02
About a minute.
Last time:money can’t be copy-paste.
A computer nobody owns
Think of Ethereum as one shared machine. You send it instructions. Everyone can check that it followed them.
Try it
Maya asks the shared machine. Every copy of the list has to match.
- NorthMaya 4.0 · Jules 1.2
- RiverMaya 4.0 · Jules 1.2
- QuarryMaya 4.0 · Jules 1.2
A normal app runs on a company's servers. The company can change the code, pause it, or lose the data. You are a guest.
Ethereum is closer to a public vending machine bolted to the sidewalk. The rules are visible. Anyone can walk up and use it. No clerk decides whether your coins are good. If the machine says a snack costs a dollar, it costs a dollar for everyone.
People often call this a “world computer.” That is a metaphor, not a supercomputer under a mountain. It is a network of ordinary machines that all run the same software, keep the same state, and agree on every change. The result is slower and more expensive than a private server — and much harder to secretly rewrite.
You do not need permission to read it. You do not need an account at Ethereum HQ (there isn't one). You need a way to prove you control an address, and enough ETH to pay the network to do work.
Takeaway
Ethereum is a shared computer whose current state is public, and whose next state follows published rules.