbacks that have dogged the platforms Towns hopes to topple.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Joel Khalili: How did the idea for Towns come about?
Ben Rubin: I started my career as an architect. After studying the architecture of real buildings, one of the things that continues to guide me in everything I do is how to bring people together in very particular ways. I still consider myself an architect, but the medium I work in is digital.
So it wasn’t just about keeping track of Houseparty or taking on Discord and WhatsApp.
As we become more and more connected, there is the possibility of influencing the spaces that really affect the way we communicate, our intimacy, etc. There are things that cannot be built with bricks but can be built with the digital world, and vice versa.
Of course.
One of the cool things about Houseparty is that it’s a two-way structure, like Facebook, where I send you a friend request and you have to accept it. It’s not just about following you, like on Instagram. Every time you have a conversation with your friends, like at a house party, where you might be talking to someone you don’t know, I can walk up and say, “Hi.”
With Towns we continue this mission of showing people different ways to come together. I want to explore if there are more people like me who are excited about the idea of making the internet something intimate, without it necessarily being closed.
How can you do that?
A new type of dynamic is emerging in which, through blockchain, we can for the first time bring people together based on shared experiences. This is a new type of experience that can’t happen anywhere else except Towns.
What is the closest comparison point to Towns in terms of user experience?
As a product creator, I think you can innovate in the way you bring people together on the platform or, what you do when you bring them together. You can’t do both. For example, with WhatsApp, group chat was a brand new medium at the time, but it used the address book, a familiar structure. While Houseparty used video chat, but with a new way of meeting.
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