An honest proposition to get things exponential...

[rbomze]

Mark, i heard people talking about your talk @38c3, being there. I re-encountered Reticulum via Lora and i think it's maybe the best invention in applied computer science in the last years... since the invention of the blockchain.
It is mind melting. You created the UBERNET - but just called it wrong.
I am sure your choice to call your work 'reticulum' was some geek-ish, latin sounding ... thing. But honestly it sounds like a Proctology Exam. Rename it .... name it Ubernet. I claim no rights to the name :D

[rbomze]

And yeah... i know it means 'small net' ... but this should not be ashamed of itself... it is much, much bigger.

[kc1awv]

... honestly it sounds like a Proctology Exam.

If Reticulum is a pain in the ass, stop sticking it there. 😁

[rbomze]

it is f*cking awesome! I just want to give you a very unfiltered subjective opinion and explain what one of my impressions were when i learned about it. In my eyes it is underperforming in 'marketing', compared to it's awesomeness.
And the explanation is too scientific. It needs some better visualization. I'll will give some more suggestions and feedback soon. Wanna add some hardware soon too.

[joakim]

reticulum | rɪˈtɪkjʊləm |

noun (plural reticula | rɪˈtɪkjʊlə |)

1. a fine network or netlike structure.
2. Zoology the second stomach of a ruminant, having a honeycomb-like structure, receiving food from the rumen and passing it to the omasum.

derivatives

reticulose adjective

origin

mid 17th century: from Latin, diminutive of rete ‘net’.

---

I like the first definition best. And as a fellow geek of both etymology and technology, I think it's a good name. It even has an adjective, reticulose!

I don't think it matters what it's called, though. End-users will refer to the applications built on top of it, or the resulting networks. You don't hear non-technical people talking about TCP/IP.

But there has to be a name for the (network of) networks built with Reticulum, like what the Internet is to TCP/IP. What's the name of Reticulum's "Internet"? Does it have a name?

If not, I can think of a few more options:

• Metanet (a network of networks)
• Meshnet (used by NordVPN, but who cares)
• Othernet (a satellite company, but doesn't seem to be active anymore)

[faragher]

We have the testnet. While Reticulum is generally used these days to link into a central network, it's designed to be run at any scale, meaning it could be planet-wide or just within a vehicle. Seems a silly use case, but I'm sure there's some advantage over a CAN bus. :D

I'm not a representative or authoritative, of course, but I keep encouraging people to set up and name their own networks, similar to how IRC worked. You'd have a group of closely connected systems, regionally, by interest, whatever, and they could link up to other nets at their convenience. At that point, since there is no overarchinf structure, I'm not sure a collective name is needed.

That being said, opinions differ.

[joakim]

That does make sense from a technical point of view. I was thinking more in terms of "marketing", to contrast Reticulum against the Internet for non-technical people, as an easy to grasp concept. But maybe it's best not to present Reticulum as one single alternative to the Internet, because it isn't. It's not one network, but many.

I don't even like marketing, I think "organic" evolution is better than to force a narrative. There's no rush to name something that hasn't been born yet. One day, if a network of Reticulum networks becomes global, I'm sure it will have been given a name already.

I'm actually trying to kickstart a local Reticulum network in my village, and the first thing I did was to name it :)

[faragher]

I mean, the Internet was ARPANET, The World Wide Web, the WAN, and more stuff I can't remember. At first it was a strange bridge between things like Prodigy and Comp-U-Serve, and it grew organically from there.

So, yeah, eventually a name will bubble up, but until then, throw everything at the wall to see what sticks. :D