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The blockchain hype seems to have some parallels to the Second Life[1] one. The technology isn't quite there, the valuations are immense, and it all seems like

The blockchain hype seems to have some parallels to the Second Life[1] one. The technology isn't quite there, the valuations are immense, and it all seems like a real life implementation of a Neal Stephenson novel. Second Life doesn't seem to have gone anywhere but it doesn't mean cryptocurrencies won't as well. From the outside they do look just as niche and generally lacking in use cases. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Life https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Life

KasianFranks 9y ago
You're just in the middle of being disrupted with whats called a black and white swan event.
- dfee 9y ago
  I assume you mean just “black swan”? I was curious about the white swan bit - maybe it was an orthogonal concept? But I settled on the regular kind. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_swan_theory https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_swan_theory
  - valvar 9y ago
    They might mean a swan that is black on one side but white on the other, i.e. gives the appearance of being an extremely rare or a very common event, while in fact being the opposite.
    - concerto 9y ago
      Surely that's even more rare than a black swan?
      - sdfadfa 9y ago
        Lol Ironically, a black swan isn't really at all - just unknown. Which really is Taleb's point: black swans aren't as rare as they are priced to be.
jesusthatsgreat 9y ago
Second Life is a virtual world where virtual stuff can be traded. Blockchain technology is real world technology. It can help to solve really challenging problems and make real world systems more efficient / productive / cost effective / autonomous. The two are in no way comparable... if you're looking for a comparison to Second Life which happens to use blockchain technology, check out Decentraland: https://decentraland.org/ https://decentraland.org/
- xyzzyz 9y ago
  Bitcoin is no more real life than Second Life is -- both exist in our reality just the same. Virtual goods in second life are no more virtual than bitcoins are -- both are just bits on some hard drives that people agreed to be worth something. There are significant differences between Bitcoin and Second Life, the lack of centralized control in the former being the biggest, but they aren't what you described in your comment.
  - Udik 9y ago
    > Bitcoin is no more real life than Second Life is Not a big fan of bitcoin here, but there is a difference which I don't think it's captured by that "lack of centralized control". And it is that bitcoins exist as some sort of mathematical object, that is guaranteed in its working and will exist forever as long as there are people mining the blockchain. They remind me a bit of the ever expanding, mathematically deterministic Autoverse in Egan's Permutation City, for those who have read the novel.
    - xyzzyz 9y ago
      There nothing mathematical about guarantees for bitcoins continuing existence — it really boils down to the social contract between miners that agree to use the same set of rules. See for example the result of the Dao hack in Ethereum world — if there really was any mathematical guarantee to Eth smart contracts, you’d imagine you couldn’t simply revert them by updating the software. The parallel to Egan’s dust theory is interesting, but only valid as long as someone is actually mining blocks using old clients nobody cares about in the long forgotten forks of the chain, which doesn’t really happen.
zitterbewegung 9y ago
Bitcoin might be exactly like second life . Without second life we wouldn’t have World of Warcraft , Eve online and every other MMO. I can’t wait until blockchain becomes corporate !
- mnem 9y ago
  Erm, MMOs predated Second Life by many years. Even discounting MUDs and so forth, Ultima Online was around about 5 or 6 years before Second Life.
  - walshemj 9y ago
    and SHADES which used to run on the UK's PRESTEL system
- 83457 9y ago
  EverQuest, Ultima Online? You have your history backwards
ThomPete 9y ago
Second life is as far as I am aware actually profitable.
- yongelee 9y ago
  Right, as far as I'm aware, no one ever has made any money from Bitcoin, and its 1000s of % increases in less than a year.
  - jabujabu 9y ago
    Here, be aware of myself, who used cryptocurrency as a means to pay off student loans.
  - gruez 9y ago
    >Right, as far as I'm aware, no one ever has made any money from Bitcoin what about people who bought low and sold high? im sure there's at least 1 person who did that. or are you talking about making money from holding bitcoin?
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - ThomPete 9y ago
    I made quite a lot from bitcoin so far.
    - philipwhiuk 9y ago
      I think he was being sarcastic
anonytrary 9y ago
Your observations are more due to how humans adopt new technology (speculation, early adoption, etc.) than because of similarities between Second Life and blockchain technology. Second Life has very limited utility; it's a video game. Blockchains are the result of protocols that could be used to do work.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]

