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1+---
2+sort: 2
3+type: post
4+title: Mission statement
5+author: Galen Wolfe-Pauly
6+image: http://urbit.s3.amazonaws.com/16-3-10/blog-2.jpg
7+preview: To build human-centered, general-purpose tools for making, thinking and communicating.
8+layout: urbit,post
9+navmode: navbar
10+navdpad: false
11+navselect: blog
12+navpath: /
13+navhome:
14+navclass: urbit
15+---
16+
17+# Beliefs
18+
19+We believe strongly in the value of individual creativity. To maximize our individual creative potential we believe that general-purpose tools are an essential resource. Cloud computing has become an inexorable part of human life, and yet the individual toolset for putting it to work is in decline. We believe that general-purpose computing ought to be a human right, and that it is sorely underserved by the web today.
20+
21+Urbit is built to reconcile this dilemma: to provide a general-purpose computing platform for individuals to use in the cloud. We believe that individuals shouldn’t need to pay any cost in terms of usability, accessibility or reliability in exchange for ownership, privacy or control.
22+
23+We believe that Code is Law, that the technical constraints of the systems we use to communicate and coordinate act as the governing framework of our digital lives. We believe that the discussion of how our software should work needs to be inclusive and expansive. We welcome debate and criticism in our development process. Urbit is open source and always will be.
24+
25+We believe in free speech and we believe in personal accountability. Today we live on a network where harassment pays no cost and censorship can be unilateral. The Urbit network is designed to combat both these problems. Urbit addresses are finite, have a cost, and more importantly are designed to be permanent. Harassment, abuse or spam are all easily combated at the network layer. The Urbit network is para-decentralized, meaning you have to get an address from someone already on the network and you rely on someone for p2p discovery. You’re not tied to any single parent, but you’re accountable to someone for maintaining your network services. While others can’t censor you, someone must support you.
26+
27+We believe that a healthy network is one with diverse well-defined communities and clear, user-controlled, boundaries between public and private. We believe that to achieve this state the network must be designed to become inescapably more decentralized over time. That if a distribution of power enforced at the systems level is absolutely necessary.
28+
29+Lastly we believe that no software system can replace human trust and communication. Urbit has been carefully designed with this in mind. Discourse and dialogue are an important part of communities of all scales. Code and law can successfully reduce conflict only to a point, when too far reaching they become oppressive.
30+
31+We hope you can join us in building a new platform to satisfy these goals. Critique is as valuable as commits. Our hope is simply that we can preserve the promise of general-purpose computing since its positive effect on humankind is so deeply significant.
32+
33+# Principles
34+
35+A constitution must proceed from a position of general agreement
36+on basic principles. Those
37+
38+Here are some principles of Urbit. Where principles conflict,
39+the first stated takes precedence.
40+
41+## Digital independence
42+
43+Digital independence is independent control of your own
44+general-purpose computer which holds your own primary data.
45+Urbit's ultimate purpose is to make practical digital
46+independence a useful and widely available product.
47+
48+## Code is law
49+
50+Wherever possible, the rules of Urbit must be executable as code.
51+Wherever possible, code must be self-enforcing. If not, it must
52+be perfectly defined. If not, it must not be stated.
53+
54+## Sovereignty is conserved
55+
56+Even where code is law, exceptional situations demanding
57+effective collective action will always arise. There must
58+always be a collective authority to solve these problems.
59+
60+Two known problems in Urbit that require central authority are
61+approval of software updates and activation of the network. But
62+there will certainly be others.
63+
64+## Purpose of collective authority
65+
66+Urbit is a republic. Its government has one task: promoting,
67+preserving and protecting Urbit. It may take any legal action
68+which advances this goal. Any other actions are *ultra vires*,
69+out of scope. Urbit is not a general-purpose charity.
70+
71+## Decentralized control
72+
73+Urbit should never fall under any kind of central control. All
74+transitions in galaxy ownership should divide positions, not
75+unite them.
76+
77+Galaxy and star ownership should also be separated. It is
78+harmful for a single entity to hold both galaxies and stars.
79+
80+## Property is contingent
81+
82+Property rights are contingent and accidental, not moral or
83+meritorious. A property register does not record why an owner
84+deserves some property. Ownership is neither a reward nor a
85+right; it is a fact.
86+
87+## Governance is by stake
88+
89+Ultimately, Urbit must be governed by those who own it. In each
90+tier, equal stakes must hold equal authority.
91+
92+## Content-neutral
93+
94+Urbit does not admit a tradeoff between anarchy and tyranny,
95+order and liberty. Urbit has zero tolerance for abuse, nor does
96+it facilitate censorship.
97+
98+Urbit will do everything possible to help you block content you
99+don't want to see. It does nothing to help you block content you
100+don't want others to see.
101+
102+## Trolling considered harmful
103+
104+If you post content on Urbit which may offend or disturb any
105+significant group of users, it is your responsibility to mark it
106+properly for automatic blocking.
107+
108+## Sockpuppets considered harmful
109+
110+The only legitimate reason for one individual to use multiple
111+identities is to maintain multiple active pseudonyms. But
112+multiple identities must never interact in the same context.
113+
114+## Not a darknet
115+
116+Urbit is not a darknet. It does not break real-world laws. It
117+is not designed to facilitate the breaking of real-world laws.
118+For any problem that lawbreakers have, there must always be a
119+better solution that is not Urbit.
120+
121+## Responsibility to route
122+
123+As long as they are not facilitating violations of any of these
124+principles, or laws in their own jurisdictions, stars and
125+galaxies are responsible for routing their children. They are
126+also collectively responsible for escape-routing the children of
127+stars and galaxies which fail in their responsibility.