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What it does is not just arbitration things, but establish global consensus and an unalterable log of that consensus. If you've tried linking distributed Oracl

by jwatte 9y ago

What it does is not just arbitration things, but establish global consensus and an unalterable log of that consensus. If you've tried linking distributed Oracle databases between just a few different sites, you'd understand this has tons of failure cases and is, in fact, not a solved problem, even in the centralized world. (Bigtable probably gets the closest these days, if you want proprietary and not globally auditable.)

spookthesunset 9y ago
> What it does is not just arbitration things, but establish global consensus and an unalterable log of that consensus. That is nice. But can I, and everybody else in the USA successfully use Bitcoin on Black Friday? According to the National Retail Foundation, in 2016 over 101 million people went out on black friday to buy something. If Bitcoin could somehow 10x its transaction rate to even 40 transactions per second (which it can't and probably never will) it would take almost 30 days to process every order. At its current rate of 4tps, you are looking at about 292 days--during which, according to Wolfram Alpha, Venus will have made 1.3 trips around the sun. So again, yeah, great job. Bitcoin solved some technical problem. Go team! But who gives a crap if some technical problem doesn't solve any real problem? Isn't that what we engineers exist to do? Solve real-world problems?
- ryanlol 9y ago
  Do wire transfers solve no real problems? I do essentially all of my large transactions usinng bitcoin.
- em3rgent0rdr 9y ago
  Lightning Network protocol has reached v1.0 and they have demonstrated transacting real bitcoins instantaneously on youtube.
- oarsinsync 9y ago
  That's a problem that hasn't been solved (yet). That shouldn't diminish all the other things that BTC does successfully.
  - ben_w 9y ago
    When the correct answer is “bitcoin“, what is the question? I genuinely, genuinely, don’t see any task for which it is the best solution — not even for anonymous online payments or secret ways to store wealth.
    - nske 9y ago
      "what is the most well tested and carefully developed payment system today that allows me to have complete control of my funds without having to trust any third party?"
      - ben_w 9y ago
        I see your suggestion and raise you “precious metals”
        nske 9y ago
        a) Precious metals are not portable enough. With Bitcoin someone can transfer any amount of value within a few minutes to the other side of the globe (and no-one can stop you from doing so). b) Precious metals are too reliant on physical security. Someone can break into your house much easier than into i.e. your hardware wallet. c) Besides these, precious metals are not a payment system, much less a programmable one. You can't code for example a logic that requires multiple untrusted parties to sign a transaction for it to complete.

by jwatte 9y ago

spookthesunset 9y ago

> What it does is not just arbitration things, but establish global consensus and an unalterable log of that consensus. That is nice. But can I, and everybody else in the USA successfully use Bitcoin on Black Friday? According to the National Retail Foundation, in 2016 over 101 million people went out on black friday to buy something. If Bitcoin could somehow 10x its transaction rate to even 40 transactions per second (which it can't and probably never will) it would take almost 30 days to process every order. At its current rate of 4tps, you are looking at about 292 days--during which, according to Wolfram Alpha, Venus will have made 1.3 trips around the sun. So again, yeah, great job. Bitcoin solved some technical problem. Go team! But who gives a crap if some technical problem doesn't solve any real problem? Isn't that what we engineers exist to do? Solve real-world problems?

ryanlol 9y ago
Do wire transfers solve no real problems? I do essentially all of my large transactions usinng bitcoin.
em3rgent0rdr 9y ago
Lightning Network protocol has reached v1.0 and they have demonstrated transacting real bitcoins instantaneously on youtube.
oarsinsync 9y ago
That's a problem that hasn't been solved (yet). That shouldn't diminish all the other things that BTC does successfully.
- ben_w 9y ago
  When the correct answer is “bitcoin“, what is the question? I genuinely, genuinely, don’t see any task for which it is the best solution — not even for anonymous online payments or secret ways to store wealth.
  - nske 9y ago
    "what is the most well tested and carefully developed payment system today that allows me to have complete control of my funds without having to trust any third party?"
    - ben_w 9y ago
      I see your suggestion and raise you “precious metals”
      - nske 9y ago
        a) Precious metals are not portable enough. With Bitcoin someone can transfer any amount of value within a few minutes to the other side of the globe (and no-one can stop you from doing so). b) Precious metals are too reliant on physical security. Someone can break into your house much easier than into i.e. your hardware wallet. c) Besides these, precious metals are not a payment system, much less a programmable one. You can't code for example a logic that requires multiple untrusted parties to sign a transaction for it to complete.