Gavin Wood Interview: From Childhood Trauma to Blockchain Innovation

Gavin Wood is a co-founder of Ethereum, the creator of Polkadot, and a proponent of the Web3 vision. In a 3-hour in-depth interview, he shared his childhood experiences, innovative ideas, and insights into the future of Blockchain technology.

Starting with Japanese Whisky

At the beginning of the interview, Gavin was tasting a glass of Yamazaki 12 Year whiskey. He expressed that he loves Japanese culture and has a house in Japan. Gavin believes that the service in Japan is excellent, with every detail carefully considered, which is completely different from the UK.

Speaking of British culture, Gavin mentioned that he likes British Indian curry, traditional pubs, Ale, cheese, pies, and so on. He also appreciates the etiquette of the British people.

Childhood Experiences and Self-Awareness

Gavin candidly admitted that his childhood was not easy. He grew up in a single-parent family, with only his mother by his side. His father had violent tendencies, and this experience left him with a profound sense of abandonment. This experience made him particularly grateful for a "safe environment."

Nevertheless, Gavin has not received any specialized psychological treatment. He describes himself as a person who enjoys thinking and analyzing, often delving into how past experiences influence his current ways of thinking and interpersonal interactions.

Sources of Innovative Ideas

When asked how major ideas are generated, Gavin said that these thoughts often come out naturally. His innovative approach tends to be incremental, based on known, visible effects and components that can be imagined to exist or actually exist, seeking new combinations between them.

Gavin emphasized that a true "idea" should include a path to realization. He believes that what most inventors refer to as "ideas" are actually just reconfigurations of basic elements.

Misunderstood Challenges

As an inventor who often stays at the forefront of the times, Gavin admits that he may often be misunderstood. He believes that to create something that can immediately add value to the world, it must be explained in a way that the world already understands. This is why many disruptive inventions are often initially used for very simple, even seemingly childish purposes.

Gavin mentioned that the JAM protocol he is currently developing is often misunderstood because it is a complex protocol that operates very differently from what has been done before. He believes that this misunderstanding is a common issue in the development of cutting-edge technologies.

A deep understanding of knowledge is the key to driving significant breakthroughs.

Gavin believes that starting with "I have this problem, I want to find a solution" is not enough for larger issues. He suggests starting by analyzing the existing "components", including different branches of mathematics and engineering, various human perceptions of the world, goods and services already in the market, deployed projects, and open-source software.

He emphasized that the essence of innovation lies in combining these components, along with some novelty or creativity in knowledge, to build something useful. Gavin stated that his own work occupies a middle ground between immediate practicality and pure theory. He attempts to propose new understandings in engineering, hoping that these understandings can become part of the next generation of systems, bringing significant improvements.

Gavin concluded that the pursuit of a profound understanding of knowledge can itself lead to great results, and not just one great result, but potentially give rise to multiple significant outcomes.