Lotus Upgrade: Winter 2022

Every six months on the solstice, Lotus undergoes a protocol update. The next upgrade will be on Wednesday, December 21, 2022 at 21:48 UTC. This will be our third upgrade, and represent a year and a half of hard work. The upgrades enable the software to be improved over time, as well as make new decisions about how we wish to allocate rewards.

These upgrades must happen on a routine schedule because they must be coordinated with all the participants of the network so users have sufficient time to update their software. If you use SendLotus.com, Lotus Vase, or Stamp, you do not need to take any action. However, if you participate in mining, or run backend services you must upgrade prior to the 12th of December. New binaries have been posted on the wallets page of the website.

This upgrade does not include many changes – which is a good thing. The core list of changes are:

    * Supports "Numbers" upgrade
    * Updates to Bitcoin ABC 0.24.11
    * Updates block rewardee addresses

For each upgrade we need a way to reference the changes made. Calling it "wintersolstice2022" is not very ergonomic or fun. The code name for this upgrade is "Numbers." The previous upgrades were Leviticus, Exodus, and Genesis. The names of the canonical books of the Bible in order.

The Lotus flower is a symbol of renewal; and in this project it represents community renewal. Technology should serve and foster community, and right now social media is breaking it down. The Lotus project hypothesizes that we can incentivize positive community participation through the use of a token and building software that helps communities operate as a group. This is an experiment. By naming it Lotus, we are continually reminded that its purpose is to foster community, and provide an incentive for participation in a community.

With that goal in mind, the books of the Bible were chosen to be the code names of the protocol upgrades. Whatever your take on the Bible, it is indisputably the best selling book of all time. It is a story about a community – namely the Hebrews – and their continual struggles with community breakdown, what they suffered because of the disintegration of community, and how their community spirit has been repeatedly renewed. The Jews are one of the oldest surviving communities in the world. It would be wise to learn from their history, and myths, failures, and successes.

From Wikipedia, the synopsis of the Book of Numbers:

Numbers begins at Mount Sinai, where the Israelites have received their laws and covenant from God and God has taken up residence among them in the sanctuary.^[3] The task before them is to take possession of the Promised Land. The people are counted and preparations are made for resuming their march. The Israelites begin the journey, but they "grumble" at the hardships along the way, and about the authority of Moses and Aaron.  For these acts, God destroys approximately 15,000 of them through various means.  They arrive at the borders of Canaan and send spies into the land. Upon hearing the spies' fearful report concerning the conditions in Canaan, the Israelites refuse to take possession of it. God condemns them to death in the wilderness until a new generation can grow up and carry out the task. The book ends with the new generation of Israelites in the "plains of Moab" ready for the crossing of the Jordan River.^[4]

Numbers is the culmination of the story of Israel's exodus from oppression in Egypt and their journey to take possession of the land God promised their fathers. As such it draws to a conclusion the themes introduced in Genesis and played out in Exodus and Leviticus: God has promised the Israelites that they shall become a great (i.e. numerous) nation, that they will have a special relationship with Yahweh their god, and that they shall take possession of the land of Canaan. Numbers also demonstrates the importance of holiness, faithfulness and trust: despite God's presence and his priests, Israel lacks in faith and the possession of the land is left to a new generation.

They say "culture is fractal," and every community has an internal culture. Every community has many of the same struggles. Over the last year we've been wandering around a bit aimlessly – although we do have an aim. A lot of people left because they were frustrated by what seemed like chaos, or simply because Lotus has not turned out how they imagined it would.

Everyone working on Lotus should be a leader. They should find what they're passionate about, and do it. They don't need anyone's permission. This is how we've been operating. What we failed to understand was that many people need a framework for participation. They need a clear path to figuring out what needs to be done, and how to participate. They also need a way to be compensated for their work. Every effort has expenses, and XPI – being priceless – is not something that can be used to pay for those expenses.

During the next six months, we will be figuring out a club structure and bylaws that works for the people who have been participating. As well as setting up a treasury that can distribute US Dollars based on the vote of club members.   Having our bylaws written down will hopefully enable others to know how to get involved. If you would like to help draft our bylaws, join our discord and let us know. We want it to be a club that is attractive to join.

Happy upgrading, and thank you for your support.