Merge pull request ethereum-optimism#9 from ethereum-optimism/smartco…

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README.md

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-# Optimistic specs
+# The Optimistic Ethereum Spec
 
-Shared open-source specification for an optimistic-rollup that strives for 1:1 Ethereum on L2 while minimizing additional code.
+This repository holds the open-source specification for Optimistic Ethereum, an ultra-minimal optimistic rollup protocol that maintains 1:1 compatibility with Ethereum.
 
-The dream: *EVM compatibility, all Execution clients, all L1 tooling, L2 security (rollup), no L1-like limits*
+## Work in Progress
 
-This project is a combined effort of the Optimism, EF research and Quilt/Consensys research teams.
+Please note that this specification is currently heavily under construction.
+You will find that several pages are incomplete or [under discussion](https://github.com/ethereum-optimism/optimistic-specs/issues).
 
-Enabling rollups on execution-layer data today, and shard-data in the future.
+## Design Philosophy
 
-[**Specs overview**](./overview.md) - experimental!
+We believe that **the best optimistic rollup design needs to be minimal, open, and accessible.**
 
-Components (under construction):
-- [Layer 1 Contracts](./components/layer1.md)
-- [Rollup Client](./components/rollup_client.md)
-- [Execution Engine](./components/exec_engine.md)
-- [Batch Submitter](./components/batch_submitter.md)
-- [Witness Generator](./components/witness_gen.md)
-- [Challenge Agent](./components/challenge_agent.md)
+### Minimalism
 
-## Contribute
+Ethereum-focused optimistic rollups should be minimal to best take advantage of the battle-tested infrastructure (like Geth) that already runs Ethereum.
+An ideal optimistic rollup design should be representable as a *diff* against Ethereum client software.
+We imagine a world in which any Ethereum client can, with only minor modifications, participate in an Optimistic Ethereum network.
 
-Contribute by opening a PR. There are weekly dev calls you can join, 
-chat with [@protolambda](https://github.com/protolambda/) or [@karlfloersch](https://twitter.com/karl_dot_tech/).
+### Openness
 
+We think it's time to coordinate the Ethereum community around a well-specified optimistic rollup design.
+We acknowledge that this is only possible if the design process remains open to the feedback of the many teams already working on optimistic rollup architectures.
+We aim to make this both this specification and the process by which this specification is built available to anyone interesting in building their own ORU system.
+
+Anyone interested in contributing to this specification should refer to the [Contributing](#contributing) section.
+You will find multiple options for contributing to this project.
+
+This repository is distributed under the [Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal](https://github.com/ethereum-optimism/optimistic-specs/blob/main/LICENSE) license which dedicates this work to the public domain.
+An MIT licensed implementation of this protocol can be found [here](https://github.com/ethereum-optimism/optimism).
+
+### Accessibility
+
+Users, developers, and protocol designers need to be confident that a given optimistic rollup is robust and secure.
+We believe that this confidence can only truly come from an accessible specification and codebase that developers can reasonably be expected to understand.
+Without this accessibility we'll always fundamentally have to trust the knowledge and competence of a very small group of core developers, a fact antithetical to the ideal decentralized nature of these systems.
+
+## Specification structure
+
+- [Overview](./overview.md)
+- Components:
+  - [Layer 1 Contracts](./components/layer1.md)
+  - [Rollup Client](./components/rollup_client.md)
+  - [Execution Engine](./components/exec_engine.md)
+  - [Batch Submitter](./components/batch_submitter.md)
+  - [Witness Generator](./components/witness_gen.md)
+  - [Challenge Agent](./components/challenge_agent.md)
+
+## Contributing
+### Basic Contributions
+Contributing to the Optimistic Ethereum specification is easy.
+You'll find a list of open questions and active research topics over on the [Fellowship of Ethereum Magicians](https://ethereum-magicians.org) forum.
+Specific tasks and TODOs can be found on the [Issues](https://github.com/ethereum-optimism/optimistic-specs/issues) page.
+You can edit content or add new pages by creating a [Pull Request](https://github.com/ethereum-optimism/optimistic-specs/pulls).
+
+### R&D Calls
+We hold weekly R&D calls that are open to anyone interested in contributing to the Optimistic Ethereum spec.
+Contact [@karlfloersch](https://twitter.com/karl_dot_tech/), [@protolambda](https://github.com/protolambda/), or [@kelvinfichter](https://twitter.com/kelvinfichter) if you'd like to join these calls.
+Please note that these calls may be recorded and shared publicly (we will ask for consent before recording).
 
 ## License