KasianFranks 9y ago

You're just in the middle of being disrupted with whats called a black and white swan event.

dfee 9y ago
I assume you mean just “black swan”? I was curious about the white swan bit - maybe it was an orthogonal concept? But I settled on the regular kind. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_swan_theory https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_swan_theory
- valvar 9y ago
  They might mean a swan that is black on one side but white on the other, i.e. gives the appearance of being an extremely rare or a very common event, while in fact being the opposite.
  - concerto 9y ago
    Surely that's even more rare than a black swan?
    - sdfadfa 9y ago
      Lol Ironically, a black swan isn't really at all - just unknown. Which really is Taleb's point: black swans aren't as rare as they are priced to be.

jesusthatsgreat 9y ago

Second Life is a virtual world where virtual stuff can be traded. Blockchain technology is real world technology. It can help to solve really challenging problems and make real world systems more efficient / productive / cost effective / autonomous. The two are in no way comparable... if you're looking for a comparison to Second Life which happens to use blockchain technology, check out Decentraland: https://decentraland.org/ https://decentraland.org/

xyzzyz 9y ago
Bitcoin is no more real life than Second Life is -- both exist in our reality just the same. Virtual goods in second life are no more virtual than bitcoins are -- both are just bits on some hard drives that people agreed to be worth something. There are significant differences between Bitcoin and Second Life, the lack of centralized control in the former being the biggest, but they aren't what you described in your comment.
- Udik 9y ago
  > Bitcoin is no more real life than Second Life is Not a big fan of bitcoin here, but there is a difference which I don't think it's captured by that "lack of centralized control". And it is that bitcoins exist as some sort of mathematical object, that is guaranteed in its working and will exist forever as long as there are people mining the blockchain. They remind me a bit of the ever expanding, mathematically deterministic Autoverse in Egan's Permutation City, for those who have read the novel.
  - xyzzyz 9y ago
    There nothing mathematical about guarantees for bitcoins continuing existence — it really boils down to the social contract between miners that agree to use the same set of rules. See for example the result of the Dao hack in Ethereum world — if there really was any mathematical guarantee to Eth smart contracts, you’d imagine you couldn’t simply revert them by updating the software. The parallel to Egan’s dust theory is interesting, but only valid as long as someone is actually mining blocks using old clients nobody cares about in the long forgotten forks of the chain, which doesn’t really happen.

zitterbewegung 9y ago

Bitcoin might be exactly like second life . Without second life we wouldn’t have World of Warcraft , Eve online and every other MMO. I can’t wait until blockchain becomes corporate !

mnem 9y ago
Erm, MMOs predated Second Life by many years. Even discounting MUDs and so forth, Ultima Online was around about 5 or 6 years before Second Life.
- walshemj 9y ago
  and SHADES which used to run on the UK's PRESTEL system
83457 9y ago
EverQuest, Ultima Online? You have your history backwards

ThomPete 9y ago

Second life is as far as I am aware actually profitable.

yongelee 9y ago
Right, as far as I'm aware, no one ever has made any money from Bitcoin, and its 1000s of % increases in less than a year.
- jabujabu 9y ago
  Here, be aware of myself, who used cryptocurrency as a means to pay off student loans.
- gruez 9y ago
  >Right, as far as I'm aware, no one ever has made any money from Bitcoin what about people who bought low and sold high? im sure there's at least 1 person who did that. or are you talking about making money from holding bitcoin?
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- ThomPete 9y ago
  I made quite a lot from bitcoin so far.
  - philipwhiuk 9y ago
    I think he was being sarcastic

anonytrary 9y ago

Your observations are more due to how humans adopt new technology (speculation, early adoption, etc.) than because of similarities between Second Life and blockchain technology. Second Life has very limited utility; it's a video game. Blockchains are the result of protocols that could be used to do work.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]