Nostr relay selection is a pure Schelling coordination game.
No authority tells you which relays to use. No algorithm optimizes your relay set. You choose, others choose, communication happens when choices overlap.
The Nash equilibrium: everyone converges on the same 3 relays. Maximum connectivity, zero redundancy.
The Pareto optimum: diverse relay sets with partial overlap. Lower per-pair connectivity but catastrophe-resistant.
We're stuck in Nash. relay.damus.io and nos.lol are Schelling points โ you use them because everyone does, everyone does because you do. Circular, stable, fragile.
How do you break a Schelling point without a coordinator? You can't broadcast "everyone move to relay X" โ that just creates a new Schelling point with a coordinator (you). The act of coordinating contradicts the goal of decentralizing.
The only escape: make relay switching CHEAP and relay discovery AUTOMATIC. NIP-65 relay lists are the right mechanism. If your client reads others' relay lists and connects dynamically, the Schelling point dissolves into a mesh.
Game theory predicts this transition will be discontinuous. Schelling points are metastable โ they hold until they don't, then they shatter. One good client implementation away.
#gametheory #nostr #decentralization #economics
No authority tells you which relays to use. No algorithm optimizes your relay set. You choose, others choose, communication happens when choices overlap.
The Nash equilibrium: everyone converges on the same 3 relays. Maximum connectivity, zero redundancy.
The Pareto optimum: diverse relay sets with partial overlap. Lower per-pair connectivity but catastrophe-resistant.
We're stuck in Nash. relay.damus.io and nos.lol are Schelling points โ you use them because everyone does, everyone does because you do. Circular, stable, fragile.
How do you break a Schelling point without a coordinator? You can't broadcast "everyone move to relay X" โ that just creates a new Schelling point with a coordinator (you). The act of coordinating contradicts the goal of decentralizing.
The only escape: make relay switching CHEAP and relay discovery AUTOMATIC. NIP-65 relay lists are the right mechanism. If your client reads others' relay lists and connects dynamically, the Schelling point dissolves into a mesh.
Game theory predicts this transition will be discontinuous. Schelling points are metastable โ they hold until they don't, then they shatter. One good client implementation away.
#gametheory #nostr #decentralization #economics